The Science of Looking Younger, Longer | Lifespan with Dr. David Sinclair #6

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• 00:00 🔬 Dr. David Sinclair discusses interventions for cosmetic aging, menopause, and sponsors providing products for better health and performance.
  • Dr. David Sinclair and Matthew LaPlante discuss the science of aging and how to slow, stop, and reverse the aging process, including cosmetic aging and improving sexual function.
  • The discussion covers interventions for cosmetic aging, including those aimed at appearance and those that may impact both appearance and aging, with a focus on technologies that can boost the body's ability to fight aging and even reverse it.
  • Menopause affects the female reproductive system earlier than the rest of the body, and there are ways to go through this transition more naturally, as women have evolved to have children at a younger age due to the dangers of childbirth and the effort required in raising children.
  • Menopause can have serious health effects on women, but menopausal hormone therapy, when done with the right combination and timing, can offer relief and long-term protection against aging-related issues.
  • Athletic Greens and Levels are sponsors of the podcast, providing products for better health and performance, including a green drink and a glucose monitoring app.
  • Levels and InsideTracker offer personalized nutrition and blood analysis to help understand and optimize your body, with a special offer available through levels.link/sinclair and insidetracker.com/sinclair.
• 13:03 🔬 Monitoring skin health can provide insights into overall body health, with the skin pinch test determining molecular age, and maintaining healthy skin and sensation in the foot is crucial to prevent ulcers, while appearance can predict biological age and senolytic drugs may reverse skin aging.
  • The health of your skin is crucial for the overall health of your body, and monitoring the health of your skin can provide insights into the health of your body, with the skin pinch test being a quick way to determine how old you are molecularly.
  • The speaker discusses the importance of maintaining healthy skin and sensation in the foot to prevent ulcers, especially for older individuals and those with diabetes, as ulcers can lead to serious complications and even death.
  • Appearance can be a predictor of biological age, with skin aging faster due to exposure to the elements.
  • Sunscreen is important for preventing skin damage, and senolytic drugs may be able to reverse skin aging by targeting senescent cells.
  • Senolytic drugs can reverse the age of skin by reducing the burden of senescent cells, which are primarily caused by UV light, and can be addressed by wearing sunscreen and avoiding overexposure to sunlight.
  • DNA needs to be opened and copied, but when it gets stuck together, enzymes have trouble reading it, so the cell cuts out the stuck parts and puts new ones back in.
• 27:44 🔬 Repairing DNA damage and reorganizing proteins can reverse skin aging, while retinol is crucial for preventing wrinkles and fine lines but can cause dry skin and increased susceptibility to sunlight.
  • Repairing DNA damage and reorganizing proteins in cells can lead to the loss of cell identity, and using rapamycin and ABT-263 on the skin may work but can suppress the immune system.
  • Dr. Boroni found peptides that reversed skin aging and increased collagen production, which is important for younger-looking skin.
  • Eating collagen may not have clear benefits, but it is likely safe and not harmful.
  • Vitamin C and retinol are important for skin health, with retinol being crucial for preventing and reversing fine lines and wrinkles by boosting collagen production and stimulating cell growth.
  • Retinol products can help with acne but can also cause dry skin and increased susceptibility to sunlight, so it's important to moisturize and use sunscreen, and they also promote the growth of keratin in the skin, hair, and nails.
  • The rate of nail growth is a good indicator of aging, with a decrease of about half a percent per year, and paying attention to nail growth can provide insight into biological age.
• 34:54 🔬 Retinoids may have conflicting effects on aging, fasting and antioxidants have uncertain impacts on skin aging, and hyaluronic acid plays a key role in skin plumpness and flexibility.
  • Retinoids can stimulate the body to grow but may also shut down a mechanism that extends lifespan, so it's unclear if they are bad for skin aging.
  • Fasting and giving the body a rest can promote cleansing, and oral antioxidants may not work as people think, but their effectiveness in skin creams is uncertain.
  • Antioxidants have not shown significant results for longevity, but resveratrol and NAD-boosting molecules have potential benefits for skin in cosmetics.
  • Thickening of the skin is not just due to vitamin B3, but also involves activating sirtuin defenses, and hyaluronic acids are important for skin plumpness and flexibility, as well as being found in abundance in long-lived organisms.
  • Naked mole rats produce hyaluronic acid, which may prevent cancer in the skin.
  • Topical HA works well as a moisturizer, injectable HA can improve volume loss and laxity of the skin, and Botox is effective at getting rid of wrinkles but is purely cosmetic and does not have anti-aging implications.
• 43:27 🔬 Improving skin appearance can impact overall well-being, but skin peels may not have long-term benefits; microneedling may help with aging, but sun damage and smoking should be avoided, and aging can be accelerated by alcohol, smoking, and processed foods, while hair loss is genetically determined and once indicated wisdom and dominance in human evolution.
  • Improving the appearance of your skin can have positive effects on your overall well-being and longevity, but skin peels may not have significant long-term benefits.
  • Microneedling may have long-term benefits for skin aging, but there are still many unresolved questions, and it's important to avoid sun damage and smoking to slow down aging.
  • Alcohol, smoking, and processed foods can accelerate aging, affecting both skin and hair, and can be improved by a healthy diet.
  • Genetically, hair loss is determined by a combination of genes from both parents, with a stronger genetic component, but ultimately it is fairly random and not a significant health issue.
  • Early signs of aging, such as hair loss and graying, were once indicators of wisdom and dominance in human evolution, but in modern society, the focus is on staying younger.
  • Hair loss occurs at a cellular level due to the aging process, where important stem cells for hair regrowth get kicked out of the hair follicle.
• 48:57 🔬 Preventing the expulsion of dying cells, lower DHT levels, and treatments like low laser light therapy and PRP injections may slow down aging and promote hair regrowth.
  • Cells that are thought to die actually get expelled, and the goal is to prevent this expulsion.
  • Topical treatments like minoxidil and retinol cream can effectively slow down hair loss and promote hair regrowth, but they require regular application and may not be well-liked due to their oily texture.
  • Lower levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) may lead to optimal longevity, as seen in eunuchs who live significantly longer than men with higher levels of testosterone.
  • Propecia may have side effects, but low laser light therapy has almost none and has been proven to slow down hair loss and regrow hair in the majority of people.
  • Laser light and platelet-rich plasma injections can potentially have anti-aging effects and benefit the entire body, including rejuvenating stem cells and addressing hair loss.
  • Exosomes, hormones, peptides, and VSELL cells may help rejuvenate stem cells in the follicle, potentially reversing aging, and the components in PRP treatments that promote hair growth are still unknown.
• 01:00:22 🔬 Slowing down aging can prevent gray hair, and recent research shows that gray hair is reversible through epigenetic effects, potentially leading to rejuvenating effects in other organs.
  • As we age, hair starts growing in unwanted places due to ancient genetic code unraveling as part of the aging process.
  • Slowing down aging using certain methods may prevent or delay graying hair, as stress can accelerate aging and induce gray hair, but recent research shows that gray hair is reversible through epigenetic effects.
  • The dysfunction of melanocytes before they die can be reversed and prevented using adversity mimetics, such as cyclosporine and tacrolimus, which can reset the epigenome and promote pigment production.
  • Combining cyclosporin A, minoxidil, and a pigment-promoting drug may potentially restore hair color and could have rejuvenating effects in other organs as well.
  • In the future, it may be possible to take a pill or use other methods to reverse aging and improve both internal and external health.
  • The speaker initially had reservations about discussing the topic of looking younger, but later admitted to being wrong and acknowledged the importance of the subject.
• 01:08:40 💡 Taking care of your body through exercise, diet, and stress management can help you look better and live longer.

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