Scientists know the best way to improve every aspect of your health and slow down the aging process is to activate the genes that are turned on when the body’s survival feels threatened. What can threaten your survival? Well, fortunately in this day and age, most of our species is not having to grab two children and get up a tree to avoid being a lion’s dinner.
In this day and age, we can mimic some of nature’s cruel tricks and get healthier at the same time. Imagine extreme heat or cold, reduced food intake, lack of oxygen, and dealing with dangerous situations.
All of these situations can activate our survivor genes. Let’s look at each of these “threats” and how they flip on the survivor genes.
HEAT
When you go into a hot sauna or into hot yoga, you get really hot after a bit, and then you generally will walk out of the sauna when you are uncomfortable. But wait, if you remain in the sauna while your body is sending a signal to “get me out of here,” that is when your body starts to perceive a threat. At this point, your survivor genes are activated and they tell the nucleus of your cells to “Fix everything! Detox everything! Turn on the anti-aging genes. Let’s make some human growth hormone immediately!”
These are just a few of the benefits that happen when your body perceives it is in trouble. There are many benefits that the body comes up with that scientists are still learning more and more every year with new and exciting anti-aging research. In short, sitting in a heated sauna (steam or infrared) can give you some amazing benefits if you stay in past your comfort level.
It goes without saying that you need to be careful and use common sense. Make sure you do sauna therapy with another person. Pay attention to your vital signs and make sure you stay in the safe zones of this treatment.
COLD
Fill your bath with about three bags of ice from your local corner market. Get in the tub, and you can scare the hell out of your body. Your body will immediately send signals that it is in trouble–in other words–it is painful. Your body does not want to freeze to death, so it is going to dish out every good chemical and physical upgrade to keep you safe and sound. Through this protocol, you will raise your testosterone, human growth hormone, and many happy brain [and gut] feel-good chemicals.
The late Marilyn Monroe claimed ice bathing was her best beauty secret. There is no greater beauty secret I could recommend than calling in the repair and upgrade of every aspect of your being that will enable you to be younger, stronger, and fitter. Marilyn may have been known known as a ditzy blonde, but she and her beauty advisors were ahead of their time.
Here is our quick start guide for ice bathing at home.
CALORIE RESTRICTION and FASTING
When you reduce your calorie intake to 30 to 40% below what you need to sustain your current weight, your survival genes become active. [It is a wonderful evolutionary advantage that helped our species during times of drought and famine.]
Type in the answers to the questions, and it will tell you how many calories you will burn if you stay in bed all day. Reduce this number by 30 to 40% and you will know how many calories you should consume to tell your body that its survival is threatened.
ACUTE EXERCISE
When you do high intensity interval training, sprinting, or some extreme fitness routine, your body perceives a threat.
The body sees you are experiencing acute physical stress and it calls in the upgrade. It is not necessary to exercise for a long time. In fact, that is counter productive. Exercising in short bursts–such as sprinting style exercise–and you have the ultimate exercise for activating the survivor genes.
Burst training last for 12-15 minutes. It is high intensity that can be done on a bike, running or any intense style movement that takes you to the point of being out of breath.
Long, slow steady cardio or long, hard training actually shortens telomeres as it exhaust the body instead of invigorating it. Body building would also fall into this category.
Take a look at these short videos on how short periods of burst training makes a dramatic effect on our fitness levels. This is great news!
OXYGEN DEPRIVATION
This is a popular upgrade for many athletes. They do hypoxia (or hypoxic) training and even sleep in hypoxic chambers to reduce their oxygen intake. Doing such, again, pushes the body to call in support from the survivor genes. You may see all sorts of contraptions for sell–from training masks to inhalers, and tents to hypobaric chambers–you can spend a lot of time and money trying to find the right piece of equipment to get the most out of your hypoxic training regimens.
Remember, too much of anything can lead to problems. Just like too much heat can lead to heat stroke; and too much cold can lead to hypothermia–the same is true for oxygen deprivation training. The key is finding that right amount of hypoxic training that is in the good range of upgrading your DNA and those survivor genes.
DANGER!
If you are getting ready to bungee jump or jump out of a plane for a skydiving adventure, your body is going to act accordingly. Certain challenges that cause you a bit of fear will definitely induce longevity benefits. A very short list that would fall under this danger category …
- Skydiving (and even indoor skydiving)
- Rock climbing (in nature and on built courses)
- Race car driving (safe racing tracks/cars)
- Surfing (at the beach and flowriding courses)
- Skiing (on mountains and indoor facilities)
- Bungee jumping (only the best and safest places)
- Cycling (safe road courses and mountain trail
- Scuba diving (in the ocean or in deep pools)
How well you respond to any of these treatments/therapies is based on your NAD+ levels. You had a previous unit on NAD+ and learned how to supplement it. You also learned how to increase NAD levels with sunlight therapy.
I just want you to take a look at this video by leading anti-aging researcher Lenny Guarente, to remind yourself of the importance of NAD+ and activating sirtuins via sirtuin-activating compounds, or STACS, and NAD+ supplementation, NR, NMN, and sunlight/light therapy.
This combination is your fountain of youth.
