The Key to Increasing Your Healthspan
The average patient’s health starts to decline in their 50s.
The average lifespan is from 71 to 75 (can be higher or lower in developed vs. underdeveloped countries, or in men vs. women). This means that for around one-third of an average person’s life, they are considered unhealthy.
Immortality, the concept of living forever, is often talked about in the media; the wolverine, Edward Cullen, superman. But in reality, even if you had a longer lifespan, it is likely that you would still be unhealthy for 33% of your life, and since your life would be longer, so would the number of years you are sick.
This being said, is it worth it to increase our lifespan? Currently, the average person spends 20–25 years living with a health condition or disease due to old age. If we doubled our lifespans, this period of health deterioration also increases to up to 50 years.
Scientists have begun to research what makes us age, and the concept of increasing an individual’s healthspan is becoming more widely discussed. Essentially, your healthspan is how long you stay healthy, meaning without developing chronic diseases or conditions as a result of aging.
Many different companies and research projects have been established with the mission of increasing healthspans, and in a few years, you might just be living your whole life healthy.
Increasing Your Healthspan
In order to find ways to increase your healthspan, research has been done on the reasons behind why we age. Scientists have identified main causes behind aging which can be harnessed to reverse the process.
When I say aging in this article, I refer to the process of health deterioration due to age, not the process of becoming older.
Telomeres
Telomeres are the caps on the ends of chromosomes, made of repetitive DNA sequences and proteins. Their role is to protect the end of chromosomes from getting tangled or unravelled.
Think of it like the cap (known as aglets) at the ends of your shoelaces. They essentially hold the cotton or nylon fibers from separating and unravelling.
Similarly, chromosomes are threadlike structures which carry your genetic information and telomeres hold them together. However, each time a cell divides, the telomere slightly shrinks, and eventually, it becomes so short that it is no longer possible for the cell to divide. Without its purpose of dividing, the cell becomes inactive or dies.
Telomeres & DNA Replication
Without telomeres, our cells would not have any DNA left. Here’s how telomeres ensure our cells don’t lose a section of DNA each time it replicates:
- During DNA replication, a short piece of RNA known as a primer acts as a starting point for DNA replication, initiating DNA synthesis. After the primer attaches, the DNA strand can be copied.
- But the primer attaches a few bases away from the end, meaning the copy is missing the section of DNA from the very end of the strand. Because of this, as the cell divides, the copies of the DNA strands lose more and more sections. Per cell division, up to 250 base pairs can be lost in humans (being able to reach a total length of up to 15,000 base pairs)!
- This is why telomeres are found at the ends of DNA strands. These repeated sequences (TTAGGG) help protect the ends of DNA from getting lost during replication. However, when the telomeres get too short in somatic cells, the cell stops dividing, and either become inactive (senescent) or dies.
Germline, Cancer, and Stem Cells & Telomerase
The average cell can only divide around 50 to 70 times due to the shortening telomeres at the end of their DNA strands. However, there are certain cells that have mechanisms to maintain the length of their telomeres throughout the divisions.
These cells use an enzyme known as telomerase, which continuously adds base pairs to the end of telomeres in order to prevent them from shortening. This can be beneficial if not crucial in some cells, however, it can also be very dangerous in others.
In germline cells, for example, the telomerase enzyme remains active in sperm and in eggs. If it wasn’t present, the telomeres would shorten, and without reproductive capabilities, the organism with these cells could become extinct.
Similarly, stem cells are known for their forever-dividing properties. Because telomerase is active in embryonic stem cells, your supply of stem cells won’t run out.
Indefinitely-multiplying abilities are great for specific types of cells but can be extremely dangerous in others. Notably, cancer cells divide very often, but if their telomeres shorten then they would simply die. So instead, they create telomerase and harness the power of immortality.
Telomerase & Aging
With more cells dying and becoming senescent, scientists have found the shorter the telomere the more you age. In fact, studies have shown that adults over the age of 60 who had shorter telomeres were 8 times more likely to die from an infection, and it was 3 times more probable that they would die from heart disease.
Scientists are studying whether telomerase could keep all cells from aging and prevent them from getting a disease from infections as a result of age. Studies have linked the length of telomeres and their role in cell division to leukemia, liver cirrhosis, pulmonary fibrosis, Alzheimer’s, hypertension, and diabetes.
With these several links, lengthening one’s telomeres could significantly decrease the risk of developing disease, therefore increasing one’s healthspan by decades.
Companies/Studies Focused on Telomeres & Telomerase
Although research focused on the links between telomeres and aging is relatively new, some companies have started manufacturing products and treatment methods for disease with telomerase.
Telomere Therapeutics
Researchers from the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) and a Spanish university in Barcelona (UAB) developed a spin-off company from their research. Telomere Therapeutics has developed a gene therapy targeting the shortening of telomeres with telomerase. Their goal is to use this research to treat diseases like pulmonary fibrosis and renal fibrosis.
Focuses of Telomerase
Here are a couple studies and research proposals that are based on the use of telomerase:
- Since telomerase plays such a large role in cancer, studying telomerase and its functions may be able to prevent the growth of various cancers
- Gene therapies using telomerase have also been shown to be effective to treat/prevent heart attacks and disease, and aplastic anemia (when the body stops producing new blood cells)
The Future
Telomerase and the study of telomeres have the potential to drastically increase our healthspan and treat/prevent various diseases. This research may even be the key to treating cancer. Since telomerase was discovered in 1984, many advancements have been made in research, and its potential will continue to grow. We are one discovery away from revolutionizing the healthcare industry.
TL;DR
- Your lifespan refers to how long you will live, whereas your healthspan is the duration of your lifespan when you are healthy. The average lifespan is around 71–75 years, but the average person’s health starts to decline near their 50s.
- Telomeres are the caps on the ends of chromosomes, made of repetitive DNA sequences and proteins. Their role is to protect the end of chromosomes from getting tangled or unravelled. Each time a cell divides, the telomere slightly shrinks, and eventually, it becomes so short that it is no longer possible for the cell to divide.
- Without telomeres, each time your cells divide, they would lose up to 250 base pairs of your DNA. However, since these repeated strands of DNA are at the end of your chromosomes, the telomeres shorten rather than your actual DNA.
- Certain cells, like germline (egg & sperm), cancer, and stem cells have the ability to produce an enzyme known as telomerase, which continuously adds base pairs to the end of telomeres to prevent them from shortening. This can be crucial for the survival of cells like reproductive cells and stem cells, but harmful to others. For example, cancer cells divide very often, but if their telomeres shorten then they would die. So instead, cancer cells create telomerase and harness the power of immortality.
- Studies have shown that adults over the age of 60 who had shorter telomeres were 8 times more likely to die from an infection, and it was 3 times more probable that they would die from heart disease. Telomere shortening has also been linked to various diseases. For this reason, companies like Telomere Therapeutics and other studies have focused on telomerase, with hopes to solve pulmonary fibrosis, heart attacks and disease, renal fibrosis, and aplastic anemia.
