Telomere length predicts illness and mortality – what you can do to reduce your risks

Regular readers will be aware by now that telomeres are the protective caps on the end of our DNA strands. A large new study has confirmed that shorter telomeres are associated with increased risk of major illness and death. Happily, this new research tells us what we can do to support our telomeres, save ourselves many potential problems and quite reasonably expect to live longer.

So this week, courtesy of an old friend who I studied veterinary science with, Dr Trevor Chatham, details of the study along with confirmation of why a healthy lifestyle makes so much sense and how it works in a biochemical sense to actually make so much difference in our lives.

Then news of an exciting movie premier to benefit the Gawler Foundation that has been made possible by our friends at Village Roadshow, but first

Thought for the day
          Relax without laziness

          Focus without tension

          Perceive without projecting 

         Witness without judging

         Enjoy without craving

         Reflect without imagining


        Love without condition

        Give without demanding

        Receive without possessing
        
Serve without self-seeking

        Challenge without dominating

        Meditate without identity




Correct without blaming

Overcome without pride

Laugh without cynicism

Cry without pity

Confront without hatred

Guide without superiority 


Be without self-defining

Live without arrogance

Enter without self-importance

Depart without regret


Be one with God


Mooji


In April 2015, a Danish study was published that tracked 65,000 people over a median of 7 years. The bottom line was that telomere length robustly predicts longevity, even after factoring out the effect of age, smoking, exercise, blood cholesterol, BMI, and alcohol consumption.

This adds immensely to our knowledge of telomere length and its predictive power.  For perspective, the original [2003] study by Cawthon detected the relationship between telomere length and mortality based on fewer than 200 subjects.

The new data set is large enough to show trends over all of the health-related lifestyle variables. Smoking, inactivity, weight (body mass index), and alcohol consumption all correlated negatively with telomere length.  So it should not be surprising that blood pressure and LDL choloesterol also correlated negatively with telomere length, and it is then a foregone conclusion that mortality must correlate negatively with telomere length.

This demonstrates without a doubt that unhealthy behaviours lead to shorter telomeres, as Epel and Blackburn have been telling us for a decade.



They have also emphasized the converse:

Healthy life choices lead to longer, healthier life through the medium of longer telomeres.

The references are well worth checking out:

Reference 1
Reference 2
Reference 3
Reference 4



The bottom line of this new, large study is the extra predictive power of telomere length, even after all these other lifestyle and indicator variables are factored out.  Correcting for smoking, correcting for age, correcting for weight and cholesterol and exercise habits, there is still a powerful negative correlation between telomere length and mortality.

The shorter your telomeres, the greater your chance of dying.  The 10% of people with the shortest telomeres were dying at 1.4 the rate of the 10% with the longest telomeres, a result that was overwhelmingly statistically apparent (p<2×10-15)

Dr Trevor Chatham BVSc

MAIN REFERENCE  -  LINK HERE

Editor’s note. Research into the role telomeres play in health is accelerating at quite a pace. It is becoming clearer that one of the most direct ways to explain the connection between how an unhealthy lifestyle actually increases the risk of developing any of the chronic degenerative diseases and of dying early, is that the unhealthy lifestyle prematurely shortens telomeres and that is associated with higher risks of adverse events.

What to do? This research confirms that a healthy lifestyle protects telomeres. Other research by Dean Ornish has even shown that a healthy lifestyle can increase telomere length over 5 years.

We also know meditation is associated with increasing telomerase levels and as Ornish showed that translated into longer telomeres, maybe meditation does that too.

We also know some herbs protect telomeres and may increase telomerase, so we are far from powerless!

RELATED BLOG
Service your car? Of course! Service your telomeres? What?

NOTICEBOARD

Awake  -  Charity premier film screening – highly recommended 

Support the Gawler Foundation and see an inspiring, uplifting film

Many readers will know of the great Hindu yogi Yogananda and his landmark book Autobiography of a Yogi. Yogananda came to the West from India in 1920, taught Kriya Yoga and played a major role in popularizing meditation, yoga and its philosophy.

Autobiography of a Yogi has been in print for over sixty-five years and translated into at least thirty-four languages. It is a book I have recommended for decades, being an extraordinary introduction into the world of the yogis.

Now a feature film has been made of Yogananda’s life and the Gawler Foundation will screen a charity premier at the delightful Rivoli Cinema in Hawthorn, courtesy of our friends at Village Roadshow, in just a couple of weeks.

Awake - The Life of Yogananda

Special Gawler Foundation Fundraising screening

When: Monday 29th June, 6.45pm for a 7pm start

Where: Rivoli Village Cinemas, 200 Camberwell Road, Hawthorn East

Tickets:$20  BOOK HERE 

PRICELESS VITALITY
An exciting new website is being launched tomorrow in Melbourne and you can attend!

PRICELESS VITALITY helps people around the world gain access to health care and support at a price they can afford. Finding innovative and sustainable ways for people to share healthy products and services through our online marketplace and community activities.

MEDITATION POSSIBILITIES IN QUEENSLAND – Coming soon

Cairns weekend meditation intensive – June 20 and 21 – Non-residential

Meditation is the greatest gift you can give to yourself, or someone you care for

Date              Saturday, Sunday 20^th and 21^st June. Starts 10am (arrive 9.30) to 5pm

Venue           Khacho Yulo Ling Buddhist Centre, 348 Severin Street, Cairns

Enquiries      Call  07 4041 5556    or email   info@yuloling.com

Bookings      Online, go to :  www.yuloling.comwww.yuloling.com      or call Rinchen    07 4041 5556

Medicine of the Mind – Cairns Evening Public Lecture – June 23

For everyone interested in the power within

Date                Tuesday 23rd June, 2015      Starts 7pm (arrive 6.30) to 10pm

Venue             Khacho Yulo Ling Buddhist Centre, 348 Severin St

Enquiries        Call  07 4041 5556    or email   info@yuloling.com

Bookings        Online, go to :  www.yuloling.com     or call Rinchen    07 4041 5556

Magnesium 101 – why chocolate may be meeting a need, rather than being a simple addiction!

Want an excuse for those chocolate cravings? Having trouble sleeping? Are you bothered by cramps? What about muscle twitches under the eyes? Been a bit edgy lately? Feeling the effects of stress?

All of these symptoms could well be directly related to a magnesium deficiency. So this week, we examine what magnesium does; why so many of us are deficient and what to do about it. Then news of the Winter Webstore sale where downloads and CDs can be purchased more cheaply for the next 2 weeks, but first

             Thought for the day


You must not lose faith in humanity. 

Humanity is like an ocean;

If a few drops of the ocean are dirty,

The ocean does not become dirty.


               
                       Mahatma Gandhi 







WHAT CAUSES MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY?
The soils of Australia and New Zealand are notoriously deficient in magnesium. Therefore our food chain can easily be deficient making for an inherent problem. Processing of food, particularly food refining along with inadequate farming practices exacerbate the issue and in the USA around 30% of people are deficient. However, of equal concern with magnesium is that we tend to burn it up, particularly when tired, stressed or nervous.

WHAT DOES MAGNESIUM DO?
Magnesium is essential to every cell in our body. It acts as a cofactor for over 300 enzymes many of which play a vital role in both aerobic and anaerobic energy production.

Then there is the impact magnesium has on our nervous system. As most will know, our nervous system is made up of nerves that radiate out across our bodies much like power lines radiating out from a power generator. Nerves are only so long, so as one ends, it needs to connect to the next. The connection is called a synapse and magnesium gets used up as it facilitates the nervous impulse crossing each and every synapse.

Hence magnesium’s connection to the nervous system and our nervous state. When our nervous system is active, we need more magnesium. When it is overactive, such as when we are worried, stressed, anxious or tired, it seems we burn more magnesium. If the diet is low, if the nervous energy/demand is high, then deficiencies can easily occur.

WHAT ARE THE SIGNS OF MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY?
Severe signs of magnesium deficiency are relatively rare, but neurologic or neuromuscular problems are relatively common. Being overly irritable or hyper-excitable is a common sign, as is difficulty getting to sleep. Muscular weakness and tiredness, muscle spasms (including the very characteristic twitching of muscles under the eye), even loss of appetite, anorexia, nausea, and weight loss are not uncommon.

Irregular heartbeats can be a consequence of magnesium deficiency and high blood pressure can be aggravated by it. Some have recorded constipation as another sign.

In extreme cases tetany and even convulsions can follow.

HOW MUCH MAGNESIUM DO WE NEED? 
Formal Australian recommendations are for adult women 310 – 320 mgm/day; for adult men 400 – 420mgm/day.

WHAT TO DO FOR A MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY

1. Improve the dietary intake – always the best option if it works.
There are many good dietary sources of magnesium, given that the foods in question have been grown on magnesium rich soils. For the gardeners, the best source of magnesium for your garden is dolomite. Dolomite is a natural substance similar to lime, but whereas lime is calcium carbonate, dolomite has roughly equal amounts of calcium and lime. So dolomite is good for alkalinising soils as well as adding the much needed magnesium.

Have a chocolate craving? Many causes for that! But one you might feel better about is that cocoa is rich in magnesium and a deficiency in this vital mineral can have you chasing chocolate. Remember, cocoa has many good properties and can be used freely. Chocolate comes with added issues, particularly sugar and saturated fats, so a little dark chocolate as part of an overall healthy diet is fine.

Next comes chlorophyll which is rich in magnesium, making any green vegetable a good source. In fact most well grown vegetables have good magnesium levels, as do most nuts and spices. Most unrefined cereals are reasonable sources, but most refined foods such as refined flour have little.

2. Consider a magnesium supplement
There are many of these but the cheapest and most common, magnesium oxide is poorly absorbed and really not worth taking when there are so many better options.

Basically, you need a biologically available form of magnesium and this requires taking magnesium orotate, aspartate, chloride, citrate or glycinate; all of which have about 4 times the bio-availablity of the oxide. Check the labels!

A basic supplementation level is 200mgm/day, but practitioners often recommend 400mgm/day for people confirmed as having a deficiency. Check with your practitioner.

If sleeping is problematic, taking your magnesium half an hour or so before retiring can be very helpful.


WEBSTORE WINTER SALE – Ends Monday 22nd June

Yes it is on again. With winter here and the natural inclination to turn inwards upon us, the webstore is making it easier for you to have some fuel for introspection!

All downloads are heavily reduced along with the Healing series of CDs.
Make yourself a cup of tea, stoke up the fire, climb into the comfy chair and away you go. Enjoy your chocolate; or should I say magnesium???   Connect here

NOTICEBOARD
MEDITATION POSSIBILITIES IN QUEENSLAND – Coming soon

Brisbane day workshop - Sunday, June 14th, 2015

A Relaxing, Regenerative Meditation Intensive 

Designed for experienced meditators, but definitely open to those newer to meditation

Date        Sunday, June 14th, 2015 from 10am (arrive 9.30) to 5pm
Venue     The Relaxation Centre, 15 South Pine Rd, Alderley, Brisbane
Enquiries and Bookings    The Relaxation Centre        Telephone: 07 3856 3733
                                                                                         www.relaxationcentreqld.com.au

Cairns weekend meditation intensive – June 20 and 21 – Non-residential

Meditation is the greatest gift you can give to yourself, or someone you care for

Date              Saturday, Sunday 20th and 21st June. Starts 10am (arrive 9.30) to 5pm
Venue           Khacho Yulo Ling Buddhist Centre, 348 Severin Street, Cairns
Enquiries      Call  07 4041 5556    or email   info@yuloling.com
Bookings      Online, go to :  www.yuloling.com     or call Rinchen    07 4041 5556


Medicine of the Mind – Cairns Evening Public Lecture – June 23

For everyone interested in the power within 

Date                Tuesday 23rd June, 2015      Starts 7pm (arrive 6.30) to 10pm
Venue             Khacho Yulo Ling Buddhist Centre, 348 Severin St
Enquiries        Call  07 4041 5556    or email   info@yuloling.com
Bookings        Online, go to :  www.yuloling.com     or call Rinchen    07 4041 5556

New hope for breast cancer – with implications for prevention as well as survival

Breakthrough research demonstrates mindfulness and emotional expression maintain telomeres and offers new hope to women affected by breast cancer.

Speaking generally, people diagnosed with cancer who have shorter telomeres are more likely to die of that cancer than those with longer telomeres. Theoretically, anything that preserves telomeres, or better still, lengthens them could well lead to higher rates of survival, even recovery.

Considering breast cancer specifically, telomere length (TL) has been associated with prognosis. Again, the longer the telomeres, the longer the survival.

So this week, we report on a landmark study that shows learning mindfulness and emotional expression in a group setting offers new hope to women affected by breast cancer, but first

           Thought for the day

                   Meditation is acceptance. 
                   It is the acceptance of life 
                  Within us, 
                  Without us, 
                  And all around us. 

                  Acceptance of life 
                 Is the beginning of human satisfaction.

                                       Sri Chinmoy


Previous research has shown that group psychosocial interventions including mindfulness-based cancer recovery (MBCR) and supportive-expressive group therapy (SET) can help breast cancer survivors decrease distress and influence cortisol levels.

This is the first randomized controlled trial to examine how mindfulness and emotional expression impact on telomere length (TL) in women affected by breast cancer.

Eighty-eight distressed breast cancer survivors with a diagnosis of stage I to III cancer who had completed treatment at least 3 months prior participated.

They were separated into three groups  - one was asked to attend eight weekly, 90-minute group sessions that provided instructions on mindfulness meditation and gentle yoga. These participants were asked to practice meditation and yoga at home for 45 minutes daily.
The second group met up for 90 minutes each week for the three months and supported and guided by well-trained group leaders were encouraged to talk openly about their concerns and feelings.

The third control group simply attended a one day, six hour stress management seminar.
Before and after the study, all participants had their blood analysed and their telomere length measured.



Both groups who attended the support groups maintained their telomere length over the three-month period, while the telomeres of the control group had shortened.

The two groups who attended the therapeutic group sessions also reported lower stress levels and better moods.



RESULTS
Very interesting. MBRC and SET had almost the same positive effect on telomere length when compared to the control group. In both the MCBR and SET groups, telomere length was maintained, whereas it was found to decrease for those in the control group. It seems either MBRC or SET led to about the same benefit.

COMMENT
Curiously, there were no associations noted between changes in TL and changes in mood or stress scores over time.

Curiously, because previous studies that have examined the impact of group therapies on survival times for people affected by cancer have indeed demonstrated a strong correlation between state of mind and outcome.



To summarise, those groups studied that led to measurable improvements in  “quality of life" - (in inverted commas because quality of life is a broad term), generally were associated with increased survival times for the participants.



Where there was no improvement in quality of life following participation in a group, generally there was no increase in survival times.



The conclusion many reached based on these observations has been that a well run group will lead to improvements in quality of life for its participants, and that translates into or has a correlation with longer survival times. There is a certain logic to this.

Curious then that in this study, no association was found between telomere lengths and mood or stress levels. The researchers postulated on a number of reasons for this, but hopefully, it will not be long before more research groups look into the intriguing relationships between cancer, telomeres and the mind studied in this important piece of research and we will come to learn more of the science in this fascinating and important area..

CONCLUSIONS
Although this research is pretty exciting, it is still not known if these benefits will be long-term or what is causing this biological effect. But for now, we can take heart. This study does suggest that telomeres can be preserved. It is reasonable to suppose that if telomeres remain longer, then survival times may well go up.

Hopefully, this study will be followed up so that the effect of learning and practising mindfulness and emotional expression in a group setting on survival times for women with breast cancer will be reported. Many would anticipate from personal experience that those findings also will be positive.

This study has made the important contribution of demonstrating that a psychosocial intervention that lasted only 3 months and that taught and supported either mindfulness-based stress reduction or emotional support resulted in telomere length stabilisation in distressed breast cancer survivors, compared with decreases in those offered usual care.

Speaking more generally, these results provide provocative new data that suggest it is possible to influence telomere length in cancer survivors through the use of psychosocial interventions involving group support, emotional expression, stress reduction, and mindfulness meditation. By implication, the findings are of great interest for the prevention of breast cancer.

More research please.

REFERENCE
Carlson, L. E. et al. (Feb 2015), Mindfulness-based cancer recovery and supportive-expressive therapy maintain telomere length relative to controls in distressed breast cancer survivors. Cancer, 121: 476–484. doi: 10.1002/cncr.29063

RELATED BLOG
Service your car? Of course! Service your telomeres? What? – Examines how everyone can support their telomeres – and what the benefits are.

Is this the elixir of youth? – More on telomeres including another landmark study, this time from Dean Ornish, that showed a lifestyle-based group intervention increased telomerase levels in men affected by prostate cancer, and that this translated into longer telomeres after 5 years.

RESOURCES

Product B - Herbal telomere support approved by the Australian TGA: CLICK HERE


NOTICEBOARD
MEDITATION POSSIBILITIES IN QUEENSLAND 
– Coming soon

Brisbane day workshop - Sunday, June 14th, 2015

A Relaxing, Regenerative Meditation Intensive 

Designed for experienced meditators, but definitely open to those newer to meditation

Date        Sunday, June 14th, 2015 from 10am (arrive 9.30) to 5pm
Venue     The Relaxation Centre, 15 South Pine Rd, Alderley, Brisbane
Enquiries and Bookings    The Relaxation Centre        Telephone: 07 3856 3733
                                                                                       
www.relaxationcentreqld.com.au

Cairns Weekend Meditation Intensive 
June 20 and 21 – Non-residential

Meditation is the greatest gift you can give to yourself, or someone you care for

Date              Saturday, Sunday 20th and 21st June. Starts 10am (arrive 9.30) to 5pm
Venue           Khacho Yulo Ling Buddhist Centre, 348 Severin Street, Cairns
Enquiries      Call  07 4041 5556    or email   info@yuloling.com
Bookings      Online, go to :  www.yuloling.com     or call Rinchen    07 4041 5556


Medicine of the Mind  
Cairns Evening Public Lecture – June 23

For everyone interested in the power within 

Date                Tuesday 23rd June, 2015      Starts 7pm (arrive 6.30) to 10pm
Venue             Khacho Yulo Ling Buddhist Centre, 348 Severin St
Enquiries        Call  07 4041 5556    or email   info@yuloling.com
Bookings        Online, go to :  www.yuloling.com     or call Rinchen    07 4041 5556