Aging and Mobility Health Strategies

Mobility Problems

• Currently, mobility issues and pain are responsible for a high proportion of health burdens.
• Pain prevalence is higher among females.

Health Revolution

• The goal is to extend healthspan - live long and well.
• Healthspan refers to the number of years a person lives in good health.

Strategies to Prevent Functional Decline

• Strategies to prevent functional decline are divided into primary and secondary prevention.
• Primary prevention aims to delay onset, reduce severity, or prevent age-related functional decline. It has the potential to extend healthspan, especially if implemented throughout life.
• Secondary prevention focuses on improving function in individuals experiencing decline, aiming to prevent further deterioration, delay or prevent chronic diseases, and even improve function.

Slowing Aging

• There are different biological theories of aging, including programmed aging and damage/error-based theories.
• Programmed aging suggests cells have a biological clock preprogramming them to function normally for a specific period before malfunctioning.
• Damage/error-based theories propose that damage accumulates inside cells over time, eventually causing cell malfunction.
• Cellular dysfunction leads to an imbalance in homeostasis, eventually causing systemic malfunction.

Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Aging

• Aging is caused by cellular dysfunction, involving multiple cellular changes.
• These changes include:
  • Genomic instability: DNA becomes more susceptible to mutations and damage.
  • Epigenetic modifications: Gene expression is turned on or off due to genomic level malfunction.
  • Telomere attrition: Telomeres, the caps at the end of DNA, shorten over time.

Exercise and Aging

• Regular exercise has protective effects on cells and can slow down aging.
• Exercise reduces oxidative stress, chronic low-grade inflammation, and improves mitochondrial health and function.
• Exercise helps maintain telomere length, which is associated with a longer lifespan.

Caloric Restriction and Intermittent Fasting

• Caloric restriction has shown to increase lifespan and delay physiological decline in rodent and primate studies.
• Humans find extreme caloric restriction difficult to maintain long-term.
• Intermittent fasting is emerging as a promising anti-aging strategy.

Calorie Restriction in Rhesus Monkeys

• Monkeys on a calorie-restricted diet demonstrated:
  • Optimal body weight and composition.
  • Lower incidence of cancer.
  • Lower incidence of cardiovascular disease.
  • Better control of blood glucose levels.

Mouse Lemur Study

• A study on calorie-restricted mouse lemurs showed a 50% increase in median lifespan compared to control animals.
• Age-related deaths were significantly lower in the calorie-restricted group.

Intermittent Fasting and Autophagy

• Intermittent fasting triggers autophagy, a process that cleans up cellular damage associated with aging.
• Intermittent fasting also induces cellular stress resistance.
• Research on intermittent fasting and longevity health benefits is ongoing.

Diet Composition

• A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, nuts, and oils is beneficial for anti-aging.

This quiz explores the impact of mobility problems and pain on health. It discusses strategies for preventing functional decline, focusing on primary and secondary prevention methods to enhance healthspan. Additionally, it delves into various theories of aging and their implications for health.