More and more of us are getting older…… much older. The fastest growing population group in Australia now is those over 85 and by the year 2020, this group is expected to triple.

This post is a little tangential from  Osteopathy and osteopathic practice per se,  but is certainly an important one in regard to our own health and wellness.

With the huge amounts of money being invested into stem cell  and telomere research ( for those of you who don’t know about this …. telomere’s are segments of DNA found at the ends of chromosomes. Every time a cell divides, its telomeres get shorter, and once a cell runs out of telomeres, it can’t reproduce anymore and dies. But there’s an enzyme called telomerase that reverses this process; it’s one of the reasons cancer cells live so long. So why not treat regular non-cancerous cells with telomerase? In November, researchers at Harvard Medical School announced in Nature that they had done just that. They administered telomerase to a group of mice suffering from age-related degeneration. The damage went away. The mice didn’t just get better; they got younger ) …. it appears that in the not too distant future we will all be living longer, and equally as importantly, vitally.

In the meantime, we are already living longer but those of you with aging parents or grandparents know that there are huge problems with aging and morbidity.

Many people who I talk to opine that they don’t necessarily want to live forever but they want to live healthily and vitally for as long as possible and then go quickly and with dignity when their time comes ….

So it appears that we are going to live longer, and until these great scientific advances become reality for us in the evryday,  we need to ask ourselves what we are doing to ensure that our lives remain vital for as long as possible?

I am gonna recommend a new Facebook group to you which produces regular updates on the latest information and tips for vitality and health as you age.  So go to your Facebook page and search and ‘like’ the page “Live Until At Least 120”.

Understand the latest information which will help slow down your aging process and help increase your vitality as you do age.

If you’re not on Facebook …. maybe its time you considered it …. taking on new mental challenges and new ideas is one of the actions you can take to help you live longer better.