In my youth, consciously feeling gratitude was as foreign to me as a far-off galaxy. I was too busy living to pause and really appreciate what I had. If you’d told teenage me that gratitude could transform my health, I wouldn’t have paid much attention.

Despite my mum – who worked all her adult life in mental health – telling me that the mind, body and soul were all linked. And despite me being pretty ‘up’ on all things spiritual, I never once stopped to consider the power of “vitamin G”.

Now, older and humbled by life’s unexpected twists and turns, I’ve come to see gratitude as my daily dose of something we all need. Through personal experience and a deep dive into the science, I’ve learned that gratitude isn’t just a feel-good buzzword. It’s a scientifically backed elixir for overall health and well-being.

I was saying thanks – but did I mean it?

As a child, I was a bit of a whinger. There were many things I didn’t like. Getting up in the morning, milk, most food, going to bed, school… Smells, tastes, textures, certain music all upset me. My mood could go from happy to tearful in a matter of seconds, and small problems could easily sour a happy mood or pleasant day. I had been taught how to say thank you, but I never actually felt gratitude when I said it.

What I didn’t realise as a young person was that this sort of passive negativity was actually poisoning me

To me, being grateful involves a degree of positive outpouring, something I wasn’t very good at. I’ve always found saying thank you difficult. I can give compliments, no problem. Somehow that feels different. But being truly, from-the-heart grateful has never been easy. Did I see it as a weakness? It certainly didn’t sit comfortably with me and, even now, as an adult, I wrestle with it.

What I didn’t realise as a young person was that this sort of passive negativity was actually poisoning me. My stress levels have always been sky-high, I was hyper, my behaviour unpredictable, my sleep erratic.

I carried tension like a second skin. I used to joke that I didn’t need to work out as my muscles were permanently tense. It wasn’t until recently, during a rough patch, when a friend gave me a gratitude journal as a gift and challenged me to write three things I was thankful for each day, that I recognised how life-changing being grateful could be. What started as a half-hearted exercise soon became a lifeline and science explains why.

How does gratitude work? The science…

At first, my journal entries were uninspired. “Thanks for having food to eat, for my nice hair, my comfy bed…” But, over the weeks, I began noticing the really small stuff: the warmth of a sunny morning, a stranger’s smile, the blast of a song I liked from a passing car. I felt lighter, less anxious. My sleep improved, and I even caught myself smiling more.

A 2003 study by Emmons and McCullough found that people who kept gratitude journals reported higher life satisfaction and lower stress, with cortisol levels dropping by up to 23%.

When I made an effort to be more grateful, and to express my gratitude out loud, and more often, everything changed. Being stuck in traffic didn’t bother me like it used to; instead of fuming, I’d remind myself how lucky I was to have a car. Losing work wasn’t a problem; I was thankful for the work I already had and would be able to get in the future. Relationships ending didn’t devastate me the way it once did; I was grateful for the lessons I learned from them and pleased I was free to move on.

A 2010 study in Psychological Science found that gratitude enhances emotional resilience, helping people recover faster from stress and, once I understood this, I worked harder on my daily feelings of gratitude. I soon noticed that feeling grateful on a regular basis rewired my response to life’s little annoyances.

Aaron Burden / Unsplash

The science goes deeper

Gratitude boosts the brain’s feel-good chemicals, dopamine and serotonin. This explains why my mood could be lifted even when life wasn’t going swimmingly. In one experiment, participants who wrote gratitude letters showed increased activity in the brain’s reward centres, effects that lasted months.

For me, jotting down thanks for a friend laughing at one of my corny jokes or for an especially tasty meal became a daily dopamine hit, making the world feel less heavy. A 2019 study from University College London explored this further, revealing that gratitude practices, such as daily reflection on positive events, increased serotonin levels in the brain by up to 18%.

Practising gratitude has also transformed my relationships. In my youth, I took people for granted; my parents’ support, friends’ loyalty… I was too self-absorbed to say thank you with intention. Now, I make a point of expressing appreciation, whether it’s a quick text to a work colleague or a heartfelt message in a (real!) card to a loved one.

Physically, ‘Vitamin G’ has been a game-changer

I used to battle insomnia, my mind racing with worries. But gratitude quietens the noise. Now, I end my day listing three things I’m thankful for. A cosy blanket, a good book, a kind word… and it lulls my brain into rest.

Another study linked gratitude to lower blood pressure and better immune function, suggesting my body was reaping rewards beyond my improved sleep. Even my heart health might be getting a boost.

…gratitude reduces stress, boosts mood, strengthens relationships, improves sleep and supports physical health

When I reflect on what I’m thankful for, I can almost feel my body relax and my breathing slow down. Looking back, I wish I’d embraced Vitamin G sooner. It’s not about ignoring life’s challenges or faking positivity. It’s about spotting the good amid the mess.

The science is clear: gratitude reduces stress, boosts mood, strengthens relationships, improves sleep and supports physical health. I intend to make feeling, really feeling grateful a daily ritual in the hope that it’ll make my day easier and my moving through the world smoother.

If I can become a gratitude convert, anyone can. So, take a dose of Vitamin G today. It’s free, it’s powerful and it might just be the healthiest habit you’ll ever pick up!

Jacqui Deevoy

Jacqui Deevoy has been a freelance journalist for over three decades, starting out on teenage magazines, then later working for women’s magazines worldwide, and national newspapers including the Daily Mail, the Mirror, Express and Telegraph. These days, as well as writing for magazines, papers and websites, she produces documentaries and hosts a Monday night talk show for Unprecedented TV.

The post The scientific health benefits of feeling gratitude appeared first on Silver Magazine.

Many of us love a spa weekend. The calm atmosphere and relaxing treatments – you come away feeling rested and pampered. However, the results don’t always last as long as you’d like! The new Longevity Accelerator Retreat has taken pampering and rejuvenation to the next level, so the effects carry on long after you leave.

The science-focused experience combines technology and wellbeing to boost cell function, re-energise, and detoxify the body, all tailored by personal bio analysis information. The retreat’s personalised scientific insight is invaluable to building a regime that boosts longevity. And the entire experience is underscored by the care and attentiveness of staff and treatment.

A spa trip like no other

The retreat is held here, at the Four Seasons, Hampshire

The entire retreat is set in the stunning Georgian mansion of the Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire. With the beautiful English countryside as the backdrop to the trip, you’re sure to feel rested and relaxed before any of your treatment even starts.

The team provides more than just an overnight spa trip. Consultations with nutritionists and medical experts formulate the treatment you receive, ensuring every guest gets the most out of their retreat. A one-to-one consultation with a doctor will also address concerns and help you gain a deeper understanding of your individual health.

Tailored, scientific longevity treatment

The bio analysis is what makes this retreat a truly stand-out experience. It provides a breakdown of each guest’s body on a molecular level. This analysis measures fat mass, skeletal muscle mass, and visceral fat composition.

Fat mass sheds light on any weight fluctuations within a person. Measuring your skeletal muscle mass will help maintain the muscle mass through weight management and diet. Finally, identifying visceral fat value is highly important, as it’s a high indicator of how at risk an individual is to cardiometabolic illnesses, like heart disease, stroke, or diabetes.

The bio analysis provides a breakdown of each guest’s body on a molecular level

Genetic testing is also included at the retreat, which will highlight any changes in the genes, that could cause health issues. So, you’ll know well in advance if there’s a chance you’re susceptible to a rare or inherited condition. Providing guests with knowledge and the empowerment to take their health into their hands.

Following the bio analysis, experts use this information to build the most effective nutrition plan, exercise regime, and treatments for your body, during the stay. Which is what truly makes this a unique and personal retreat experience.

The spa treatment side

The science doesn’t just stop at bioanalysis though. The spa treatments on the retreat utilise the latest scientific technology to boost and rejuvenate your cells.

LGP and red light therapy treatments are used to improve skin health, boost collagen, increase muscle recovery, and reduce joint pain. So how does this work?

This type of light therapy has been found to enhance the body’s cellular function through stimulating the mitochondria, which power the cell. The stimulation of mitochondria strengthens cells, leading to cells repairing themselves and functioning with higher efficiency. Providing deep life-enhancing treatment.

The spa treatments on the retreat utilise the latest scientific technology to boost and rejuvenate your cells

Other treatments are also available to re-energise and boost muscular fitness. EMS training targets deep muscles which are often hard to activate in traditional work outs. Altitude training and radio frequency will regenerate and increase endurance, and ‘airenergy’ inhalation feeds your body’s cells with highly oxygenated air.

The tailored life-enhancing treatment also extends into nutrition and movement. Expect locally sourced ingredients and fresh smoothies to further boost your internal rejuvenation by detoxifying the body and boosting digestion.

The take aways

A luxury venue, the highest standard of service and care, partnered with leading technology to enhance and rejuvenate the body makes this spa experience unsurpassed by others.

And, in addition to all that, support from the Longevity Accelerator Retreat extends beyond the stay. Personalised meal plans and supplements are provided to continue guests’ rejuvenation journey past the walls of the Four Seasons Hotel. You are also given a report from the genetic and bio analysis. Therefore, you come away feeling confident in your own health journey.

Details

The Longevity Accelerator Retreat takes place across two days and one night. From 24 February to 25 February 2024. If you’re interest in boosting your own health and longevity, you can book this experience now.

Lana Hall

Lana can usually be found spinning her collection of records, or writing odd poems in her phone notes. Her mixer of choice is a ginger beer, and you’ll never find her away from the sea for more than a few weeks.

The post A retreat where longevity science and spa treatments combine appeared first on Silver Magazine.

But it can also be inspired by holding a newborn baby, witnessing an incredible feat of human endeavour, or standing by an ancient oak tree. ‘Awesome’ is a hugely overused word these days, but what does awesome mean, in a real sense?

The definition of awe

The Oxford English dictionary describes awe as ‘solemn and reverential wonder.’ And we should try and experience more of it because, as researchers are finding out, awe is very good for us.

Numerous studies have shown that positive experiences of awe (unlike the negative awe we encounter when witnessing a natural disaster), can make us less materialistic and more satisfied with our lives. Awe makes us more pro-social – meaning we’re more likely to volunteer or help others – and it could even help to lower inflammation in the body, which improves our physical health.

“… positive experiences of awe can make us less materialistic and more satisfied with our lives.”

Human interest in the awesome power of awe goes back a long time. In 1757, in the catchily-named; A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, philosopher Edmund Burke explored the concept.

He stated that awe – or the sublime as he called it – could come out of everyday experiences such as being moved by music or even hearing thunder. This caused a sense of astonishment which, he declared, was a ‘state of the soul in which all its motions are suspended’.

In turn, this has been interpreted as a situation in which our mind is so filled with wonder, we don’t have much capacity to think of anything else. Easy to see why, then, an awesome experience may help take our mind off our concerns and worries.

Read more – Finding awe during a scenic train journey

The positive effects of awe

A 2015 a study reported in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology noted that participants who spent just one minute in a grove of stately eucalyptus trees on a university campus were more helpful to a researcher who dropped a number of pens near them. These participants helped retrieve more pens than those who had spent the equivalent amount of time staring at a modern building, and were subjected to the same staged incident.

The experiment was run at the University of California Berkeley, where the respected psychologist Professor Dacher Keltner and his team at the Greater Good Science Center has extensively researched the concept of awe and its beneficial effects.

In a landmark paper published 12 years before the eucalyptus tree study, Prof Keltner and Jonathan Haidt suggested that our experience of awe could be categorised as “perceived vastness” and a “need for accommodation.”

“… a white paper linked experiences of awe to a decrease in chronic inflammation markers”

Together with the philanthropic John Templeton Foundation, a white paper by the Greater Good Science Center linked experiences of awe to a decrease in chronic inflammation markers, which are associated with arthritis, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Meanwhile, research by psychological scientists Melanie Rudd, Kathleen D Vohs and Jennifer Aaker reported that feeling awe made people less impatient and more generous with their time. “Experiences of awe bring people into the present moment, and being in the present moment underlies awe’s capacity to adjust time perception, influence decisions, and make life feel more satisfying than it would otherwise,” they concluded.

And these advantages can be very swift. Researchers from UC Berkeley revealed that experiencing awe – in this case white-water rafting and being in nature – showed benefits to the participating military veterans and young people from underserved communities within one week. Participants reported positive changes in their wellbeing and stress-related symptoms.

The big question, of course, is why does feeling awe produce these effects?

The John Templeton Foundation says it’s because it shifts our attention away from ourselves. The fact that awesome experiences often make us feel smaller in a good way may help to minimise our worries in comparison. It may also provoke a positive ‘cognitive realignment’ or thinking differently.

Professor Keltner is in no doubt how important it is for us to experience this transcendence. In his latest book, Awe: The Transformative Power of Everyday Wonder:  he says: “Twenty years into teaching happiness I have an answer: FIND AWE.”

The best news of all is that you don’t need to book a fly-drive to the Grand Canyon or cruise to the Northern Lights to achieve this.

Experiments with ‘awe walks’ – where people go out and deliberately observe mighty trees, the sea, or fields of flowers – have shown that this activity can deliver measurable benefits in our wellbeing.

So, armed with all this, how to go about getting yourself a daily dose of awe? Here’s a few ideas to get you stated…

How to find yourself some awe!

1. Find the highest hill in your area and then walk to the top and just look. Seeing the landscape like this will help you to feel ‘smaller’ and research shows this experience can help put your problems in perspective
2. Get up before dawn (set your alarm!) and witness the sunrise. Not an early bird? Take yourself off to a hill or maybe even the beach or a lake, and watch the sun set. Remember, though, that you must NEVER look directly at the sun itself!
3. Go and stand next to an enormous, ancient or very tall tree. Marvel at its rootedness, the size of its branches, the millions of insects it supports and the fact that it’s probably been in the same place for hundreds of years.
4. Listen to stirring music – whether it’s Zadok the Priest from King Charles’s Coronation, Handel’s Messiah, or a live recording of your favourite rock ‘n’ roll song, anything that sets your spine tingling delivers a welcome dose of awe
5. Look into the night sky. Whether it’s the billions of stars or the magnificence of a full moon, you can’t fail to be awed by the sheer, unfathomable vastness of it all
6. Visit a cathedral, Stonehenge or the Angel of the North and marvel at the mightiness and mystery of these structures
7. Watch a David Attenborough programme and feel the wonder wash over you at our beautiful, awesome world

Faith Eckersall

Award-winning journo and lady ranter Faith lives near the south coast with her husband and son and an enormous ginger cat. A constant reader of books, magazines, the sides of articulated lorries… she is besotted with old buildings, new ideas and TV crime dramas. She’s written for everyone from the Sunday Times to the Mail on Sunday and now, after scooping the Grazia First Chapter Award at the Women’s Prize for Fiction, is writing novels.

The post What does ‘awesome’ truly mean, and why feeling awe is good for you appeared first on Silver Magazine.

Dr Max Gowland

Since 1900, the average life expectancy has risen from 47 to 79, with women living around two to three years longer than men. Improved hygiene combined with better nutrition are two significant contributing factors of longer life, alongside advances in medicine. Now that we’re living longer, we’re noticing some health changes as we age.

As we reach our fifties, we tend to notice a decline across a range of health areas. The four main areas we should turn our attention to include:

• Cardiovascular system
• Cognitive function
• Gut and immune health
• Body composition

Cardiovascular health

Our heart beats 100,000 times every day, pumping five litres of blood through 60,000 miles of capillaries. It’s an extraordinary organ, but one that is prone to disease as we age.

What happens?

Coronary Heart Disease is the most common problem we deal with, affecting around 7.6 million people in the UK alone. It occurs when the large coronary arteries of the heart become narrowed due to a build-up of atheroma, a complex fatty deposit that increases over time.

What causes it?

It is far more complex than just ‘eating too much cholesterol’. Around 80% of cholesterol found in a typical lipid panel blood test is a result of one’s tendency to produce it ‘endogenously’. In other words, the cholesterol is produced within the body rather than as a result of eating fatty foods.

Pain from this fatty plaque blockade can manifest itself as angina – chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart muscles. If a full arterial blockage occurs, this can become a myocardial infarction, which is a type of heart attack.

Unfortunately, the biggest risk [to our hearts] is age itself.

Other risk factors of poor cardiovascular health include smoking, a poor diet, stress, obesity, and lack of activity. Unfortunately, the biggest risk is age itself.

How can we manage this?

Exercise is the magic silver bullet. Combined with healthy eating, this will ensure your heart will stay as healthy as it can be for as long as possible.

On the supplement front, Omega 3 fatty acids (which are found in fish oil and krill oil) contain the most important active ingredients: DHA and EPA. Both of these are essential for not only heart health, but vision and brain health, too.

These nutrients exist naturally in fish oil, though data from Public Health England (PHE) has shown that the average intake of oily fish is only a third of the daily recommendation.

Other supplements that can aide in good heart health include Thiamin (Vitamin B1) which has been proven to promote the normal functioning of the heart, and Vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 is known for its contribution towards bone strength, which is does by depositing calcium into the bone by ‘stealing’ that calcium from the inside of our arteries, which lessens the risk of heart disease caused by fatty plaques.

Cognitive function

The brain makes up 2% of our overall body weight, yet it requires 20% of the energy available to the whole body. It’s a nutrition-greedy organ composed primarily of fat.

What happens?

After the age of forty, our brains decline by around 5% every year. A lot of this damage is what scientists call ‘oxidative stress’. This is where reactive biochemicals from the energy-making processes in our bodies create damaging ‘free radicals’, which attack our cells.

According to the Prime Fifty White Paper Market Research (2014), most people interviewed said they were worried about their brain health and cognitive abilities as they aged. They were keen to avoid dementia, particularly the devastating Alzheimer’s disease which, as we know, robs us of the ability to think logically.

What causes it?

Alzheimer’s is caused by the presence of protein deposits that have become insoluble and disrupt the brain’s ability to function properly. Lack of quality sleep has also been shown to contribute to Alzheimer’s disease, so sleep is a massive priority as we age.

How can we manage this?

Exercise and good nutrition is the best way to stave off dementia, as well as quality sleep and a no smoking mindset. Staying mentally active and maintaining social interactions has also been shown to help with extending cognitive ability into older age.

Again, Omega 3 fish oil is a well-proven brain health supplement, but there are many other nutrients that support the same benefits. These include: iron, zinc, iodine, calcium, magnesium pantothenic acid, and co-enzyme Q10. It would be beneficial to find a UK-manufactured product which has been specifically formulated for brain health, to avoid buying all of these nutrients individually.

Gut health and immunity

Scientists are now In agreement that our gut plays a significant role in our overall health and wellbeing. One of the better-known gut health connections is the gut-brain axis of influence. The latest science is showing that our gut health influences many more aspects of our health, including our weight and body composition, our cardiovascular health, and more.

There are around 10 trillion human cells in our body, yet our gut and colon contain near 100 trillion bacteria cells, making us technically more bacteria than human! It’s easy to see how this huge amount of biochemical ‘soup’ has such an influence on our overall health.

What happens?

One of the issues with ageing is that we tend to exhibit what is called dysbiosis, which is where the balance between ‘good’ or healthy bacteria and ‘bad’ or pathogenic bacteria becomes out of balance. This makes the gut more prone to various issues such as IBS, constipation, and bloating. In turn, this can reduce the protection offered by our immune system. This is known as immune-senescence, which is when the immune system becomes less affective and is less able to protect us against infections.

What causes it?

Keeping our gut healthy is essential. With time, our gut tends to undergo structural changes which can give rise to constipation. Other factors that can influence our gut health and immunity include lack of exercise, not drinking enough, medications, poor diet, poor sleep health, stress, and perhaps most importantly, not eating enough fibre, which is so important for regularity.

PHE data shows clearly that the vast majority of older adults are not getting the recommended daily intake of many essential nutrients, which in turn will lead to a weakened immune system.

How can we manage this?

There are some gut and immunity supplements that have been formulated specifically for older adults. Typically, these products will contain all the important immunity vitamins and minerals, including Vitamins C, D, B6, B12, folate, copper, and selenium. Consuming these nutrients is key to keeping our immune systems healthy.

These supplements should also consist of a multi-strain probiotic blend of various live bacteria such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, usually in a protective hard-shelled capsule to ensure their safe and protected transit to the gut. There are some single strain products, but it has been shown that multi-strain products are by far the better supplement, as they are more effective in bringing bacterial diversity to the gut.

Immune attack explained

Weight and body composition

Most people will recognise that as we age, we tend to put on additional weight, which tends to be fat instead of muscle.

What causes it?

We tend to be less active as we grow up, thus burning less calories. We also have a slower metabolism, which means the calorie burning is much slower. Most of this is due to the aforementioned loss of muscle mass, as the muscle tissue is the key factor in burning calories. In short, the less muscle we have, the fewer calories we’re burning.

Another cause for weight gain is due to hormonal changes. For women, the menopause brings around the decline in oestrogen, progesterone, and sex hormones. For men, it’s all about their testosterone levels. Lower testosterone and growth hormones in men causes muscle loss, and encourages fat to be deposited more easily.

How can we manage it?

We have to exercise daily and ensure we eat healthily, while avoiding high calorie meals that are notoriously full of fat and sugar, and typically low on healthy micronutrients. It’s also fair to say that there is no quick fix. Ultra-low-calorie dieting is not advisable, despite its short-term effectiveness. Admittedly, weight loss is usually rapid during this fasting process, but in most cases the ‘diet rebound’ can cause even more weight gain as the body’s metabolism adjusts to the previous starvation diet.

There are also no magic supplements that can help. Don’t believe all you read in the press or on the internet. There are also large numbers of products advertising themselves as effective ‘fat burners’, but the science clearly tells us that these simply do not exist.

Things to take away

Whether it’s your cardiovascular health, your immunity, your gut health or your overall brain health, there is no mistaking that there are four basic pillars of health and longevity, that if managed well, will yield a long and healthy life.

1. Managing your nutrition

Manage your nutrition with a healthy, well-balanced diet with plenty of fruit and veg, protein and fibre too. Avoiding high sugar products and high sugar sodas is essential.

Supplements are also a useful addition to a normal diet to ensure that all the necessary vitamins and mineral requirements are met on a daily basis.

2. Incorporating regular exercise

Exercise is key. There are now so many high-calibre scientific articles on this subject, demonstrating the significant effect that regular exercise can have on all facets of your health, including your mental health too.

3. Establishing a sleep routine

We know from many sleep studies that lack of sleep is clearly linked to a raft of disease states, including cardiovascular disease and surprisingly cancers too. It’s also imperative for a healthy mind. Getting that eight hours every night is key.

4. Handling stress

We all have stress of various types in our lives and each time we feel stressed, a cascade of unhealthy biochemical effects occurs which can do long term harm to our health in general. Stress is known to exert negative effects on our cardiovascular health and of course our psychological wellbeing too.

Some manage stress better than others and if possible, you should find ways of dealing with stress as a failure to do so can produce negative consequences on our overall health and general wellbeing.

Carly Pepperell

Carly gets to do everything under the sun, including writing, editing, taking photos, creating stories, and swanning around at launches. She can down a glass of Prosecco without pausing for breath, and aims to be the youngest Pulitzer winner ever.

The post Four health changes we experience as we reach 50 appeared first on Silver Magazine.

FutureYou Cambridge’s Dr Max Gowland tells us everything we need to know about managing our musculoskeletal health, which includes our bones, muscles, and joints.

Dr Max Gowland

Muscle mass

What happens?

We tend to lose a significant amount of muscle mass as we age. Scientific data (Breen et al, 2007) shows that we lost around 1-2% of our muscle mass each year once we reach our mid-forties. This means that by the time we’re in our mid-sixties, we will have lost around 25% of our total body muscle.

This process is scientifically named ‘sarcopenia’, and it is a completely normal – albeit unhealthy – part of ageing. This muscles loss speeds up as we age, and can become a real health issue if we don’t do something about it.

To put this into perspective, recent clinical trials show that, when immobile for 28 days, a middle-aged person may lose around 400 grams of muscle tissue from their legs. This compares to a shocking kilogram of muscle being lost from a seventy-year-old’s legs when inactive for just three days. This shows how prone we are to losing valuable, healthy muscle tissue as we age, especially if we fail to exercise.

What causes it?

Many of us cease to exercise regularly once we reach 50, and this sedentary behaviour therefore gets worse, causing a reduction in muscle mass. Another factor affecting this is our intake – or lack thereof – of protein in our diet.

How can we manage it?

Muscle is largely protein-based in nature, and so it needs a daily influx to rebuild lost muscle protein. The latest science shows we need around 100 grams of high-quality protein per day in order to combat the accelerated loss of muscle as we age.

Exercise has been proven time and time again to significantly improve our overall health, so it’s important to incorporate regular activity into your routine.

Left: muscle mass of a 25-year-old
Right: muscle mass of a 63-year-old

Bone density

What happens?

Our bones encounter a significant loss of density – which equals strength – as we age. Our maximum bone strength occurs just after we reach 30 years old, so those of us who have failed to maximise our bone strength by this time will be more prone to problems later in life. Osteoporosis is loss of strength and bone density, as the bone becomes more porous.

What causes it?

Women are much more prone to losing bone density as they enter the menopause, as their oestrogen and progesterone levels fall quickly. Around 50% of women will suffer from osteoporosis at some time. Weakened or ‘brittle’ bones leads to a higher risk of fractures, particularly in the hips.

How can we manage it?

Avoiding low calorie diets is key – it’s important to consume plenty of protein and calcium. Partaking in weight-bearing exercises is also a good idea for building healthy bones. Vitamin D and collagen supplements are also recommended for strengthening our bones.

Bone density loss

Joint health

What happens?

Our joints play a significant part in what causes us pain and slow us down. According to NHS data, 50% of adults have already sought medical attention for a variety of joint problems. This is an area which can cause incapacitation in so many people, especially if the individuals struggle to keep their joints moving.

What causes it?

Our joints can sometimes be stiff and sore due to inflammation, which in turn can result in us becoming sedentary. In turn, if we fail to keep moving, we can enter the vicious cycle in which we fail to exercise enough, causing our joints to become worse. This can lead to losing healthy muscle tissue. There are people who give up on their joints and fail to stay active, leading to early onset frailty.

Our muscles require daily protein to just maintain existing muscle tissue – a failure to consume enough protein a day will speed up muscle decline.

How can we manage it?

Exercising is the key to maintaining our musculoskeletal health as we age. It is the ‘silver bullet’ to all-round health and wellness, but it does take some effort.

Ensuring we eat enough protein is key. One of the main problems with this is actually trying to eat enough protein. The recommended daily intake is 100 grams, which is the food equivalent of around four chicken breasts or 18 eggs. This is why supplementation is a good idea.

Osteoarthritis explained

Significant supplements

Supplements like these below from FutureYou Cambridge containing Vitamin D are also beneficial for muscle health, though we are virtually all failing to get enough Vitamin D from both our diet and sunlight at the moment.

Zinc and magnesium are also needed for protein synthesis, so these are worthwhile supplements to maximise your muscle health.

Carly Pepperell

Carly gets to do everything under the sun, including writing, editing, taking photos, creating stories, and swanning around at launches. She can down a glass of Prosecco without pausing for breath, and aims to be the youngest Pulitzer winner ever.

The post Managing our musculoskeletal health appeared first on Silver Magazine.

The latest research from LoveHoney (the ‘sexual happiness people’) shows that by 2031, you’ll be more likely to meet a partner online rather than off. Furthermore, 38% of people will meet the love of their life through online dating sites or apps.

the biggest growth area in online dating services in the next decade will be the 55 to 64 age group

It also shows that the biggest growth area in online dating services in the next decade will be the 55 to 64 age group, with a 30% rise in the number of singles in this age bracket. There’s a noticeable increase in them signing up to online dating sites.

Does this surprise you? Probably not.

With the likes of Tinder, Bumble, Grindr, and PlentyOfFish – to name but a few of the most popular online dating apps – it’s impossible to ignore this huge phenomenon in finding your lifelong partner (or even your ‘just for now’ partner!).

Too much choice (of both apps and potential partners) has led to serial daters who are never satisfied with their match; always on the lookout for someone more attractive, more intelligent, or simply more convenient due to their locality. And with sites such as Tinder allowing you to potentially connect with a new person at the swipe of button, it’s never been easier to be morally and physically more relaxed.

FINDING REAL CONNECTIONS?

So, how can you possibly find a true connection with this type of disconnected dating? And what’s the solution to this ennui with current dating apps? Well, the team behind Pheramor, a Houston-based dating app, think they’ve found the answer – DNA dating.

According to the website, ‘Pheramor is pioneering the next generation of matchmaking by combining science and technology. We bring love at first sight to the palm of your hand’.

This unique platform only requires a swab from the inside of your cheek and unlimited access to your social media platforms

Referring to themselves as ‘the world’s first smart dating app’, this unique platform only requires a swab from the inside of your cheek and unlimited access to your social media platforms. From which it claims to be able to find your perfect match.

On paper, this seems like the ideal solution to the current over-saturated online dating market – no need to fill in extensive profiles, and no need to be constantly updating your photos to stand out from an ever-increasing crowd of gorgeous high achievers who seem to all participate in extreme sports every single weekend! You know the ones I mean?

Wouldn’t it be easier for a third party to scientifically match you to your perfect partner? It’s science, so it must be foolproof, no?

Pheramor has a team of in-house scientists who can isolate the 11 key genes in your DNA that determine how physically attracted you are to another person

HOW IT WORKS

Pheramor has a team of in-house scientists who can isolate the 11 key genes in your DNA that determine how physically attracted you are to another person. In other words, they claim to be able to identify who you’ll be sexually compatible with by use of an algorithm. To support their theory, they call upon the 1998 ‘sweaty T-shirt experiment’. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Well, no one said the path to true love was paved with roses!

Within this study, a group of men were asked to wear the same t-shirt for two days. A group of women then had to smell these shirts and state which ones they felt most sexually attracted to. This experiment found that women were more attracted to the smell of men who had the greatest genetic difference from themselves on a specific chromosome.

Pheramor combines this analysis of your DNA with an extensive investigation and summary of your social media presence; for example, activities you’ve liked, events you’ve shared, places you’d like to visit, and any hashtags you’ve posted. This results in them, apparently, being able to find your perfect match!

DOES THIS SOUND TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?

No more bad first dates? No more spending ages getting to know someone online, only to find that there’s no attraction in the flesh. No more ghosting (ending a relationship by suddenly withdrawing all communication), or benching (stopping meeting in person, but continuing to message online, basically keeping you on a hook). Just your perfect match, handed to you on a plate.

But isn’t half the fun of dating the anticipation? The not knowing if he or she will be ‘the one’? The fun, the laughter, and yes, sometimes the tears, of getting to know someone new? It’s like reaching the finish line before you’ve even started the race.

BACK TO BASICS
It may seem inconceivable to the younger generation, but people did meet, date and fall in love prior to the existence of online dating. Yes, we’re busier now – perhaps more than ever before. Yes, we live in a society where technology’s used on a daily, if not hourly basis, with everything from our shopping to banking to booking a holiday being carried out online.

But do we really need the internet for dating? Why not buck the trend and go old school? Ask family and friends for set-ups (they know you better than any algorithm will ever do). Widen your social circle, and be open to new experiences and meeting new people. Simply put yourself out there! What have you got to lose?!

Tabatha Fabray

The post DNA dating – is saliva and social media behaviour the key to finding ‘the one’? appeared first on Silver Magazine.

It seems cruel to us as humans that something as precious as life can be taken away so suddenly and often without good cause or reason. This has led to people dedicating their lives to discovering a way to, if not avoid death, have a chance to be resurrected in the future.

A chance to try again.

So, what exactly is cryonics?

Cryonics is the process of deep-freezing the body of a person who has just died, with the hope that they’ll be able to be successfully revived sometime in the future.

Using temperatures below -130 degrees, cryonics attempts to preserve sufficient brain information through either cryopreservation (freezing with a cryoprotectant), or by vitrification, in order to avoid ice damage.

Is it actually possible?

As it stands, scientists have insufficient technology to repair or regenerate the tissues that will have been damaged from the cryopreservation process. The brain especially would need molecular analysis that we simply cannot carry out at this present time, or even in the near future.

For revival to be successful, scientists would need to be able to repair damage from lack of oxygen, cryoprotectant toxicity and thermal stress; not to mention that they would need to reverse whatever had caused the individual to die in the first place!

Are we messing with the natural lifespan too much?

Some scientists believe that head preservation is the most viable and cost-efficient option for those wanting to live on after death. A controversial procedure, there are only three facilities in the world that offer to freeze your brain for you. Russian company KrioRus are the cheapest (although you may not want to cut costs for this one!), offering ‘neuropreservation’ at a bargain price of £10,000.

So, let’s say for argument’s sake that this could actually work. Your body has ceased to be, but your head, your brain and your memories have been saved. Where would your physical head go? Would you trust a future generation not to take advantage of your lack of a body?

It’s not outside the realms of possibility to assume that only the ultra-rich would have sufficient funds to pay for the technology needed to revive your head. And what about your actual memories? If science has yet to develop the technology to sustain your physical head, it’s likely that your actual memories will have been downloaded onto a computer.

Think Black Mirror’s ‘Black Museum’ episode. If you haven’t seen it, in a nutshell, it shows the dangers of having your mind downloaded by a third party. And this of courses raises more questions: again, would you trust a future generation to act morally and have your best interests at heart?

Why do we fear death and seek immortality so readily?

Fear of death largely stems from fear of the unknown. What happens next? Where do we go? Surely this cannot be it? We’re born, we live, we die? There must be more to it than that.

It’s the one thing in life that we can be certain of happening to each and every one of us, yet we don’t really know what happens. This can be a terrifying thought for some, and leads to the relentless desire to find an alternative.

However, what is the future if not the unknown?

We cannot even begin to imagine what the world around us will be like in fifty years’ time, let alone in another century or two. From the way society is heading now, it’s not inconceivable to expect a dystopian future where the world is overpopulated, and resources are sparse.

There’s no way of knowing when you would be woken up; what year, decade, or even what century. Would you be able to cope with that? Isn’t it better to just prepare for your natural end?

A world and life with none of your family and friends; all that you once held dear to you would be a distant memory. Unless you’ve chosen to have your whole family frozen, but even then, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be revived together, or that each person’s resurrection would be a success.

On a more positive note…

It’s fair to say that modern medical procedures and advancements would seem incredulous, and, in some cases, terrifying to someone whose life was coming to an end 100 years ago. Mouth to mouth resuscitation, a common practice now, was invented a mere 62 years ago; but before then, this simple life-saving procedure was completely unheard of.

Can you imagine what your grandparents would have said if you told them that, in the near future, someone could successfully have a double hand transplant? (This was first achieved in 2004, by the way). I’m guessing that they would have laughed their heads off at you (pun intended).

It’s entirely possible that, in the future, you could be placed in a body that’s superior to your current one; immune to disease, free from sickness, stronger. We can’t say for certain what will be possible in the future.

What we can be sure about is the here and now. Without sounding like a walking cliché, perhaps it’s better to embrace the life we have now, live each day to the full, cherish each moment with our loved ones, and make each day count. For what is the alternative? An uncertain future based on a series of unproven theories.

And if you’re still unsure, you should know that Simon Cowell is planning to have his body frozen. Do you really have much faith in anything this man believes in?

What do you think? Would you want to be frozen after death and brought back to life in the future? Join the debate #Cryonics #FrozenInTime #Life #Death

For more information check out the Institute, or Alcor

Tabatha Fabray

The post Cryonics: Can you really cheat death, and would you want to? appeared first on Silver Magazine.