>>A Blog About the Science and Technology of Living Forever

by David Bunnell This past week my colleague Shirley Gines (pictured above) and I visited the Mountain View office of Vasper Fitness and Performance Systems to test their high-tech exercise machine.  Reportedly, it provides the equivalent of a two-hour workout in only 20 minutes. And you don’t sweat! Even more compelling, exercising on a Vasper has been shown to increase the body’s production of human growth hormone (HGH). This has many benefits including increased muscle mass and bone density, decreased body fat, improved sleep, increased focus and clarity of mind, faster recovery from exercise or physical injuries, and increased exercise capacity. Whether higher levels of HGH actually make you younger or not is debatable but who cares if it gives you more energy and makes you feel younger. If you can increase your HGH levels naturally without the fuss of expensive, daily injections that may come with some alarming side-effects (see Mayo Clinic article) then Vasper is a potential winner for anyone who wants to live a longer, healthier life. Just getting to the Vasper office is quite an adventure as it is located at Moffitt Field NASA Ames Research Center under the shadow of one of the world’s largest free standing buildings–Hangar One, a massive blimp hangar built during the Depression. From highway 101 you have to drive through a military checkpoint, where you simply tell the nice marine that you are visiting Vasper and show him your California driver’s license. You then follow a windy road towards Hangar One past some vacant military buildings and an immaculately mowed parade ground to a group of trailer-like structures. One of these is building 566, the Vasper office/combination gymnasium. (The reason Vasper is at this peculiar location is because they have a research contract with NASA to see if their exercise technology...

Vasper, a high-tech exercise machine, reportedly provides the equivalent of a two-hour workout in only 20 minutes. And you don’t sweat!

The benefits of exercise are attributed to several mechanisms, many which highlight its neuroprotective role via actions that enhance neurogenesis, neuronal morphology and/or neurotrophin release. However, the brain is also composed of glial and vascular elements, and comparatively less is known regarding the effects of exercise on these components in the aging brain. Here, we show that aerobic exercise at mid-age [also] counters several well-established glial markers of brain aging. Similarly, we show that age-related changes in neurovascular morphology and function were reduced with exercise. Thus, our results show that exercise can potentially mitigate progressive age-related changes in several key non-neuronal elements of the brain. Further, we show that these brain processes are still highly responsive to exercise in the midlife age range, consistent with studies showing that cognitive function can benefit from exercise even if initiated at later ages. Continue reading...

People at higher genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease may be able to offset that propensity by exercising, according to a new observational study at Washington University in St. Louis.

Virtual reality exercise games, like the Wii Fit, may help older adults fight cognitive decline, researchers found. Older adults who played a racing game by pedaling a stationary bike saw a significant boost in overall executive function on cognitive testing compared with stationary bike use alone (P=0.002), in a clinical trial by Cay Anderson-Hanley, PhD, of Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., and colleagues. “Cybercycling” for three months in the trial reduced risk of clinical progression to mild cognitive impairment by a relative 23%, the group reported in the February issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. “Our findings give us hope that there can be an impact on improved brain health for older adults by this kind of synergistic mental and physical exercise,” Anderson-Hanley told MedPage Today. “The other thing is it’s a lot of fun.” Participants in the trial often said they enjoyed exercise when playing the virtual reality game, she noted in an interview, which she suggested could help seniors start up and stick to a regimen. Click here to read complete article and to see a video interview with Cay...

Boring playgrounds may be one reason preschoolers aren’t getting enough exercise, researchers found in interviews with childcare providers. Strict safety rules for equipment and low budgets at childcare centers were largely blamed for playgrounds that don’t make kids feel like playing, Kristen Copeland, MD, of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and colleagues reported. “Fixed playground equipment that meets licensing codes is unchallenging and uninteresting to children,” they wrote in the February issue of Pediatrics. The other main problem cited was pressure to focus on academic readiness at the expense of physically active play time, Copeland’s group noted. “Societal priorities for young children — safety and school readiness — may be hindering children’s physical development,” they wrote in the paper. And that’s a problem because three-quarters of U.S. kids attend childcare at ages 3 to 5, where studies have shown that nearly all their time is spent sedentary. “Because children spend long hours in care and many lack a safe place to play near their home, these barriers may limit children’s only opportunity to engage in physical activity,” Copeland’s group explained. “This is particularly concerning because daily physical activity is not only essential for healthy weight maintenance, but also for practicing and learning fundamental gross motor skills.” Pediatricians may be able to help address this problem by emphasizing the learning and physical benefits of active outdoor play, encouraging parents to dress their child for it, and not suggesting that physical activity is inherently dangerous when giving injury prevention advice, the researchers noted. The investigators conducted nine focus groups with a total of 49 childcare providers taking care of preschool-age children at 34 centers in Cincinnati, which varied from inner-city to suburban locations and included some Head Start and Montessori centers. An abstract or the full text...

“‘Genes account for one-fourth to one-third of longevity,’ estimated Howard Friedman, a professor of psychology at the University of California (Riverside) and the coauthor of The Longevity Project, published this year. ‘That leaves well over half not accounted for.’ Most of the rest, for better or worse, is up to you. ‘The importance of choices people make is in so many ways responsible for the quality of life in old age,’ said Charles Reynolds III, a professor of geriatric psychiatry, neurology, and neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh medical school. ‘Many people think they should be entitled to a good-quality 25 years after age 60. Well, they’re not necessarily entitled, but they can put the odds in their favor.’ One way – “the least speculative and the most obvious’ – is with exercise, according to Simon Melov, a Buck Institute biochemist. ‘More activity is better than no activity, and most people are not doing anything. They’re just sitting there.’ Exercise, he said, reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and perhaps even a decline in cognition. One needn’t run a marathon. Gardening, walking, swimming, woodworking – all of these are more active than just...