The Fountain of Youth is Free

by Nina

The Fountain of Youth by Lucas Cranach the Elder

“Researchers are optimistic about recent efforts to delay the effects of aging and, perhaps, extend life spans. 

"But at the same time, the scientific community is wary of how quickly these findings are packaged and resold by companies promising a fountain of youth. “It’s probably worse today than it’s ever been,” said Dr. S. Jay Olshansky, a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a research associate at the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago. “As soon as the scientists publish any glimmer of hope, the hucksters jump in and start selling.” —New York Times

I’m not sure why I even opened the New York Times special “Your Money” section on Wednesday—maybe it was because of the cute, colorful illustrations—because this issue was entitled “A Guide to Buying Just About Everything” and buying a lot of stuff isn’t exactly my idea of fun times. But it turned out that the article about what you couldn’t buy—the “just about” part of the issue—was the one that caught my attention. Because, you guessed it, it was about aging, and it was called Science (and Quacks) vs. the Aging Process. Although the article seemed to take a while to get to the point, it basically concluded that you should not spend your money on solutions for delaying aging. 

I have to say that nothing in the article was particularly new to me. After all, living with a medical researcher who studies aging, I’m well aware of all the snake oil being peddled out there to people who want an easy fix to the aging “problem." And the fact that there are currently no medications or supplements that have been proven to delay aging is one of the reasons why we never recommend supplements on our blog (though people ask about them all the time). As the article said: 

“People are aware of the aging process, and they want to interfere,” Dr. Barzilai said, but he said he thought it was a mistake to turn to Internet remedies. “Some are causing harm. Some, maybe, you couldn’t care less, and some might be even good, but we don’t know that.” 

But because I didn’t really know where this article was going with its message, I laughed when I reached the conclusion. 

"It is a message Dr. Olshansky echoes — instead of spending money on aging “fixes,” he suggests that people accept the bland prescription doctors have been offering for decades: a healthy diet and exercise. “You don’t need to spend money,” he said. “Maybe a good pair of running or walking shoes would work. Exercise is roughly the only equivalent of a fountain of youth that exists today, and it’s free to everyone.” 

Yes, we’re back to the same old basics: a healthy diet and exercise. And yoga can help with those basics. Of course, the asana practice is a wonderful exercise system (see Opening Your Yoga Toolbox) and various yoga practices, including meditation and conscious relaxation, can help with healthy eating (see Yoga for Healthy Eating: An Overview). But this doctor rather typically forgot about another basic: stress management. Because stress causes many age-related diseases, such as heart disease and strokes, using yoga to managing your stress is another important way to stay healthy as you age (see Stress, Your Health, and Yoga), and maybe even extend your life span. 

And, yes, especially if you practice yoga at home as I do, all these basics—exercise, practices to support healthy eating, and stress management—are free.

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