How to Stop (And Even Reverse) Aging 

Anti aging does not mean immortality. Immortality means not dying from anything, while with anti aging you can still die but not from the aging.

The 'death gives meaning to human life' sounds like a bad rationalization. People should live for as long as they are enjoying themselves.

Just a point to the average 35 years lifetime they had in ancient times... it was heavily skewed by the fact that they had huge child mortality rates. If you don't take into account the deaths at early age, the average life expectancy in the XIX century was around 55, not 35.

Life expectancy was so low because infant and child mortality was insanely high, not because people died in their 30's. If you made it past childhood, you could expect to live to see your 60's or 70's. It's not that people were dying at 35, it's that all the people dying in childhood and infancy dragged the overall expectancy way down.

I have a great grandmother she is 111yo and every time I think of her I ask myself how is she still alive... Impressive!

- IF Diet (or 24h+ fast) - Solid sleep - Physical activity - Mind exercises - Healthy relationships - Stress balance - Clean diet

I agree with the goal of extending the "quality of life" years, even if doesn't extend lifespan. This would make life more active and enjoyable for seniors while simultaneously reducing age-related medical costs and the often-extreme costs of end-of-life care that barely extends "existence". This starts with diet, fitness and other self-care, but there is a place for medicine as well, if it can be shown to be both safe and effective.

The whole idea of people not wanting to live longer is that very few /healthy/ people ever say that they would choose to die now. So, if healthspan increases, there is a decent chance people will still not want to 'live forever' but will be perfectly fine living well into triple digits.

I'm 50 and trying to start over but I feel like I'm too old for it. If I knew I had a lot longer to lead a healthy energetic life I'd be much more motivated and happy.

I've seen some studies talk about how intermittent fasting and fasting in general can help rid ourselves of some if the cells that are involved in aging

I used to want to live to 120, but after my Dad died last year, I don't give a shit about living long now. I just wanna live young.

Just a note: intermittent fasting has been shown to promote autophagy, thereby removing senescent cells.

Not true about being not hired. I was hired as an engineer at 50 yrs old and worked for another 15 years before I retired pretty comfortably. Never give up, work as much as you want.

We really need to stop exaggerating past life expectancy figures when discussing people already here and able to comprehend videos such as this. In 1841, beating infant mortality added about 7 years, and beating early childhood mortality on top of that (age 5) added another 7 (14 total) years. Yes it makes a great Family Guy cutaway picturing peasant farmers who died en masse in their 30s, but that's just not really how it worked.

Anyone arguing that ageing and death is a good thing is just... I have no words to adequately describe how abhorrent that view is. It's like if you argued that premodern infant mortality levels were morally good and should have been preserved. We're so used to being condemned to the horror of our own mortality that we rationalize it as a good thing to make facing it easier, but it is a disease, and those wanting to block us from developing a cure are evil beyond words. The fact that improving human life would result in additional challenges is an argument to address those challenges and their underlying causes, not deny making lives better.

If you're pain stricken by grief about losing a loved one,the best way to give a tribute to the person, is to not die.

"But will living longer make us happier?" Perhaps we need to ask this question as if we're the first generation that actually gets to answer it, instead of retell the stories of those before us who had to comfort themselves for having little choice in the matter. What society has actually had healthspans or lifespans far beyond ours? This is uncharted territory, and more than ever before, it's what we make of it.

If we can live longer lots of the thoughts expressed by the people in this video will change. People will care more about the environment and resources, people that live longer will be willing to learn new trades. We should all live longer, not just the wealthy will benefit from the medical advances, poor people will be included in the ability to live long also.

Please make this happen, Because looking older after 30, and after 40 sucks you want too look younger.

Did a life expectancy of 35 meant that people dropped dead at 36 years old, or that the huge amount of children's deaths lowered the number? History is full of individuals that lived more than 35 years old. On the other hand, about the mice in the experiment, if they were younger and healthier, what they died of? Were they killed or became cancerous all over?

The planet doesn't suffer from limited resources. We can already feed about 10 billion people, which is about what the human population is expected to peak at (would be even less if poor countries got richer faster). The problem is supply chains and valuation of money over life.

I'm surprised to see this topic starting to become so widespread that PBS covered it recently. I still think of the longevity space as an underground hobby.

The reason some people might say they don't want to live forever is because they can't believe it is possible and their answer is part of their way to manage the terror of supposed upcoming death.

Thanks Swapna, that was very well presented.

I think we overthink the happiness element in life extension. It should be living in a satisfactory way. That means financially safe. That also means complete health care. This allows happiness to occur from doing things you like and the opportunity to explore new ventures. Without financial safety and complete health care, extended longevity can become a bitter almost surf-like existence where people live from day to day paying corporate to live longer.

This particular presentation wasn't bad for futures content. Most futures content concentrates on a singular future: this acknowledged a variety of factors that may drive a wide variety of futures, and that's good. We need more of that. The other side of the argument is that it didn't go into what less desirable futures may look like and how those futures might be distributed. If I may offer a different critique, it would be helpful if you talked about the time frame of the futures you're considering. I got a Master of Science degree in Studies of the Future, and as a university-trained professional futurist, we normally talk about our futures between 10 and 50 years out in time. Out to about 10 years from now, futures are stabilized by our presents: it's highly unlikely we'll see radical change over the next decade. Beyond 50 years, the possibilities for change become so great that we can't make useful speculation about possible, plausible and probable futures. With that said, do you have a futurist on staff? Having a professional futurist, either on staff or available as a consultant, can help ensure your content is of the highest quality and considers the range of social (S), technological/scientific (T), environmental (E), economic (E) and political (P) or STEEP factors. A good futurist can help you come up with multiple alternative futures to explore in every episode, so people can get a better idea of the range of possible futures we face. It's good that this video talked about some of the problems that might arise in a future in which aging might be arrested (I'm tempted to make a joke about aging, once arrested, having to do time, but I'll try to restrain myself . . .) and some of the drivers of those potential problems. I see some good potential for this series. I'd love to discuss the series in more detail, but this post is getting a little long.

Loved the video. Thank you!!

I think the "change in society" would have come from family/housing: The construction for multi-generational homes. One of the biggest issues is housing. What if people, if they are living longer and healthier, had three generations per-house hold. They could generate more wealth, as a family, to buy a house to accommodate more than a dozen members. Constructed as an "open" duplex. Meaning the house starts by allowing a family of 4 and an older couple to live. People might actually get more out of an upbringing with parents and grandparents around. Passing on of knowledge (life lessons) and generational wealth. Imagine a house that has two kitchens two "master bedrooms" but one side has two extra rooms for offspring. U-shaped with a central "court yard" for gardening (food). These rooms would be smaller than what we have nowadays. Think more along the lines master being your kid's room and kids room being half that to simply accommodate sleep and necessities.....

Interesting and thought provoking video. Thank you.

Thanks PBS for covering aging and Longevity! ❤

Living longer and reverse aging are different concepts. I would rather reverse aging than live longer

We just did a clinical study (submitted for publication in a peer reviewed dermatology journal) and we were shocked by what we found. The subjects in the study ranged from 26 to 68. The study evaluated the regenerative potential of the skin's fat cells. And guess who did the best? The sixty year olds. Yes!

If you're interested in this topic, check out Harvard professor David Sinclair's YT podcast. Or Adrew Huberman's interview with him. He's specialized in ageing, giving science based info on what everybody can do to slow aging. Most of these tools are zero or low cost. No affiliation here, just a fan of both podcasts

I've heard of programs where young kids go to visit the elderly and they help them with homework and the kids give them companionship,it's a win win.

This episode was soooo good! This topic is super fascinating... and of course Swapna is just amazing!

You don't really mention the economic costs of aging on society as a whole. Both private and public healthcare systems have every incentive to want to reduce these costs, which would likely greatly increase the accessibility of anti-aging therapies.

This is an interesting topic though probably none of the possibilities of extended life are likely to benefit me, being in my 70's. It is exciting to think that my grandchildren may have access to a longer life span with all the possible opportunities. I think if humans are longer lived, they will be able to expand on their talents and learning, contributing on more levels. The fly in the ointment is that the cost will be set so high that only the elites will have access, an extension of the corruption that is already a curse on humanity.

Super interesting! I like that you covered science and ethics and philosophy together.

Great info Thanks !!!

I have been an endurance athlete most of my life, the physical capacity I had at 25 I still have at 71 because of a daily training routine. I also never get sick so is strenuous exercise the key to feeling young? Yes, I believe that is true.

Keeping people alive is always a resource. Death is bad. Mortality means failure.

While de-aging technology will very likely benefit mostly the rich and not the poor, I don’t think this is a good reasoning for not developing this technology. We shouldn’t prevent the rich from having good things, but rather we should make whatever we can so that everyone can have more stuff.

Re: elder life and continuing to live purposefully It’s sad that “retirement” life in our society is (usually) expecting to do only one or more of these things: -doing nothing but vacationing and fun things -stopping all work -doing nothing -staying at home -living in a nursing home It’s a shame more people don’t realize they can contribute, still-just in alternate ways versus a drone worker: -being closer to and being around & more involved with kids & grandkids -volunteering in their communities, churches, scouting, etc -part-time teaching, mentoring, or even just sharing of crafts, hobbies, etc, though schools, community libraries, scout troops/packs, rec center courses, community tour guides, etc -part-time at work as a senior advisor or mentor -Being an active & friendly neighbor, sharing and listening to younger neighbors

Thanks for the video

What a gorgeous film!

I really had fantasies when I'm in my senior age. I would still look like a person in my 20s and usually work like every young blood is doing. Then I'm already 464 years old and I've been selected in the space agency to become a space army, ranger or something cool. Even though they know I'm 400+ years old but my vitality and strengths are still qualified because of my youthful appearance and my internal system have met qualifications. I wouldn't feel very alone when I had a lot of descendants and relatives who are approaching 100-400 years old and wanted to do something new into their lives.

Nice piece of information and exquisite narration....❤️

Very interesting topic!!

I think that as we approach a cure for aging, we need to address the fact that people will need to have the choice to end their life when they decide they are ready, whatever age that's at, and making that choice should not carry the stigma it does today. It'll be a significant cultural and legal hurdle to overcome that will take a long time. If we don't start changing now then by the time we cure aging and people are wanting to make the choice, they will have a real challenge ahead.

This should be the main focus of all scientist’s caring aging should be a number one priority.

If you can extend your health span throughout old age, then you have already won a great deal of quality of life. If you are also not geneticly predisposed to certain diseases, then your chances are good to live a long and healthy life. All you need, is a healthy diet (fruits, veggies, little or no alcohol), regular physical activity, such as cycling, jogging, swimming, etc., regular good nights sleep and friends to spend your time with. But you also need a stable income in order to live a good and healthy life. For many people, this will be just as much of a key issue as leading a healthy lifestyle.

Great 8 minutes I can never get back 😂😂😂

The main driver life span expansion in the western economy during the 20th century is public health infrastructure - clean water treatment, sewage infrastructure, garbage collection - it reduced the environmental stresses that killed most people.

I like the editing, gives 90s vibes

It's really interesting topic, well presentation and explanation

Life expectancy is unlikely to change much because people are going to continue spending all day gaming or on the cell phone while simultaneously stuffing their faces with Twinkies, energy drinks, and soda.

Always a good topic for the middle-aged viewer. But this report is middle school level. Most 12 year olds aren't concerned about aging or extending of life span.

Right now we work through our healthy years and retire when we are broken and worn out no able to fully enjoy the fruits of our labor. We don’t need to live longer but it would be nice to have more quality years. Imagine being a woman dedicating yourself to a career and at 55 decide it’s time to settle and have kids (without freezing your eggs) have the kids and be health and present into their adulthood. It’s possible if this tech pans out.

I do agree about taking a closer look and rethinking how we deal with and treat old people before we increase our lifespan.

That’s right! I’m Jeovany Vasquez, I was 16 years old, I never wanted to grow up and be 17 years older!!! But I don’t wanted to die for 70, 80, 90, or 100 years of older!!!! But I wanted to stay 16 forever, and I ate some oranges in everyday!!! and I went to grandma’s house, I just ate some Grapes, Apples, Oranges, and other Healthy fruits. Because I never wanted to be in the future for 2022-3800 years!!! I WANTED TO LIVE FOREVER!!!!! Because future of the years made me nightmares!!!!

I'm pretty sure the 1% will be the only ones who get their lives extended, they pretty much already have the best available anti-aging and healthier lifestyle benefits than the rest of us. The movie Elysium is a good example that sums up how it will be in the future based on how it already is now.

Hi, FYI - The biggest problem for the whole of humanity is developing Maturity. There really are only two possible outcomes... 1). A maniac becomes world dictator, and destroys mankind. 2). A golden age, where people actually mature, become wise, and live incredibly long lives Serving each other, for everyone's benefit.

I got hired at my present job at 60. Younger guys tend to have no upper body strength. The boxes when I run the scale weigh 40 pounds. My bar at home has 45, no problem.

Aging is dependent on the human immune system. The human immune system is dependent on not just the human genome and epigenetics BUT also on the state of the gut microbiome genome community which in turn is dependent on a healthy diet. Hence, Aging is dependent on dietary habits too.

We’re really saved! Thank goodness for this video!

All medicine should be in the public domain! No more medical copyrights!!

🥺 Star Trek references, love this 🥳

Great episode about aging!! We did one also on the benefits of coffee!

Yes please!

Hopefully we will get smart and invest in things that really matter, like safe bicycle lanes, walking paths, locally grown vegetables, more support for healthy activities. The US has a tendency to sell the problem then the cure. We need more socially responsible businesses and honest government to support both public and private initiatives in overall health.

Unfortunately, the lifespan of people in the USA has been getting shorter over the past two decades.

Very interesting, I like the video. Thank you

Solent green movie with Edward g Robinson. And the keep are two of my favorites 💕

Do you know what I find really interesting? The person who was saying that most corporations wouldn’t hire someone who is over 50 but would be willing to hire someone who is 17 there’s several reasons for that it depends on who you’re talking to and what is their motivation? Now perhaps that’s his belief And perhaps that’s been his experience, which is where the belief came from because he’s basing, engaging it on his own experience Or what he’s witnessed I don’t really understand why people think they can bypass their mortality by being completely ignorant and avoidance in their approach to their well-being. I also don’t understand why people believe that smoking and drinking and all of these things are super bad for you but they don’t seem to think about the things that they don’t know and learn about those things, and start applying real health practices to their life for the purpose of longevity , We live in a very strange society where people think they can just take a magic bullet, or a magic pill or magic vaccination or shot and be done with being responsible and accountable for their life. You have this magnificent machinery, called the body and it is capable of so much and yet you don’t know anything about it really and you know so much more about your actual car, which is also a vehicle Then you know about your physical vessel I think that’s really more important than trying to undo the damage that people do to themselves by eating absolute trash, and a diet that isn’t even meant for them. There’s only one way to handle it and it’s really called lifestyle change. And it Hass to be a permanent change. I can’t just be warm and do it for a week and I’m gonna get it for month and then that’s that Look at the blue zones all the centurions who have made it above and beyond 100 years and you’re promising them 90 when they could live another 10 maybe 30 years without debility, being completely healthy and dying of natural state ? I don’t think that those types of addresses are correct. I don’t think that you should be playing Frankenstein with your DNA. I think that you should just learn more about it and support it and within reason don’t really stretch your imagination in the way of what you can get away with because technically you can’t, including this injection that you’re talking about. Sarah people who have died from cancer, and there are people who have come back from the brink of death after receiving a diagnosis and traditional or western treatment for that cancer when the cancer was demonized and it was just a warning sign it was really problem and the cancer was telling you where that problem exist but instead of looking at it from that angle, people are like oh my God we have to destroy the cancer, which means you’re also destroying the body And well it’s the only place you have to live so your soul is going to have to go back to stores if you screw this up in an eye much earlier age than you would’ve hoped Now, ironically people passed away at younger ages back in whatever year or decade or century Because they probably weren’t eating right they weren’t getting the right nutrients. They didn’t know much about the body either they took it for granted they lived hard lives. They worked hard, but the majority of the work wasn’t for someone else it was for maintaining their own life, and yet they were still very ill equipped, and under educated The whole thing is really just a mystery as to how ignorant people can choose to be and yet ignorance is choice and we see it more today than ever we’re surrounded by seen and unseen causes of cancer, and it is what has been created by our society, our false beliefs the lies that we’ve bought therefore we were sold as slaves to the commercial and consumerism that everyone is under now, but I do think a lot of people are waking up and I’m very pleased about that because that means people will naturally live longer if they stop participating in all the reindeer games that is shortening their life and it’s what they call fools gold When you say that people are living longer, they’re not living quality lives in this day and age and yet somehow you seem to be pretty proud of that thinking that vaccinations have actually helped. One fact they’ve actually contributed to people dying faster they’ve interfered with the immune system they’ve caused information they’ve caused damage to the mitochondria, which has intern caused death and disease as well as illness . You really shouldn’t play with your DNA And that’s why so many natural doctors have been murdered if my memory serves it’s been over 2000 doctors they just either disappeared and later turned up dead or met some terrible fate. There’s no accident in any of that the powers that be do not want people to believe they have Choice, and when someone is telling them the truth that person becomes a bull’s-eye What you lovely scientists and doctors are learning and you’re also learning that that’s also a lie is nothing more than what someone wants you to believe and you do you adopt it you preach it, you practice it and then one day you have an awakening And you realize you’ve been playing on the wrong side of the team or you’re on the wrong team altogether and that’s where a lot of the weakening come with this whole virus crap where they blamed it on the virus the government was paying medical institutions to fraudulently claim that the deaths were attributed to virus, when you said they had underlying conditions, some of which contributed that was diagnosed and others, which were not even discovered Because there was a huge payoff like $14,000 per person and diagnosis was $1400 per person and God knows what else was going on nobody really believes in the CDC anymore. It’s a business just like the FDA it’s all about how much money they can make They take bribes and they work for these companies who are extremely wealthy and who have an agenda they are so Dr. scientific reports and medical journals or those publications that end up in the journals so that people can be misled just like the Bible I was curious to hear what the next billion dollar idea was that will rob people and give them false hope and also give them the ability to be enabled so they don’t have to take accountability for their life. They can just take your wealth and spend it on the shots . That way they can live forever and yet they wouldn’t be happy just we’re not designed to live forever. So yeah, very interesting but I’ve heard is Lena matter how much money I have whatever be interested in it and I don’t recommend it for anyone. I don’t care how much money you have.

The future of aging is that the very rich with old fashioned self enriching attitudes live long and the rest can die for them, hoping to be allowed in their circle by treating other humans badly.

I would take immortality in a heartbeat.

This is a 1:1 video of the veritassium channel I can't find it anymore.

I do research on senescence, and you have to be very very careful with these treatments, two drugs that work super well in other mouse tissues caused multiple sclerosis like symptoms in the brain.

Where Can I Get This Pill and How Much Does it Cost...

We must not just consider the quantity of one's life, but its quality also. The real question: can you afford to live 150 years? Does that mean we will have to work approx 100 years? What does this mean for female fertility - will ladies have a monthly period for 135 years (I hope not!)? I don't know if I could emotionally live for 150 years... there's so much hardship, tragedy, suffering & cruelty in you world. Perhaps 70 years of living with the nonsense people get up to is quite enough, I don't think I could do it for 150 years! I might consider it if I was wealthy and living in a world of peace, prosperity & sustainable living where everyone had a good life and the world co-operated to make a better world for all (everybody wins) rather than competing with each other (someone must win and the rest must lose so that the winner can feel superior). I don't like the world I live in now: living in it for 150 years is not an attractive prospect for me.

The answer is in the food we eat. Whole food plant dominant diets like those in the Blue Zones offer longevity with vitality.

Unfortunately, many data are not correct! Life expectancy starts to shorten from 1996 onwards, we know the main reasons, stress, diet, inactivity, so I don't expect anything to change in the future! I am a non-smoker and rarely drink alcohol, but Jeanne Calment smoked and drank for 95 years and lived the longest of all (122)!!! That's not crucial either, those three reasons are crucial!!!

ive been doing a blood cleanse.. and im looking younger and healthier

is there a list for the soundtrack of this episode?

If it makes old people better drivers, I'm all for it.

Really what you're talking about here isn't "aging." You're talking about extending lifespan.

8:04 If you have that decline, as it is now, people will suffer. The elderly themselves, but often not really notice because of their condition, but also their relatives. It is always a monetary and emotional strain. But relatives will comfort themselves with "at least they lived a long life". On the other hand, if they live healthy to the end people will complain, that they "died too young". Even if they become 300 years old.

im ok to never die, i dont need an ultimate meaning or to say it better i dont think there is an ultimate "something", the more we live the more normal it will become and more timespan we will ty to get (im looking at you turtles, we ARE coming)

Awesome video

Who the hell would want to live on this planet any longer than they have to? As for quality of life, old age is shitty because we’re already living longer than we should.

Oh cool. Love the discussion on making the end of life better. Honestly I'm good on extending the number of years lived past say, 90 or so but having those years be healthy and fun it's where the work should be. Also the difference in life expectancy based on income is devastating. I'd love to know more about the biggest overall factors influencing that. Stoked to see where this show will go in the coming episodes!

Depends on the mindset of the younger generations in which the aged are living perhaps to some minor or greater degree. Communal thought can greatly imprint reality. How discerning are these effects? Perhaps studies as to this nature could be dug up, or performed to this end somehow. Biochemical livelihood may be affected by this more than we currently know, or have been able to be aware of.

It is hard to claim that the internet was a mistake, but it is clear we have failed to address some of the problems that comes with the existence of the internet. So it is likely we would see the same with much longer life spans. Overall good, but the news and think pieces will continue to be filled with talk of all the side effects, some of which could be rather serious.

Light in detail big on hype 👽

We crossed 8 Billion.

I hope that in five years reverseing aging is possible so that people like me can have a second chance in life I'm 25 going to be 30 in five years and I won't to restart my life at least be five years younger when I'm 30

Believe in it and it's golden

I'm surprised you did not bring up intermittent fasting. Oh well.

What is the target audience for this? The graphics makes it seem like middle schoolers or highschoolers, but I usually associate this channel with more adult oriented programing.

Good stuff