A montage of Rembrandt's self-portraits depicting his own aging.....

 

Our present research approach: HORMESIS - when mild stress is good
 

Hormesis - beneficial effects of mild stress - is a way to improve upon the natural homeodynamic network of vitagenes which assure longevity.

Repeated mild stress is a powerful tool to maintain the functioning of the homeodynamic/homeostatic network.
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 Some of my articles where hormesis in aging is discussed in detail are given below, and which can be seen as pdfs
 

Rattan, S.I.S.  Aging intervention, prevention and therapy through hormesis. Journals of Gerontology Biological Sciences, 59A: 705-709, 2004.

Rattan, S.I.S. Anti-ageing strategies: prevention or therapy? EMBO Reports, 6; S25-S29, 2005.

Rattan, S.I.S. Aging, anti-aging, and hormesis. Mechanisms of Ageing and Development, 125,285-289, 2004.

 Minois, N. and Rattan, S.I.S. Hormesis in aging and longevity. In: Modulating Aging and Longevity (edt: S.I.S. Rattan), pp. 127-137, Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands, 2003.

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Some thoughts about what is aging

•    Aging is an emergent phenomenon and a characteristic of protected environments.

Essential Lifespan versus Maximum Lifespan

• Evolutionarily, it is only the Essential Life Span (ELS) which is meaningful;
• Lifespan beyond ELS is just by chance and protection. Maximum lifespan is an artifact.

Thousands of papers describing the phenomenon of aging show that

the phenotype/progression of aging is:

• Different in different species
• Different in different individuals within a species
• Different in different organs within an individual
• Different in different cells within an organ
• Different in different subcellular compartments within a cell - &
• Different in different macromolecules

(Or: in a poetic way of saying:   we are born as copies, but we die as originals!!!!)

Or still another way of saying:

There is no angel of death.
Just as darkness is the absence of light; so is death - the absence of life.
Nobody is trying to kill you; the body is trying to live.

Most age-related changes are the sign of "continuous remodelling"
or "compensatory adaptation" or "survival instinct response".
Deleterious and fatal changes are coincidental.
 

Gerontogenes: real or virtual?

In accordance with the evolutionary theories of aging and longevity, Gerontogenes (genes for aging) are not real.
Gerontogenes is a functional reality, not a physical reality. They are VIRTUAL.
 

The real are vitagenes, or the so-called longevity assurance genes; it is these genes which have been selected for achieving ELS.

 

And now, my formula for eternal youth or eternal life (also the title of my  book for Danish schools)

E = GMC2

where G = Genes; M = Milieu; C = Chance