As mentioned earlier, Dr. W. Donner Denckla thinks he has discovered a death clock in the pituitary gland of the brain. If he removes this gland from mice and supplies them with the pituitary’s growth hormone and thyroid hormone (which would normally be produced and released in response to pituitary hormonal messages), the animals live […]
Although male pattern balding isnot necessarily tied to old age, it is very definitely due to a clock. If you transplant hairs from the balding area onto another part of the head, these hairs fall out right on schedule with the others remaining in the balding area. If you transplant hairs from nonbalding areas to […]
Everyone is familiar with the so-called “annual” plants which live only a few months, from the time when they sprout, until, after the production of seed, death comes to them naturally. … Natural death can be postponed if the plant be prevented from seeding. —Elie Metchnikoff, The Prolongation of Life (1908) Do DNA genetic clocks […]
Old people often suffer from a deficiency of serotonin, an important inhibitory neurotransmitter that initiates sleep. Inhibitory neurotransmitters reduce neuron activity, in contrast to the above-mentioned neurotransmitters, which usually increase activity. Sleep disorders are common in old age, including difficulties in falling and staying asleep. Irritability and bedtime flights of ideas may occur. Tryptophan, an […]
Read more The Decline of Your Brain’s Chemical Messengers VI
A very dramatic story about the effects of L-Dopa on twenty patients with severe Parkinson’s disease is contained in Oliver W. Sack’s book Awakenings. Between 1916 and 1927, nearly five million people fell victim to encephalitis lethargica (sleeping sickness). A third of those affected died either in a coma or in a profound state of […]
Pathway for synthesis and metabolism of serotonin. In similar studies in rats, life extension was produced by giving oxytocin alone. Low acetylcholine levels contribute to the forgetfulness and lack of ability to concentrate which often occurs in old age. The cholinergic nervous system also controls the sensory input; too little acetylcholine and you are easily […]
Read more The Decline of Your Brain’s Chemical Messengers IV
Catecholamines are responsible for a number of different effects in normal humans. They are involved in control of locomotor (moving about) behavior, aggressive behavior, sexual behavior, food intake, and behavior dependent upon positive (reward) and negative (punishment) reinforcement. Acetylcholine controls muscle tone and motor activity and has a role in memory, learning, and long-term planning, […]
Read more The Decline of Your Brain’s Chemical Messengers III
Norepinephrine (NE) is another of the brain’s arsenal of neurotransmitters, important in primitive drives and emotions like sex and in memory and learning. When the level of NE in the brain is too low, people become depressed and their immune systems do not function normally. (That’s because NE can cause the brain to release growth […]
Read more The Decline of Your Brain’s Chemical Messengers II
In senile degeneration the nerve-cells are surrounded by neuronophages which absorb their contents and bring about more or less complete atrophy. —Elie Metchnikoff, The Prolongation of Life (1908) Mind, mind alone, Is light, and hope, and life, and power! —Ebenezer Elliott (1833) Your brain works because your-nerves talk to each other with chemicals called neurotransmitters […]
Deaner® is a prescription drug which is available in the United States. We have observed 300 milligrams per day of Deaner® remove all visible lipofuscin age pigment (liver spots) from the skin of a man in his mid-60s. After a few months, his age spots had faded appreciably and were completely gone in about two […]
Read more Accumulated Wastes: Those Telltale Brown Spots III