My theory on prolonging life

[Dean]

Do you think it would be cool if humans could live two or three times longer than they currently average?

I have a theory. Perhaps we, as humans, can live a lot longer that we currently do. Maybe we have the potential to reach the grand old age of 200 or even older. 'So why don't we do it?' you might be asking. Well, this is where my theory comes in.

There is something in the diets of each and every one of us that increases the rate at which we age. Either that, or there is something in the air that is stopping us from living to our full potential. We just haven't discovered what the actual cause is yet, because nobody believes my theory and as a result, nobody is looking for the answer.

So Newgrounds, put on your lab coats and help me out here. What is the common factor. Something that is common to us all which results in us living shorter lives than we potentially could have?

[111122223138]

Our diets have a big role in what our life expectency is. That, and all the advancements in medicine and technology have really given us a good 10-20+ years.
Back in the time of the dinosaurs, there was so much oxygen so they were able to grow much larger... Could that possibly be linked to their long lives as well?

[Kytraal]

We just need to get something that produces a certain hormone that makes us replace tissue and cells.

[5FootLobster]

Chinese are short. How polluted is their air?
Africans are tall. How polluted is their air?
Americans are pretty average in height. How polluted is their air?

[yurgenburgen]

The average life expectancy increases over time because of evolution. We keep passing on the 'good' genes so every generation is microscopically healthier and slightly likelier to live longer than the previous generation. There's no diet or alternative lifestyle that could make a person today live for a hundred years more than they normally would.

[111122223138]

At 1/30/11 07:27 AM, yurgenburgen wrote: The average life expectancy increases over time because of evolution. We keep passing on the 'good' genes so every generation is microscopically healthier and slightly likelier to live longer than the previous generation. There's no diet or alternative lifestyle that could make a person today live for a hundred years more than they normally would.

1900's = Life expectency was around 50 I do believe.
2000's = Life expectency is around 80.
Evolution doesn't happen that fast, and with all the facts pointing towards better lifestyles.

[5FootLobster]

At 1/30/11 07:30 AM, 111122223138 wrote: Evolution doesn't happen that fast, and with all the facts pointing towards better lifestyles.

Maybe evolution evolved?

[WallofYawn]

At 1/30/11 07:30 AM, 111122223138 wrote:

At 1/30/11 07:27 AM, yurgenburgen wrote: The average life expectancy increases over time because of evolution. We keep passing on the 'good' genes so every generation is microscopically healthier and slightly likelier to live longer than the previous generation. There's no diet or alternative lifestyle that could make a person today live for a hundred years more than they normally would.

1900's = Life expectency was around 50 I do believe.
2000's = Life expectency is around 80.
Evolution doesn't happen that fast, and with all the facts pointing towards better lifestyles.

The only limiting factor in the 1900s was the MAX life expectancy. The oldest people in recorded human history were 150. That's the capacity. Just because people today live to be 80, doesn't mean in another 100 years that our life expectancy will go over 150. You have to have really good genetics to even live beyond 80/90 years, regardless of anything else. People in 1900s were just not eating as varied of foods, with as much nutrients, and as much hormones as the foods we have today. That's why they lived shorter lives.

There doesn't seem to be any indication that people will live much longer than they do now, in 100 years. The most the average person will live to be is probably 100. And that's assuming they live very physically active lives and eat very healthy foods.

[iateamexican]

So, wait..
Your theory on prolonging life is that you theorise that you don't have a theory, and as such need us to help you make one?
That's not a theory.

[Dean]

At 1/30/11 07:40 AM, iateamexican wrote: That's not a theory.

My theory is that we all have something common in our diet or that we inhale which shortens our life expectancy. We just need to discover what it is. If you're not going to help us change the world, don't post.

This is serious science right here.

[Gagsy]

But our bodies would just be useless.

[Dean]

At 1/30/11 07:50 AM, Gagsy wrote: But our bodies would just be useless.

For life to be prolonged, our organs would have to remain in good condition for longer. So it's not like you'd be a frail old man by the time you reach 80 and then have to suffer for the next hundred years.

Also, why has nobody made an attempt to find the common link yet? Where are all you budding scientists?

[MJOLNIRchief90]

Assuming that we we all ate the diet that was perfect for us, we'd still have to deal with our cells deteriorating after so many divisions. The key to prolonging life is to keep our cells in tip top shape.

[WallofYawn]

Ok, guess I was wrong, looked it up on wiki:

The longest-living person whose dates of birth and death were verified to the modern norms of Guinness World Records and the Gerontology Research Group was Jeanne Calment, a French woman who lived to 122.

he maximum (recorded) life span for humans has increased from possibly below 100 years before the late 19th century to ~111 years in 1900, 115 years in 1980 and 122 years since Calment's death in 1997. Currently, the only (non-transgenic) method of increasing maximum life span that is recognized by biogerontologists is calorie restriction with adequate nutrition. "Maximum life span" here means the mean life span of the most long-lived 10% of a given cohort, as caloric restriction has not yet been shown to break mammalian world records for longevity. Rats, mice, and hamsters experience maximum life-span extension from a diet that contains 40-60% of the calories (but all of the required nutrients) that the animals consume when they can eat as much as they want.

So, basically, people in the 1900s hadn't reached the limit of life span, because of their diets. With our current diet, most human beings are reaching close to our maximum life spans, and carrying on our genes to infants, who in turn have less diseases/mortality rates, and eat the same nutrient rich foods, and will live even longer, until they reach the maximum age of 122.

Seems like the only way to change this would be to genetically engineer the perfect human beings and have them breed over a few decades until the maximum life span is increased. Or, we could reverse the aging process altogether, which is what many biomedical engineers are working on nowadays.

I even read somewhere there is a species of jelly fish that never dies, it just reverts back to an infant stage and repeats its life again. Made my brain explode, man.

[Jonners]

This is a current theory explained by my biology teacher.

[WallofYawn]

One species of jellyfish, Turritopsis nutricula, reverts to a sexually immature stage after reproducing, rather than dying as in other jellyfish. Consequently the species is considered biologically immortal and has no maximum lifespan.

This is what scientists need to be looking into. For real.

[Atypop]

You shouldn't interfere.
Let us live and die when the time is right.

[Will]

This is a relevant and interesting watch.

[Gimmick]

Why don't we make a clone, with ALL the "perfect" genes in it?
It might live for....150 years, give or take 80 (If you replace each organ every 28 years)

[Polonium]

our possible lifespans are already insane, people are living to 80-85 right now on average in the most well-developed places but the people that old are the ones who lived through the lead, asbestos, strontium and nonexistent health and safety of their days; just think how long the current young generations will live without all that horrible shit in them plus massive public health and lifestyle campaigns telling them exactly how to be sensible and live longer

[Will]

Who wants to live for a long time anyway? The best part of life is 16-30. Enjoy it, don't worry too much about your health. That's just me though.

[saltovergray]

At 1/30/11 09:20 AM, Will wrote: Who wants to live for a long time anyway? The best part of life is 16-30. Enjoy it, don't worry too much about your health. That's just me though.

The best part of your life is all of it, don't waste time assuming that one age group, from 16-30 in your case, is better.

[scotty117]

I think I no the secret...
If we all overnight, freeze ourselves (or put ourselves in a chamber that stops growth) then our average 8 hour sleep would be taken away, reducing one year, to 2/3 of average human growth. That way, if I was 60, I would only have aged about 40 years, that should raise our life expectancy.
Lets just wait for scientists to figure that out k.

[066pop]

There seems to be debate about brain cells multiplying or regrowing (I need to use Google it more) but assuming the originals eventually all die and were replaced it means we would have to relearn EVERYTHING again at some stage.

[Rachel]

At 1/30/11 07:49 AM, Dean wrote: My theory is that we all have something common in our diet or that we inhale which shortens our life expectancy.

I think you're right in thinking it could partly be to do with diets and what not but I reckon there are so many factors... The environment for one, things we inhale/exhale etc which you kind of mentioned. Also social factors and decisions that we make throughout our life and the biggie... Evolution. Don't forget we live longer now than our ancestors may have done and it could be the same again in the future or it could go the opposite way... Don't know if this really makes sense or answered the question properly but yeah, those are my thoughts.

[Dean]

The irony of this thread just struck me. 60 would probably be a prolonged life, by our Scottish standards, forget 200.

[19thNervousBreakdown]

At 1/30/11 08:46 AM, slayer727 wrote:

At 1/30/11 07:27 AM, 5FootLobster wrote: Chinese are short. How polluted is their air?
Africans are tall. How polluted is their air?
Americans are pretty average in height. How polluted is their air?

This.

Actually, that's pretty much all wrong. Aside from being based on groups that are way too large to make accurate assumptions from.

China is actually pretty average in the height department, but it's also a massive country with people living in all kinds of conditions and areas so different in terms of lifestyle, diet, and general historic backgrounds.

Average height in African nations tend on the average to smaller side of average, but that's also looking at an entire continent. Some counties are more industrialized, different countries have different diets, many of then have people that are malnourished.

America is actually on the taller side, but you're also looking at a country that has a big difference in air quality across, while there's also a larger racial divide that might play into it as well. It's pretty much impossible to see what makes someone taller by looking at the American population.

[19thNervousBreakdown]

At 1/30/11 10:13 AM, 19thNervousBreakdown wrote: It's pretty much impossible to see what makes someone taller by looking at the American population.

Although interestingly enough Mexican-Americans are on average taller than Mexicans. That would probably be an interesting study to see the differences that play into that.

[Dean]

At 1/30/11 10:22 AM, Jawdyn wrote: to live longer, we just need to not die

I wasn't aware that we had an actual genius among us.

[111122223138]

At 1/30/11 09:33 AM, Piss wrote: Worth it.

I shot that motherfucker on accident cause when he was commin out of the LS tube, I pressed E and he VERY QUICKLY sprung up and talked to me...

Bitch ain't gonna see 265 now!