Better to act young than to look young

[email protected] (New York Times )
October 7, 2013

Young_than_to_look_youngJane E Brody, Oct 7: At a party I recently attended, a woman in her 60s proudly announced that her periodic facial treatments “have made me look 10 years younger.” A man of similar vintage said he was considering “facial tucks” to raise his sagging jowls.

Some days it seems everyone I meet is afraid of getting old - or at least of looking as old as they are. Occasionally, I see women who have had so many face lifts that they can barely move their lips when they talk, let alone smile.

Business is booming in the anti-aging market. Plastic surgeons who specialise in lifts, tucks and fillers barely noticed the recent recession. Cosmetics with anti-ageing properties fly off the shelf, and new concoctions appear almost weekly.

I admit to supporting the multi-billion dollar skin care industry with my long use of night creams, as well as a slew of daytime lotions that purport to “smooth out” aging skin while protecting it with sunscreen. I also colour my hair, which in its natural state is now about 80 per cent gray.

But I draw the line at injectable fillers and muscle relaxants, face lifts and tummy tucks. I’ll do everything I can to stay out of an operating room. My anti-aging measures, if and when they are needed, will be limited to cataract removal, a hearing aid and glasses for driving.

I wear clothes that suit my personality and activities, not necessarily my age. Shorts and tank tops anchor my summer wardrobe. And I wear colours near my face that are right for my skin tone, avoiding those (like yellow) that are unflattering. Still, cosmetic fixes go only so far to counter the effects of time.

True youthfulness - or, I should say, appearing younger than your age - is much more than skin-deep. Research has shown that youthfulness must come from within.

In one study, a team at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland analyzed the facial photographs of 186 pairs of identical twins, determining which sibling looked older and why. Factors that contributed to looking older included smoking, sun exposure, stress and depression (or the use of antidepressants), the researchers reported. Other studies have linked depression to higher levels of inflammatory markers and oxidative stress, which can accelerate aging.

The team also found that among those younger than 40, a woman with a heavier body looked older than her leaner twin, but in subjects older than 40, a higher body mass index was associated with a more youthful appearance. Fat fills out wrinkles and makes the face - and presumably other parts of the body - look younger. But there’s a limit to its benefits: obesity is associated with more rapid biological aging.

Another study published last year by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found a biological link between stress and accelerated aging. Dr. Olivia I. Okereke and colleagues examined the chromosomes of 5,243 women ages 42 to 69 participating in the Nurses’ Health Study. They found that women with phobic anxiety - irrational fears of anything from social situations to spiders - had shorter telomeres on their chromosomes.

Telomeres are DNA-protein complexes on the ends of chromosomes that are considered biological markers of aging. Shortened telomeres are thought to underlie many of the adverse health effects of aging, and perhaps even to contribute to looking older than one’s years.

Lifestyle changes

A pilot study published online by The Lancet Oncology last month underscored the benefits of limiting stress. Dr. Dean Ornish and colleagues at the Preventive Medicine Research Institute and the University of California, San Francisco, tested the effects of lifestyle changes on the length of telomeres.

Ten men were asked to make changes that included adopting a whole-foods plant-based diet, moderate exercise, stress management techniques (like yoga and meditation), and seeking greater intimacy and social support. After five years, changes in the length of their telomeres were compared with those among 25 men who were not asked to make such changes.

In the men who made lifestyle changes, telomere length increased by an average of 10 per cent; the more changes the men made, the greater the increase in length. But telomere length decreased in the control group by an average of 3 per cent.

Still, youthfulness is not just a question of biology. People are perceived to be younger than their years if they smile and laugh a lot (be proud of those laugh lines!) and are generally cheerful and upbeat, the kind of people who smile at strangers and wish them a good day.

I occasionally pass an older couple who walk together three times a week. With their dour expressions and grudging acknowledgment of my “good morning,” I thought they were in their mid-90s. So one day I asked, only to learn that she was 80 and he was 83.

It also helps to pursue personal and professional activities you enjoy as you get older. My role models include the actress Estelle Parsons, who continues to perform on stage (and can do yoga headstands) at 85, and Dame Judi Dench, 78, who stars in movies despite having to learn her lines orally because macular degeneration has caused her vision to deteriorate.

My dear friend Margaret Shryer, 86, starred in a documentary about age discrimination and performed a one-woman show she wrote at a theater festival in Minneapolis this summer. Another friend, the award-winning broadcaster Lucy Jarvis, cane in hand at 96, still travels abroad to make television documentaries.

To my mind, it is far better to act young than to look young. Of course, it helps to be physically fit.

Too often, those who spend liberally to counter the superficial signs of age neglect their bodies below the neck and become physically old before their time. Muscle tissue inevitably declines with age, but much can be done to minimize and even reverse a loss of strength.

Try using free weights or resistance machines. If these don’t appeal, lift cans of soup (better for lifting than consuming) and continue to do chores that require strength, like digging in the garden or carrying groceries.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

New York, Jul 30: Can the coronavirus spread through the air? Yes, it's possible.

The World Health Organisation recently acknowledged the possibility that Covid-19 might be spread in the air under certain conditions.

Recent Covid-19 outbreaks in crowded indoor settings — restaurants, nightclubs and choir practices — suggest the virus can hang around in the air long enough to potentially infect others if social distancing measures are not strictly enforced.

Experts say the lack of ventilation in these situations is thought to have contributed to spread, and might have allowed the virus to linger in the air longer than normal.

In a report published in May, researchers found that talking produced respiratory droplets that could remain in the air in a closed environment for about eight to 14 minutes.

The WHO says those most at risk from airborne spread are doctors and nurses who perform specialized procedures such as inserting a breathing tube or putting patients on a ventilator.

Medical authorities recommend the use of protective masks and other equipment when doing such procedures.

Scientists maintain it's far less risky to be outside than indoors because virus droplets disperse in the fresh air, reducing the chances of Covid-19 transmission.

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Agencies
June 22,2020

A team of scientists has produced first open source all-atom models of full-length COVID-19 Spike protein that facilitates viral entry into host cells – a discovery that can facilitate a faster vaccine and antiviral drug development.

The group from Seoul National University in South Korea, University of Cambridge in the UK and Lehigh University in the US produced the first open-source all-atom models of a full-length S protein.

The researchers say this is of particular importance because the S protein plays a central role in viral entry into cells, making it a main target for vaccine and antiviral drug development.

"Our models are the first full-length SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein models that are available to other scientists," said Wonpil Im, a professor in Lehigh University.

"Our team spent days and nights to build these models very carefully from the known cryo-EM structure portions. Modeling was very challenging because there were many regions where simple modeling failed to provide high-quality models," he wrote in a paper published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry B.

Scientists can use the models to conduct innovative and novel simulation research for the prevention and treatment of Covid-19.

Though the coronavirus uses many different proteins to replicate and invade cells, the Spike protein is the major surface protein that it uses to bind to a receptor.

The total number of global COVID-19 cases was nearing 9 million, while the deaths have increased to over 467,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

With 2,279,306 cases and 119,967 deaths, the US continues with the world's highest number of COVID-19 infections and fatalities, according to the CSSE.

Brazil comes in the second place with 1,083,341 infections and 50,591 deaths.

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Agencies
May 5,2020

The lockdown forced by the coronavirus in India has had some unexpected but positive fallouts: It has brought families together and reduced corporate politics, says an expert working in the field for the past decade.

"Today the whole world is on lockdown because of COVID-19, and all that we read, talk and hear is about life and death. We can't deny that the times are tough and the future is uncertain. But I would like to turn the coin and see the other side: the positive side," Shikha Mittal, Founder Director of Be.artsy told IANS in an interview.

Be.artsy is one of India's leading social awareness enterprises which deals with emotions at work and promotes arts as a communication tool for workplaces.

"In the 21st century, personally and professionally, people are practising politics over humanity, competition over collaboration, and have lost touch with themselves due to materialistic desires. During the lockdown, we are forced to confront our existing daily lives, and two interesting things that we can ponder upon, have emerged.

"First, have we ever looked at our family with the same lens as we are using today? What is it that we are doing differently with family today, and what can we do to carry our actions of today into our tomorrow? This is the premise of the #aajjaisakalcontest" that Be.artsy has launched across India.

The aim is "to encourage people to share one habit or life skill that they never practiced earlier, but post Covid-19 would like to continue and enjoy".

How did Be.artsy come about?

"I used to be in the corporate world, earning promotions and greater responsibility. However, the work conditions in those days were unfriendly to women and I had faced many instances of sexual harassment and workplace harassment in the six years of my corporate career. And that's when I had an epiphany."

Be.artsy's most popular programmes are on Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) and on Financial Literacy which makes young people financially independent and better prepared to face the corporate world. "We know that a stitch in time (of planning for the future) saves nine (debt trap, dependence, health emergencies, expenses exceeding income, no savings, families without support, retirement in poverty, lost dreams, extravagance). This can only be achieved by sensitisation," Mittal explained.

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