If you want to stay active and vibrant into your 70s, 80s, and beyond...then you need to hear about this...
The story begins with astronaut Scott Kelly, who blasted off for the International Space Station in 2015. His mission was to spend nearly a year in space.
NASA scientists wanted to study the effects of space on his mind and body over such a long period of time. So they set up a battery of tests. One of them was quite unusual.
You see, Scott Kelly is the only astronaut in history to have an identical twin brother. That means he and his brother have the same genetic makeup. So the scientists could compare Scott to his brother and see what effect space flight has on the body.
The scientists compared the brothers on various bio-markers. They also compared the two twins’ telomeres.
Telomeres, as you may know, are the extra bits of DNA on the end of your chromosomes. They are like the plastic caps on the end of your shoelaces. When the caps on your shoelaces wear down, your shoelaces unravel. Well, telomeres work like that.
Every time your cells divide, your telomeres get a little shorter. Eventually, these telomere “caps” get so short, your cells can no longer make perfect copies of your DNA. So cells go dormant or die. Many scientists think telomere shortening is one of the best markers of your true biological age.
Now, back to Scott Kelly. When Kelly flew off into space, NASA scientists expected his telomeres to shorten. After all, he was going to be under a huge amount of stress: mental, physical, and stress from radiation. Stress shortens your telomeres and ages you.
So when Scott Kelly returned to earth, one year later, scientists expected the worst. When he returned, his body mass had withered. His gut bacteria had completely changed.
But when scientists compared his telomeres to his identical twin brother’s, they were shocked at what they saw...
Scott Kelly’s telomeres had actually grown longer!
That’s right, longer. How could this happen? I’ll tell you how in a second, but first, you need to know...