Category Archives: Human Longevity

In the dark reality of the pandemic, a long-running classic has brought a sense of hopeful nostalgia to the stage.

The Lion King is back in Seoul after nearly 3 years, and has once again shown why it captures so many hearts.

As the curtains go up, the audience is immediately enraptured by the march of animals as Futhi Mhlong, who has been playing mandrill Rafiki for the past 14 years, sings Circle of Life.

Even though the iconic entry of the animals through the aisles has been removed from the production this time, due to concerns over COVID-19, this is the moment when even those familiar with the beloved story from watching the 1994 animated film during childhood discover a fresh look of the story.

Giving this freshness is the double event approach, which shows the audience both the puppets and their puppeteers, allowing the puppeteers to visually express their emotions.

Julie Taymor created something which works in perfect harmony, a double event where not only you are watching animals on the stage, youre watching humans to help drive this human story through, Anthony Lawrence, who plays the villain Scar, told reporters during a press conference in Seoul last week. For me, I have moments where I am Scar the human, and I also have my moments why Im Scar, the lion, he added.

Getting used to the double event took a lot of practice for the actor. This included watching videos of the animals at the beginning of each rehearsal to assimilate their moves, as well as learning traditional Southeast Asian dances. The production drew on these exotic dances to bring lions to life in a unique way, according to Lawrence and other actors.

I spent a lot of hours training in front of a mirror to see exactly what I look like, and what the puppet looks like on top of my head, Lawrence said.

More importantly, actors had to learn how to incorporate themselves into their animal characters.

I try my best to focus on not only the (Southeast Asian dance) techniques, but also incorporating my human qualities into not only my body, but also linking it ... to the physicality of the mask thats attached to my head, Amanda Kunene, who plays lioness Nala, told reporters.

In addition to its theatrical mastery, the story itself has the power to send each audience member on an emotional journey.

No matter what youre going through, no matter what youre feeling, when you come into the theater and the lights go down, youre going to go on an emotional journey and have an experience that is like no other thing that youll experience, Dashaun Young, who has been playing Simba for years, said. He added that South Korean audiences do not shy away from expressing their emotional journeys through social networking services.

Ive gotten so many messages from people just trying to say how they felt about the show. And thats been a beautiful thing to see and respond to, and (be able to) talk to all you guys, Young said.

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)

Original post:
The power of two: Double event secret behind stage longevity of Lion King - The Korea Herald

Back in 1907, Elie Metchnikoff was intrigued the number of centenarians in parts of the Bulgarian population; he found out that villagers living in the Caucasus Mountains enjoyed a daily tipple of a fermented yoghurt drink and discovered that a Lactobacillus probiotic appeared to foster improved health and long life.

Longevity.Technology: Metchnikoffs work inspired other scientists, including Japanese microbiologist Minoru Shirota; Shirota developed a new strain of friendly bacteria named Lactobacillus casei and turned his discovery into one of the first commercially-available probiotics, Yakult. Since then, fermented and probiotic foods, such as yoghurt, kefir, kombucha, miso and kimchi, have risen in popularity, crowding the chiller aisle and prompting shoppers to take their gut health seriously, and 115 years after Metchnikoffs discover,scientists have developed a probiotic that could make healthy aging as easy as opening the refrigerator.

The work on this next-generation probiotic took place at theInstitute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST) in Guwahati, India and was led by scientist Mojibur Khan and Professor Ashis Mukherjee, director of the institute, in collaboration with Professor M C Kalita of Gauhati University and research scholars Arun Kumar and Tulsi Joishy. In previous research, the team had examinedbacteria of curds prepared using boiled milk and raw milk from dairy farms in Assam, India, and identified and isolated a potential probiotic bacterium.

This was taxonomically characterised as Lactobacillus plantarum strain JBC5, and the research team have tested its effects on our favourite longevity worm, Caenorhabditis elegans.

In a paper published in the journalAntioxidants, the researchers detail the following positive effects:

Although nematodes and humans might seem rather different from each other, 83% (15,344 sequences) of the C. elegans proteome has human homologous genes [2]. This means that the new probiotic might be able to delay the onset of age-related diseases suchas those linked to inflammation or a decline in cognitive functions, as well as being able to increase immunity in the elderly.

Having filed a patent, the team are now developing a yoghurt using this probiotic bacteria which they hope will deliver the same health benefits as demonstrated in C. elegans, as well as possibly having a positive effect on lifespan.

Commenting that aging is generally associated with a higher risk of age-related health issues, such as obesity, neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinsons, Alzheimers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, autoimmune and inflammatory bowel diseases), Professor Mukherjee said the team was hoping for a swift route to commercialisation to that people could benefit as soon as possible [3].

[1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358202764_A_Potential_Probiotic_Lactobacillus_plantarum_Improves_Longevity%5B2%5D https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC310876/%5B3%5D https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/scientists-find-new-probiotic-promoting-longevity/

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New probiotic that promotes longevity and healthy aging discovered - Longevity.Technology

Hearts Radiant, a Spanish startup thats building a longevity coach for seniors with the goal of extending quality of life through app-based personalized coaching designed to combat and even prevent frailty has closed a seed round of funding as it gears up to launch in the U.S., eyeing Floridas 4M+ over 65s.

We covered the startup as it came out of stealth to announce pre-seed funding for its digital coach, aka Rosita Longevity, back in October 2020. It followed that by launching out of beta in Spain at the end of 2020 and went on to amass around 2,000 very active users, with an average DAU/MAU of 30%.

The app is offered as both paid or a lighter, freemium version.

Over the first months we worked on creating adherence and medical plans and by September 2021 we came out of beta and launched our first paying cohort, says co-founder Juan Cartagena. The cohort was capped to 40 users paying an average $60/quarter because it involved many manual processes.

Over the last five months we have been working on automatizing those processes while delivering the service to those users (aside the other ones on the free version). To this day we have had just one person churning and an average DAU/MAU of about 80%, which is incredible for a non-chat product.

The idea for a personalized digital coach to motivate seniors to make lifestyle improvements to raise their quality of life and even, potentially the number of healthy years they can live grew out of an in-person spa/retreat for seniors run by the wife-husband founder team.

Digitizing programs developed at the spa and proving that digital coaching and other remotely delivered technologies can be as effective as in-person therapies is a key part of Hearts Radiants mission, as it works to scale a business that sells longevity as a service.

A clinical trial on its approach is still ongoing, with progress having been delayed somewhat by COVID-19. But the startup tells TechCrunch it plans to publish research on its methodology soon, possibly this summer.

The app-based coaching program packaged as Rosita Longevity focuses on encouraging (gentle) exercise as a way to boost seniors mobility and decrease frailty, as well as increasing their social connections (via cohort-based group classes) for an age group that can suffer especially from loneliness and associated mental health issues.

The app organizes seniors into different cohorts depending on their physical condition and muskulo-eskeletical symptoms in order to tailor support with AI used to help develop a personalized plan per user, based on information they provide about their mobility and any illnesses/conditions etc.

But core to the program is motivational coaching which is provided by (human) healthcare professionals who, while they are dispensing advice/classes digitally, are certainly not made of pixels.

The app-delivered program also provides seniors with other information on how to live better for longer, such as advice on diet, or provides support to manage chronic pain, such as through targeted physiotherapy, in addition to serving up info on relevant emerging research around ageing and longevity.

When you download the app you go through an evaluation process where Rosita learns where you are today and relevant issues of your past health, helps you set the goals for your next months and proposes an action plan to achieve them. The plan combines live and recorded sessions, follow up tests and group chats with our specialists that will cover all the questions and issues our seniors have, explains Cartagena.

We have found these group sessions very relevant in the senior community because as you age, most of the pathologies affect them in a very similar way (comorbidities are very similar and close in symptoms) so it feels very productive to group them in terms of learnings and follow ups.

Users inside of a cohort get a personalized plan but are coached in teams per cohort, leveraging social health and peer dynamics. So we are connecting the human part with the automated part for most impact, keeping a healthy trainer ratio, he adds.

The 2.4 million ($2.8 million) seed round was led by Barcelona-based impact fund, Ship2B ventures. Other investors include JME Ventures, KFund, Seedcamp, Bankinter, Seedlink Health, Telefonica Wayra, the University of Chicago, and a number of business angels including Cristobal Viedma (founder of Lingokids) and Poonam Sharma (a health veteran at Oscar Health).

As well as the seed funding the planned expansion into the U.S. where Cartagena says it will (at least initially) opt for the same b2c model, charging seniors to access a Prime version of the app that unlocks access to more classes/therapies the startup wants to spend on R&D with the goal of developing what he describes as longevity biomarkers with biomechanics and artificial vision.

Which is a condensed way of saying the startup hopes to be able to use computer vision/machine learning technologies to automate the detection and assessment of frailty/prefrailty in seniors to better tailor programs and interventions, even if the only hardware in the room is a relatively old smartphone with a not-so-amazing camera.

Further plans for the seed funding are to expand longevity plans to more specific cohorts based on a combination of behavioral patterns and health history so it can offer increasingly customized programs.

The holy grail of all of this is preventing frailty before it happens, adds Cartagena. Frailty and prefrailty are like being diabetic and prediabetic: It is just a matter of where you set the bar. Neither prefrailty nor prediabetes gets much attention but the impact to society is very large. We want to find the people who have the risk of becoming prefrail much much earlier, in their 60s and early 70s.

We are initially very focussed on functionality, which includes biomechanics, muskulo-eskeletical changes and other areas related (such as gait strength or patterns) that are proxies to mental health (even stronger than cognitive tests!) and literally life expectancy. As we grow we will combine these tests with other lifestyle data, blood tests, microbiome and epigenetic clocks.

Tests for frailty and prefrailty exist, but geriatricians can easily point a frail person by looking at how they walk a couple of steps. Therefore an AI might be able to do the same, he adds.

Asked about the ongoing clinical trials it intends to demonstrate the effectiveness of its digital programs, he suggests the key variable is consistency noting that the current paying cohort is doing 320 minutes+ of exercise a week (which even for in person coaching is amazing for the senior community).

What I believe we have proven with our pre-seed round, is that you can achieve high adherence and results with virtual coaching, Cartagena adds. The WHO recommends 150 minutes of physical activity for seniors per week (the average is less than 50 and most do 0 minutes (walking does not count)), and we are achieving a lot more than that (320 in paying users and 170 in non-paying users), plus people are feeling better so they are also becoming more active outside the App, which we do not measure properly yet. This amount of activity in seniors in really unheard of in geroscience.

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Spains Rosita Longevity, an app that helps seniors be more active, is headed to Florida - TechCrunch

As you can see, resveratrol is a potent phytonutrient with a number of physiological benefits. The downside? Resveratrol metabolizes quickly, making it absurdly difficult for the human body to utilize. So, how can we fully harness the power of this phytonutrient? Enter: piperine.

At mindbodygreen, we love resveratrol's antioxidant activity and longevity support so much that we knew it needed to be a part of the lineup of botanical bioactives (which includes big longevity players like glutathione, lycopene, lutein, and zeaxanthin) in our ultimate multivitamin+ formula (i.e., not your typical multi).* So, in addition to resveratrol derived from Japanese knotweed (the technical plant name is Polygonum cuspidatum), we added piperine from black pepper to directly promote resveratrol's bioavailability by aiding in its absorption.*

Stronger together, this dynamic duo works together to tackle oxidative stress, promote cellular resilience, and support longevity.*

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This Phytonutrient Is The Antioxidant & Longevity Player You Want On Your Team - mindbodygreen.com

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Soil tillage on farms may significantly reduce the availability in crops of ergothioneine (ERGO), an amino acid produced by certain types of soil-borne fungi and bacteria that is known as a longevity vitamin due to its potent antioxidant properties, according to new research by an interdisciplinary team at Penn State. The study is among the first to demonstrate that soil disturbance can directly impact a key dietary factor associated with long-term human health.

Research suggests that a lack of ergothioneine in the diet may result in increased incidences of chronic diseases of aging, such as Parkinsons Disease and Alzheimers Disease, and reduced life expectancy, said Robert Beelman, professor emeritus of food science.

Beelman noted that ERGO is produced by fungi, which is why mushrooms are among the leading dietary source of this amino acid. However, ERGO produced by soil-borne fungi also makes its way into plants.

Research has demonstrated that tillage of agricultural soils can disrupt fungi populations in the soil and compromise the availability of this important amino acid, said Sjoerd Duiker, professor of soil management and applied soil physics. This led us to speculate that agricultural soils that receive minimal or no tillage may have higher levels of fungi, and therefore, crops grown in these soils may have higher ERGO levels than crops grown with aggressive tillage.

To study the effects of tillage on ERGO content of crop plants, the team turned to an ongoing tillage study that began in 1978 at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs in central Pennsylvania. The study comprises a randomized complete block design with three tillage treatments moldboard plowing/disking/harrowing (MB), which represents the most intense tillage; chisel plowing/disking/harrowing (CD), which represents a medium amount of tillage; and no-till (NT) each replicated four times. The crops grown in the study include maize, soybeans and oats. The team collected grain samples from each of the treatments, ground them into powder and used liquid chromatography and mass spectroscopy to analyze their ERGO content.

The researchers found that ERGO concentrations declined as tillage intensity increased. Specifically, from NT to MB, ERGO content declined by 32% for maize, 33% for soybeans and 28% for oats. In addition to being associated with reduced ERGO concentrations, increased tillage also was associated with reduced crop yields.

The teamsresultsappear in a recent issue of the journal Agronomy.

Recently, there has been growing interest in replacing conventional agricultural methods with regenerative agriculture, which includes the use of no-till or minimal tillage, to restore soil health, said Beelman. This is important, not only for the environment, but also for human health, as our research suggests that healthy soils produce healthier foods. The fact that we found that crop yields are also higher when tillage is reduced indicates that this practice may also be profitable for farmers.

Other Penn State authors on the paper include John Richie, professor of public health sciences and pharmacology; Allen Phillips, professor emeritus of biochemistry; Michael Kalaras, research associate in food science; and Dongxiao Sun, assistant professor of pharmacology.

The USDA and the Center for Plant and Mushroom Foods for Health at Penn State partially supported this research.

Excerpt from:
Tillage Reduces Availability of 'Longevity Vitamin' Ergothioneine in Crops - No-Till Farmer

Novel delivery of established growth and neurotropic factors enables local, sustained release for greater efficacy in targeting vascular disease.

Alkem Laboratories, an Indian multinational pharmaceutical company, has signed a licence agreement with Harvard Universitys Office of Technology Development (OTD) enabling Alkem to develop and commercialise a novel technology that could help meet the dire need for effective treatment of diabetic neuropathy, foot ulcers, peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and other injuries caused by vascular disease.

Longevity.Technology: Vascular diseases can be caused by genetics, heart diseases (such as high cholesterolandhigh blood pressure) and diabetes is one of the strongest risk factors for any form of vascular disease. Diabetic neuropathy is a serious, painful and disabling diabetes complication that may affect as many as 50% of people with diabetes and peripheral arterial disease can becomecritical limb ischaemia, the most severe form of PAD, which has a poor outlook indeed, half of patients are likely to die within five years. As with many diseases, age is a key risk factor, and although symptoms can be eased with lifestyle choices (not smoking, exercise, better diet), repairing the damage has proved tricky due to the difficulties of deploying tissue regenerative molecules, but Wysss new scaffold could overcome these and bring the hope of nerve and muscle repair to those with these life-limiting conditions.

Developed in the lab of David Mooney, PhD at Harvards Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), the technology is an injectable, biocompatible scaffold for the sustained release of tissue-regenerative molecules. Alkem plans to apply its drug development and manufacturing capability to advance this technology from bench to bedside through the application of efficient translational, pre-clinical and clinical models.

This license agreement with Harvard enables us to harness an innovation with great clinical potential, identified and nurtured by the Wyss Institute, to bring novel treatments to market, said Alkems Managing Director, Sandeep Singh. It also serves as an example of Alkems commitment to fostering continued academic, clinical, and commercial collaborations to bring impactful medical technologies to patients [1].

Alkems President and Chief Medical Officer, Akhilesh Sharma added: This technologys novel, regenerative medicine approach could help fill a therapy gap in the treatment of multiple causes of ischemic tissue injuries, with the potential to avoid several thousands of foot deformities and amputations and provide relief from other ischemic conditions [1].

The licence grants Alkem commercialisation rights in the United States and India.

Donald Ingber, MD, PhD, the Wyss Institutes Founding Director, said, This technology license represents yet another successful initiative by the Wyss Institute to advance our mission of bringing lifesaving technologies out of the lab and into the real world. Alkems position in India gives it the potential to reach many millions of patients who do not have access to expensive, brand-name treatments, which could significantly contribute to the reduction of human suffering globally [1]. Ingber is the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and Boston Childrens Hospital, and Professor of Bioengineering at Harvard SEAS.

Tissue regenerative molecules are naturally occurring biomolecules in the human body that are known to help enhance tissue regrowth after injury or chronic disease. Despite their therapeutic promise, these biologics have not yet been developed into FDA-approved treatments because they are very rapidly cleared from the body, which dramatically reduces their efficacy. Furthermore, because of the high doses required to overcome the clearance challenge, there has been concern that these treatments could cause toxicity when administered to patients orally or via injection.

To solve this problem, researchers led by Mooney, a Wyss Core Faculty member and the Robert P Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering at Harvard SEAS, developed a technique that encapsulates two tissue regenerative molecules into a biocompatible, precisely-designed scaffold that is injected under the skin at the site of ischemia and injury. The scaffold allows the molecules to be released in a sustained manner over time, which enables tissue regeneration at very low doses.

Initiated as a collaboration between researchers at Harvard SEAS and the Wyss Institute, the technology advanced through development and de-risking at the Wyss Institute to demonstrate proof-of-concept. Preclinical studies in multiple animal models conducted at the Wyss Institute and University of Michigan demonstrated that blood perfusion recovered to 8090%, muscle strength was restored to pre-injury levels, and nerve damage was reversed following injection with the treatment, and results persisted for several weeks to months. This novel enabling technology went through a thorough diligence process with Alkem, who were impressed by its potential use in populations worldwide to treat multiple ischemic conditions caused by vascular disease.

Scientists can point to many promising treatments for diseases and injuries that have never made it to the clinic, not because they dont work, but because delivering them via a classic injection or pill wasnt possible, said Mooney. Im hopeful that our success in solving that problem for these tissue regenerative biomolecules will inspire others in academia and industry to revisit some of those difficult drugs and make them available for more patients around the world [1]..

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Harvard regenerative tech treats injuries caused by vascular disease - Longevity.Technology

As insufferable couples the world over celebrate Valentines Day, those of us not in relationships can only sit by in silence, watching on as they shower each other in overpriced flowers, heart-shaped gifts and general soppiness.

But while the loved-up legions snog, smooch and snuggle, spare a thought for those who arent so lucky, especially those in later life. A new study published by the School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at the University of California has shown that loneliness in middle age and beyond can lead to a significantly higher chance of heart disease.

Its something that Sandeep Jauhar, cardiologist and author of Heart: A History, knows only too well. We know that grief or heartbreak has harmful effects on the heart and we know that people who are in unhappy relationships with their spouses tend to have more cardiac events, he says. But the question is, does being in love have direct biological effects on the heart?

And the answer, it appears, is yes. As a cardiologist with over 20 years experience, Jauhar has noted how those patients who have reported being in love or who are in a stable and happy relationship not only have better outcomes after suffering cardiac events but also tend to live longer.

While many studies concentrate on the negative effects of loneliness, there isnt a great deal of data on what being in love actually does to the heart but it stands to reason that emotional resilience, less stress and feeling in love are all tremendously beneficial for the heart, he says.

Certainly, the idea of heartbreak, or what Jauhar calls broken heart syndrome, does have direct biological effects on the heart. Termed takotsubo cardiomyopathy, it was first described by doctors in Japan and detailed how the heart becomes weaker after an episode of grief or stress like, for instance, the passing of a life partner or the end of a long-term relationship. Symptoms can often replicate the same sensations experienced during a heart attack, with patients often reporting shortness of breath and chest pain.

We also know, from old epidemiological studies, that spouses tend to die within one year of each other, adds Jauhar. But while there is a lot of evidence to show how emotional distress has negative effects, like broken heart syndrome, there are benefits from positive emotions like love that lead to increases in the parasympathetic nervous system, which can promote blood vessel dilation and other salutary effects that probably alleviate cardiac conditions.

But they arent the only benefits

If youre in a happy relationship youre less likely to suffer from the negative consequences of depression and anxiety. Studies have shown that being in love helps your body to produce more oxytocin the hormone that plays a key part in everything from trust and empathy to social behaviour to sexual reproduction and that, in turn, prompts the brain to release more dopamine and adrenaline, which is why your heart beats faster and why you feel happier.

Relationships are good at keeping a lid on stress. In a study from the University of Utah that looked at cohabiting couples, it was found that when they were separated for up to a week, they all registered higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol, as well as suffering from disturbed sleep when they were apart. When they were reunited, the cortisol declined while levels of oxytocin rose once more.

Anyone in a long-term relationship will find that theyre more motivated to ditch all those unhealthy habits they might have, like smoking or heavy drinking, thanks to the support and encouragement they'll receive from their partner. In a study published in the journal Psychology Today, it was found that if one half of a relationship was to stop drinking alcohol, the other half would be five times more likely to do the same. Being happy with your partner can also inspire you to achieve your fitness goals as youll feel more supported and more confident in your abilities. The extra adrenaline youll produce when youre working out will also act as an appetite suppressant so itll work wonders for the waistline, too.

All of the above means those in stable long-term relationships live longer. One study, by the State University of New York at Oswego revealed that when couples are together it leads to a fall in blood pressure for both parties, while academics at Harvard University found that married women are up to 20 per cent less likely to die of stress-related reasons than their single counterparts. Its even more pronounced for married men who are up to 200 per cent less likely to pass away because of issues like cirrhosis of the liver and heart disease.

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Four reasons why love is good for your health - Telegraph.co.uk

You might have found yourself here because youre looking for ways to better your health and wellness this year. Perhaps you have several questions about what else you can do to really take your health over the edge in 2022. Longevity Live Paid Content.

Look no further, weve compiled a list of the biggest questions people might ask themselves when looking to get a little healthier this year and figure out the answers. Read along to see what weve found out!

By now weve all heard about Apple watches, Fitbits, health tracking jewelry, and calorie counting apps. There are certainly numerous products out there for you to take your personal health and wellness to the next level.

Its almost overwhelming, but you might find yourself wondering if there is anything new out there that might dial you in closer to your health. Vessel Health has come up with a product that is so cool, its almost unbelievable. It will help give you the right ratio of mindfulness vs. fitness.Vessel Healths in-home wellness tracker is a tool you can use to get real-time numbers for the nutrients your body needs on a daily basis. All youve got to do is download the app for your phone, and pee on the test strips provided.

After youve completed this, you scan the QR code on the test strip and the app will give you a digital readout of your vitamin levels, your pH balance, and more. It is truly an incredible way to fine-tune the foods you are putting into your body. With this app, you can customize your diet to make sure youve got enough of the nutrients that your body needs on a day-to-day basis.

Personal health and wellness doesnt just stop with your own body, as many people consider their pets to be a part of the family and their health is just as much of a priority as your own. We want to keep them healthy and happy as long as we possibly can.

One interesting thing weve learned is that the new CBD phenomenon isnt solely for humans. Many people are having a good bit of success using CBD for dogs. The benefits of CBD on our four-legged friends are similar to that of their human counterparts. CBD in dogs will support their joints, improve brain function, help with digestion, and keep your pet calm. All of these things will in turn keep your dog healthy and happy for years to come.

Another way to improve the health of your dog is to take a look at what they are eating. Dieting has a huge effect on the overall wellness of our furry friends. Superfoods are often thought about as part of the human diet, but our dogs shouldnt be looked over when it pertains to them. Foods such as chia seeds come to mind when we think of the term superfoods, but can dogs eat chia seeds?

The answer to this question is yes, although youll want to make sure they can get them down easily by soaking them. Chia seeds offer immense amounts of nutrients including phosphorus, zinc, iron, potassium, and magnesium as well as numerous antioxidants. Chia seeds promote digestion, strengthen cells, and promote shiny smooth coats among many other health benefits. They are a wonderful and easy way to increase the level of health our dogs need.

Perhaps youre not living as clean as youd like, and youve tried just about everything to start living a better sober life? Youre not alone. Many people struggle with the grasp of addictions each and every single day. If this sounds like you, you might be inclined to reach out for help. The folks at Venice addiction treatment are here for you, whatever you might need.

They offer help with sober living, conducting private meetings, and personal transformation services. There is always someone willing to lend a helping hand and get you started on the right path to living a long, healthy, sober life worth living.

Are you using supplements to boost your health and wellness, but not necessarily seeing the results youre looking for? Many of us are looking for new ways to kick-start our health regiment, and there are some good ways to do just that.

If youre looking to hang on to your youth, you might be in the market for an anti-aging supplement. Supplements containing fatty acids are best to reduce the effects of aging, as well as promote a healthier metabolism and immune systems.

If youre looking to dust off your reusable water bottle and get back into the gym, Nugenix GH Boost might be right for you. This product is a nighttime formula that revitalizes your bodys growth hormones and helps you look like your best self. The best part is it contains no steroids, no banned substances, no stimulants, and is not habit-forming. You can trust that youll get all the results, without the fluff.

Healthy living in this day and age is starting to trend in a much more organic and natural direction, and for good reason. There are a ton of benefits to ditching the traditional forms of healthcare products. Organics are everywhere these days, in foods, medicines, and there are even organic pads. The benefits of organics include natural ingredients, no hormones, and no unnatural substances that might be added as filler.

As weve already touched on with our pets, CBD is a great, natural way to feel better every single day. Benefits include calmness, pain relief, immune system support, overall sense of well-being. Before considering using CBD, we recommend looking into how much CBD you should take daily in order to dial in the ideal dose for your body.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

There are few things we care about more than our kids. However, we might have some questions like, how do we improve digestion? Or perhaps what kinds of medicines and supplements should we be giving them?

Toddler vitamins are a great way to jumpstart their little bodies and immune systems. We suggest ones without synthetic fillers and ingredients. Removing sugars, preservatives, and chemicals from their vitamins is a great way to improve their diet quickly. Perhaps your young ones are often congested at night, but youre wary of over-the-counter meds. There is a Mucinex alternative for kids. Genexa makes plenty of clean medicines for your child that you should try. There are many ways we can clean up our kids systems, these few just scratch the surface of healthier living for your wee one.

If you have questions about how you can improve your health and wellness this year, youre not alone. Hopefully, this article can help answer a few of those for you, and perhaps even give you some ideas that are a little outside the box.

Excerpt from:
Your Biggest Health and Wellness Questions For 2022 Answered - Longevity LIVE - Longevity LIVE

Before there was BTS or BigBang, there was Epik High. Ask anyone whos been listening to K-pop for more than a few years, and chances are theyd know Epik High because the pioneering Korean hip-hop trio has had a profound and far-reaching influence on Korean popular music. With K-pop icons such as BTS, Seventeen, and B.I citing them as an inspiration, Epik High is the musicians musicians. And on Monday, February 14, they released Epik High Is Here(Part 2), the second half of their latest two-part albumtheir tenth full-length album in their two-decade-long career.

There was a lot that we wanted to say, and we felt like we couldnt do that with just one album, Epik High frontman Tablo tells Vanity Fair. Also, we were in a situation where the whole world was under quarantine for the first part of this album, so we knew that it was gonna be a long-term period of difficulty for everyone.

Released in January 2021, Epik High Is Here (Part 1) was met with great acclaim, landing in the top 10 on U.S. iTunes and on Spotifys Top 10 Album Debuts charts both in the U.S. and globally. Just over a year later, Epik Highs much-anticipated follow-up is their most personal and powerful work yeta thoughtful retrospective on their 20-year journey recounted in 12 wide-ranging tracks. Epik High Is Here(Part 2) is a rich, eclectic mix of free-flowing rhymes and soaring melodies drawn from hip-hop, pop, indie rock, and other various genres, and it may just provide the emotional outlet we all need as we continue to deal with the ongoing pandemic.

Who in 2022 is not feeling confused, angry, or lost? No one. We wanted this album to be something that grows with people throughout this entire period of difficulty, says Tablo.

Composed of Tablo, Mithra Jin, and DJ Tukutz, Epik High was formed in 2001 before hip-hop waswidely mainstreamin South Korea. The trio didnt readily receive much recognition because their lyrics were deemed too complex and their sound too unlike the typical K-pop songs that dominated the airwaves at the time. But in 2005, they found mainstream success with their third album, Swan Songs, (originally meant to be their last), which featured the hit single Fly. Shortly after releasing Fly, they won the top spot on a popular Korean music show.

It was rare to see a Korean hip-hop group on those shows, but it was nearly impossible to get number one, Tablo explains. We were up against [K-pop group] TVXQat the peak of their popularity, and everyone was telling us congratulations for trying, but we actually won. That was a huge moment because it was also the moment that Korean hip-hop became recognized on national TV. I think that was the turning point.

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Today, the alternative hip-hop trio is widely credited with being one of the first acts to infuse hip-hop and rap into South Koreas mainstream music. Since their inception, Epik High has worked with artists across genres, helping inspire subsequent crossovers and collaborations in the Korean music industry and introducing a variety of sounds into K-pop and Korean hip-hop. Although their penchant for combining rap and hip-hop with elements of pop, rock, and even classical was initially considered too niche and experimental, its partly thanks to their pioneering efforts that weve heard these disparate genres often woven into K-pop songs over the years.

Whats amazing is that every artist that weve supposedly influenced takes it to another level, says Tablo. They will influence a bunch of other people that will take it even further. I would love it to be this domino effect.

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After Two Decades, Epik High Is Still Here and Still Shaping the Future of Korean Music - Vanity Fair

During the current pandemic, social distancing has been one tool used to reduce the spread of COVID-19. But data from a new study point to as much as a 27% increase in heart disease risk in postmenopausal women who experience both high levels of social isolation and loneliness.

The findings of the prospective study, published in the February 2, 2022, online issue of JAMA Network Open, reveal that social isolation and loneliness independently increased cardiovascular disease risk by 8% and 5% respectively. If women experienced high levels of both, their risk rose 13% to 27% compared to women who reported low levels of social isolation and low levels of loneliness.

We are social beings. In this time of COVID-19, many people are experiencing social isolation and loneliness, which may spiral into chronic states, said first author Natalie Golaszewski, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scholar at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego. It is important to further understand the acute and long-term effects these experiences have on cardiovascular health and overall well-being.

As social networks shrink, older adults are more at risk for social isolation and loneliness. Credit: Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego

Importantly, social isolation and loneliness are mildly correlated and can occur at the same time, but they are not mutually exclusive. A socially isolated person is not always lonely and conversely a person experiencing loneliness is not necessarily socially isolated.

Social isolation is about physically being away from people, like not touching or seeing or talking to other people. Loneliness is a feeling, one that can be experienced even by people who are regularly in contact with others, said senior author John Bellettiere, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of epidemiology at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health.

John Bellettiere, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of epidemiology at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at UC San Diego. Credit: University of California San Diego

Social isolation and loneliness are a growing public health concern as they are associated with health conditions that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease including obesity, smoking, physical inactivity, poor diet, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

When researchers included all of these health behaviors and conditions in their study and adjusted for diabetes and depression, high social isolation and loneliness remained strongly linked with increased risk for heart disease, supporting the importance of studying these social conditions.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, responsible for 1 in every 5 deaths.

As social networks shrink, older adults are more at risk for social isolation and loneliness, wrote the authors. One-fourth of adults 65 and older report social isolation and one-third of adults 45 or older report being lonely.

We do not yet know whether the increased risk of cardiovascular disease is due to acute exposure to social isolation and loneliness or whether prolonged exposure accumulated over a lifetime is the culprit. Further studies are needed to better understand that, said Bellettiere.

Previous research indicates women experience more social isolation than men.

Natalie Golaszewski, PhD, postdoctoral scholar at theHerbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at UC San Diego. Credit: University of California San Diego

For this study, 57,825 postmenopausal women living in the United States who had previously participated in the Womens Health Initiative study responded to questionnaires assessing social isolation from 2011 to 2012. They were sent a second questionnaire assessing loneliness and social support in 2014 to 2015.

Participants were followed from the time of the questionnaire completion through 2019 or when they were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. A total of 1,599 women experienced cardiovascular disease.

Measures of social isolation and loneliness even with brief questions as was done in our study should be incorporated into standard care, said Golaszewski. We monitor our patients blood pressure, weight and temperature, and it might also be beneficial to capture the social needs that individuals may be lacking to better understand cardiovascular risk and develop solutions.

Individuals who feel lonely or socially isolated can find information about steps to help reduce these feelings from the National Institute on Aging.

Reference: Evaluation of Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Cardiovascular Disease Among Older Women in the US by Natalie M. Golaszewski, PhD; Andrea Z. LaCroix, PhD; Job G. Godino, PhD; Matthew A. Allison, MD, MPH; JoAnn E. Manson, MD, DrPH; Jennifer J. King, PhD; Julie C. Weitlauf, PhD; Jennifer W. Bea, PhD; Lorena Garcia, PhD; Candyce H. Kroenke, ScD; Nazmus Saquib, PhD; Brad Cannell, PhD, MPH; Steve Nguyen, PhD and John Bellettiere, PhD, 2 February 2022, JAMA Network Open.DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.46461

Co-authors include: Andrea Z. LaCroix, Steve Nguyen and Matthew A. Allison, UC San Diego; Job G. Godino, UC San Diego and Laura Rodriguez Research Institute, Family Health Centers of San Diego; JoAnn E. Manson, Brigham and Womens Hospital, Harvard Medical School; Jennifer J. King and Jennifer W. Bea; University of Arizona Cancer Center; Julie C. Weitlauf, Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University School of Medicine; Lorena Garcia, University of California Davis School of Medicine; Candyce H. Kroenke, Kaiser Permanente Northern California; Nazmus Saquib, Sulaiman Al Rajhi University; and Brad Cannell, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health-Dallas Campus.

This research was funded, in part, by the National Institute on Aging (T32AG058529, P01AG052352) the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, (R01DK114945), and the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (T31KT1501). The Womens Health Initiative was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HHSN268-201100046C, HHSN268201100001C, HHSN26820-1100002C, HHSN268201100003C, HHSN26820-1100004C, HHSN271201100004C).

Disclosures: LaCroix reported receiving grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH) and grants from the National Institute on Aging during the conduct of the study and has been a paid consultant on a NIH grant for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Manson reported receiving grants from the NIH during the conduct of the study and grants from the NIH and Mars Edge outside the submitted work. Bea reported serving on the Womens Health Initiative Papers and Proposals Committee and being a consultant for the Western Region. Bellettiere reported receiving grants from the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program during the conduct of the study and personal fees from Meta outside the submitted work.

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Loneliness and Social Isolation Increase Heart Disease Risk in Senior Women - SciTechDaily