Telomeres and Slowing Down Aging – Episode

Empowering You Organically – Season 7 – Episode 46
Title: Telomeres and Slowing Down Aging
Hosts: Jonathan Hunsaker, TeriAnn Trevenen
Description: In this week’s episode we’re talking about a very important subject, and that is aging! Telomeres have a direct impact on not only our appearance as we age but our overall longevity. Join us as we specifically discuss telomeres; understanding what telomeres are, understanding some of the different things we can do to keep them lengthened and healthy.

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FEATURED PRODUCT

• 7M+® takes the centuries-old knowledge of the power of medicinal mushrooms and combines it with our breakthrough formulation process to deliver a powerful anti-aging supplement packed with natural immune-supportive benefits.
• The 7 organic mushroom varieties selected for 7M+ are among the most clinically researched mushrooms on Earth. They each contain infection-fighting compounds called “beta-glucans” which support your cellular immunity defense system. The more kinds of mushrooms you have working together, the stronger your immunity – especially during cold & flu season. These mushrooms are also chock full of potent antioxidants to slow down cellular aging, aid digestion, and boost mood and energy levels.

Understanding the Importance of Telomeres
Understanding the impact telomeres have on our aging will help us understand the positive health benefits of mushrooms.

• The telomere is the “tail” of each chromosome in your cells. These tiny little segments of your DNA are critical for healthy, youthful living.
• Think of them as the plastic tips of shoelaces that keep them together. Telomeres work the same way.
• They prevent chromosomes from fraying or tangling with one another. When that happens, it can cause genetic information to get all mixed up or destroyed leading to health problems. Worst of all, damage to your telomeres can speed up your aging.
• One study of 60 to 75-year-old people showed those with short Telomeres had a 300% higher death rate from heart-related problems. They also had an 800% higher death rate from infectious diseases.
• Why? Because each time a cell divides, its telomeres become shorter.
• As our telomeres wear down, so do we. That’s when we develop problems with hearing or age-related memory loss — things most of us consider natural parts of aging.

Can We Slow This Down?

• Yes! As it turns out, age really is just a number.
• You see, there’s a big difference between your biological age and your chronological age. And it’s your biological age that matters most.
• Why? It all comes back to those pesky telomeres. They’re a primary reason some people age at different speeds than others. Or why some people always seem to be “coming down with something” and others have an impenetrable immune system.
• While we can’t stop our telomeres from getting shorter, we can S-L-O-W the process down if we’re smart about it…

3 Ways to Increase the Length of Your Telomeres

1. Boost Micro-Nutrients – Vitamins A, D, C, and E have all been proven to slow down your telomeres. And data from one study (586 women, ages 35-74) showed those with a strong nutrient base had 5.1% longer telomeres than those who did not.
2. Reduce Inflammation – European study showed that those who had low levels of inflammation were able to maintain their telomeres at a ‘youthful’ level. Their telomeres matched those of a person who was 60 even when they were 80 years old
3. Anti-Oxidants – Studies show that your telomeres are extremely sensitive to oxidative stress. Not only that, but too much oxidation in your cells could hurt how your telomeres are meant to function. That’s why keeping powerful antioxidants like Nutritional Mushrooms in your diet is so crucial for healthy aging. Antioxidants combat the free radicals that may cause cell damage or cell death.

Gene Expression/Epigenetics

• Epigenetics is the study of how we can affect our gene expression based off of lifestyle choices, whether that’s food, how much sun exposure you’re getting, the kind of toxins that are in your life, the working out that you do.
• We can slow down the aging process if we understand aging, we understand telomeres, we understand the different things that we can do to keep them longer will ultimately slow down the aging.

7M+
7M+ contains seven main ingredients: Turkey Tail, Chaga, Shiitake, Maitake, Cordyceps, Lion’s Mane, and Reishi,

• Powerful anti-aging, longevity, immune support
• 7 of nature’s most beneficial organic mushrooms
• Fermented to maximize bioavailability
• No artificial flavors, preservatives, or colors
• Free of GMOs, yeast, soy protein, sodium, or starch
• ONE-Year 100% Satisfaction, Money-Back Guarantee

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Episode 46 – Telomeres and Slowing Down Aging

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Episode 46 – Telomeres and Slowing Down Aging

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Jonathan Hunsaker: Welcome, everyone, to another episode of Empowering You Organically. I’m your host, Jonathan Hunsaker, joined by my cohost, TeriAnn Trevenen.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Hey, everyone.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Today, we’re talking about a very, very important subject, and that is aging, and we’re going to talk about, specifically, telomeres, understanding what telomeres are, understanding some of the different things we can do to keep them longer. Because it’s the shortening of the telomeres that causes the wrinkles, that causes the aging, all of that. So, we’re just going to do a quick crash course, probably a pretty short podcast today, but we wanted to educate you on telomeres.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Yeah, and the reason this came up is we have a very popular product at Organixx that contains multiple types of mushrooms, and we get a lot of questions around “Why this product?” “Why all the mushrooms?” “What does it do for you?” And there are many benefits to mushrooms, but mushrooms directly impact your telomeres and can help with anti-aging and help you to age gracefully and with better health. And that’s why we’re covering this topic today.

So, when it comes to telomeres, understanding the impact telomeres have on our aging will help us understand the positive health benefits of mushrooms.

So, the telomere is the tail of each chromosome in your cells. These tiny little segments of your DNA are critical for healthy, youthful living. Think of them as the plastic tips of shoelaces that keep them together. Telomeres work the same way. They prevent chromosomes from fraying or tangling with one another. When that happens, it can cause genetic information to get all mixed up or destroyed, leading to health problems. Worst of all, damage to your telomeres can speed up your aging.

So, this is a really critical component to our DNA. And this is an interesting conversation right now, because there’s a lot of things in the world, and in the choices we’re making in our health, that are impacting our DNA, impacting our health, impacting our cells, impacting all sorts of things, but telomeres specifically, what we’re focusing on today, are impacted by all of these things that are coming into our lives, things that are toxic, things that are bad for our health, things that are harmful for our health, and they’re speeding up the aging process by changing the makeup of our bodies, changing our DNA, which directly impacts those telomeres.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Well, and what happens is every time a cell splits, then the telomere gets a little bit shorter and a little bit shorter. And the shorter the telomere gets, that’s what really aging is. That’s where the wrinkles are coming from, that’s the showing of aging.

There was one study of 60-75-year-olds that showed those with short telomeres had a 300 percent higher death rate from heart-related problems. They also had an 800 percent higher death rate from infectious diseases.

And so, this is why it’s really important to understand what are we putting on our body? What are we feeding our bodies? What can we do to keep those telomeres longer, to keep the cells from having to divide as often, or when they divide, to not shorten the telomeres as much as possible?

TeriAnn Trevenen: Absolutely. And we’re making decisions with our health every day. Not only is this just part of the aging process, but we’re making decisions with our health that can impact this and increase the aging process maybe even faster and speed it up for us, which is something we don’t want. We always talk about the fountain of youth, right? And staying healthy longer, living a healthier, longer life. And this is one aspect that we need to focus on, really keeping our bodies strong in this aspect of our health.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Well, and what’s interesting, I mean we talk about aging, and I know a lot of us go straight to the wrinkles, we got to the visuals that are happening. But the telomeres affect everything with aging, whether that’s hearing loss, memory loss, different things. It’s all of these different things that we just say, “Well, that’s just part of getting older.” Well, we actually can create change with that. I mean we can affect it. It’s one of the reasons, when we first started the supplement company, we were called Epigenetic Labs, because we were really talking about how epigenetics is the study that you can actually affect your gene expression based off of your lifestyle choices, whether that’s food, how much sun exposure you’re getting, the kind of toxins that are in your life, the working out that you do. And so, that epigenetics, that gene expression, we can affect that, right? We can slow down the aging process if we understand aging, we understand telomeres, we understand the different things that we can do to keep them longer will ultimately slow down the aging.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Yeah, absolutely. And it’s funny that you bring that up, because we did change the name because people didn’t truly understand the meaning behind it. People couldn’t pronounce it. However, it’s something that is being looked at more in-depth as time goes on. It’s something that people are researching, more doctors are focusing on more, that we truly can impact our bodies in that way. And so, I think it’s really important that people understand gene expression, your telomeres, your DNA, and what your choices in your health are doing to impact that.

So, back to telomeres. Can we slow this process down? And the answer is – yes. Age really is just a number. You can slow this process down. There’s a big difference between your biological age and your chronological age, and it’s your biological age that matters. Going back to gene expression and all the choices you’re making in your health; you really can impact that significantly.

Now, can you stop aging completely? No. There’s no real fountain of youth that’s going to stop you from aging. But I think we can all think of people who have aged really gracefully and well. And typically, those people who have aged gracefully and well have lived an extremely healthy and clean life. They’re doing things, not only from a physical perspective, but an emotional, and spiritual, and mental perspective, that keeps them youthful and young.

And so, I just—there’s that aspect of it as well.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Well, it all comes back to the telomeres, again. I mean it’s—the telomeres are the reason why people age at different speeds. Some people age faster than others. It is because of almost how healthy they’re keeping the telomeres, right? And that is affected by diet, that’s affected by other life choices and things like that.

I mean it’s—the telomeres are what’s responsible for that person that ages gracefully and that other person that’s always coming down with something, that’s always catching a cold, that’s always feeling worn out, that’s always feeling the stress, they’re always having all these different things inside of their immune system.

It’s really interesting, and you mentioned our mushroom product earlier, and for those listening, it’s our 7M+. We have 7 powerful mushrooms inside of this blend. And it’s interesting, just to talk business for a second, on the marketing side of it, we have part of the marketing that’s all about the immune system and what the mushrooms do to really boost the immune system. We have another marketing angle that talks about how the mushrooms affect the telomeres and keep your telomeres longer.

And we do that differently because most people don’t really connect the dots between the telomeres and your immune system. It’s why 7M+ is so phenomenal, is because, yes, it helps with your immune system by keeping the length of your telomeres longer, and other things that it also does.

So, just some interesting facts for those listening.

TeriAnn Trevenen: For sure. So, what can we do to increase the length of telomeres? And this is where mushrooms come into play. And there’s other ways to increase the length of your telomeres, but mushrooms help with the three things we’re going to cover today. But you can certainly do other things to help in these three processes we’re going to talk about.

So, number one, you can boost micronutrients. Vitamins A, D, C, and E have all been proven to slow down your telomeres. So, getting some of these vitamins in your body, making sure you have them consistently, they’re part of the food that you’re eating and your nutrition, that you’re supplementing. You can also get a lot of the benefits of boosting micronutrients through mushrooms, which is why they come into play, why we’re talking about them. But you can get micronutrients in other ways and boost your micronutrients in other ways, it’s just one way to slow down that aging process and to benefit your health from that perspective.

Jonathan Hunsaker: And we have a study here that shows 586 women, ages 35-74, showed those with a strong nutrient base had 5.1 percent longer telomeres than those who did not. And that’s where the vitamin A, D, C, and E come in, that you’re talking about. And it doesn’t have to be achieved through supplementation. It can be achieved through diet, as long as you’re making good, clean choices, high-quality organic foods, things like that, that are really going to deliver you that nutrient base that you need.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Absolutely. And as always, there’s always more than one benefit to things like this that we’re talking about. So, in my house, we have a lot of ways of getting these vitamins into our body, and something that I really focus on for myself and my kids. And what people don’t understand, you’re not just taking a vitamin to fortify your immune system and your body and all those things, it’s also proven that these vitamins boost your mood, help you be happier, more positive, they make you feel more light.

They’re just—overall, your health is impacted by boosting your micronutrients, not just by slowing down the aging process, but think about that, too. It’s really important to understand that health is holistic. It’s not just “Well, I’m going to increase vitamins, then I’ll slow down my aging.” [0:09:53]

Our emotions impact our aging. If you’re stressed, if you’re not feeling well, if you’re not feeling happy, that’s going to increase the speed of your aging process, telomeres, shortening those. Emotions and stress and all of those things impact our health as well.

So, there’s multiple benefits to boosting your micronutrients, not just slowing down that process of shortening the telomeres, but also, mood and happiness and energy. There’s a lot of research behind some of these vitamins we touched on – A, D, C, and E – and their impact, not only on your immune system, but your emotions, and so many other benefits that go along with that.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Well, it’s interesting that you mention emotions, because the second way to, not necessarily increase the length of your telomeres, but to decrease the—to slow down the shortening process of the telomeres, is to reduce inflammation, right? And a lot of times, we think about inflammation as something that just comes when you get hurt, or it comes from poor diet, but one of the biggest causes of inflammation is stress, and that’s your emotions and your body’s releasing this cortisol into your body. And it’s causing us to be chronically-inflamed, right?

TeriAnn Trevenen: Yeah.

Jonathan Hunsaker: And so, you talk about the different vitamins and how it affects your mood, and it directly—it’s like you said, everything’s holistic here. It’s all connected. And so, when we fix that mood, we can help decrease the amount of cortisol that’s being released, which helps decreases the overall inflammation, which helps keep our telomeres from shortening.

And just talking about inflammation, there’s many ways that you can reduce inflammation, right? Whether that’s increasing the turmeric or curcumin in your diet. There’s all kinds of other anti-inflammatory herbs, spices, things like that, that you can add into your diet.

But talking about inflammation, there’s a European study that shows that those who have low levels of inflammation were able to maintain their telomeres at a youthful level. The telomeres matched those of a person who was 60, even when they were 80 years old.

And so, and we’re finding out so much more information about this chronic inflammation that we’re living in, and it’s happening from consuming too much sugar, it’s happening from eating these crazy carbs, it’s happening from eating the fast food, it’s happening from consuming non-organic foods, it’s happening from being over-stressed, it’s happening from lack of sleep.

But it’s this inflammation that is just—it’s wreaking havoc on our bodies.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Yeah, absolutely. And like you mentioned, there’s so many ways to reduce inflammation. Mushrooms are one way that you can do that. But there are just a plethora of ways that you can go and get different supplements, nutrition. Think about it, too, when you talk about stress and your emotions, meditation, taking deep breaths, calming down, letting your system take a step back.

I know for me, like I—inflammation is a huge part of my health. I get inflamed so fast. My lymph nodes and my body just has this huge response to stress and not eating well and not living well, and I can feel it pretty quickly. And I actually feel more inflammation, feel my lymph nodes, when I’m stressed.

So, think about that, too, in relation to your telomeres and aging and all of those things. Think if you stepped back for 30 minutes every day, which is something I’ve been doing, and meditating, and taking deep breaths, and going to a different place, and really getting centered and clear on your life. Inflammation can be reduced in more ways than just taking a supplement or eating healthy food. It can be self-care and really putting yourself first and getting your stress levels down. So, lots and lots of ways that you can reduce inflammation.

Number three today is antioxidants. Studies show that your telomeres are extremely sensitive to oxidative stress. Not only that, but too much oxidation in your cells can hurt how your telomeres are meant to function. That’s why keeping powerful antioxidants, like nutritional mushrooms, in your diet, is so crucial for healthy eating.

Antioxidants combat the free radicals that may cause cell damage or cell death. So, antioxidants and those free radicals go hand in hand. You’ll read a lot of information on antioxidants and free radicals and what they do to your body. It’s so important to get those antioxidants, it’s so important to have that in your nutrition, in your diet, always looking at those things, because it impacts your aging and your health significantly.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Absolutely. And there’s all—there’s all kinds of antioxidative foods. Is that right? Antioxidative foods? But blueberries, different things like that, that are really go—that can really help stop it as well. Yes, we talk a lot about mushrooms today on this podcast, and it’s because of their efficacy is so high, but there’s a lot of other ways. Just like we talked about reducing inflammation with the turmeric and curcumin and different things like that, there’s all kinds of other foods that you can have in your diet, like blueberries, other berries, that are really going to help slow that—the telomeres, help stop the antioxidants.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Yeah. So, it’s super important, these three different things that we talk about, when it comes to aging, that you’re focusing on these things. Make sure you’re getting—you’re boosting your micronutrients, you’re reducing your inflammation, and you’re getting antioxidants in your diet. Those three things are super critical when it comes to aging process.

And as I mentioned, this came up because of the mushroom product that we have, and people asking questions about the mushrooms. Mushrooms are so powerful. They are so powerful. We could do podcast after podcast after podcast about mushrooms and how they can benefit your health, and the amazing properties of mushrooms, and some of the very cool scientific facts about mushrooms, but what we’ll say on it today is that mushrooms are extremely powerful when it comes to the anti-aging process.

However, there’s other ways that you can boost your micronutrients, reduce inflammation, and get antioxidants into your diet. These are just three things we wanted to educate you on today when it comes to keeping your body young, healthy, youthful, and feeling happy and healthy throughout your life, and increasing your lifespan.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Absolutely. So, I encourage you to continue your education. Go to EmpoweringYouOrganically.com. That’s now also on the Organixx website, so you can find it in both places. But go and use our search feature and start learning more about telomeres, start learning more about mushrooms.

Educate yourself, because we, again, it’s not just about—look, it’s not just about the crow’s feet that we have, and the lotions and potions that we want to put on to fix all of that. There’s a lot that is affected by the shortening of telomeres, from the hearing loss, to the memory loss, to your sight, to all of that. It’s—we owe it to ourselves to learn more about it. Get more educated.

Hopefully, this podcast has sparked some interest, has sparked some ideas, has got some passion going in you to learn more about what are all of the different things you can put in your life to help prevent your telomeres from shortening too quickly, so that you can live longer, so you can look younger, you can feel healthier, and ultimately, have a better quality of life.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Absolutely. Yeah, and next time, on our next podcast, we’re actually going to talk a little bit more about mushrooms, and specifically, the mushrooms that we use in our 7M+ product, and what they can do to benefit your health. And so, make sure to check it out next week, because we wanted to give a little bit more information to our listeners, to our customers, to our followers, about some of the most powerful mushrooms that are available to us today, and why they should be a part of your health regimen.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Love it. Thank you, everybody, for listening at home. Make sure you go to EmpoweringYouOrganically.com for the transcripts, show notes, Cliff notes, any kind of links that we’re going to have to studies, or anything else around the telomeres, you’ll find it there. You can watch the video.

Please, please, please subscribe on iTunes to our podcast. Our reach continues to grow. We continue to get emails and feedback of people loving the podcast. And we’re only able to grow this through our listeners like you. And one way that that grows is when you subscribe, the more subscribers we have, the more iTunes will show us to other people listening to similar podcasts. So, if you have not subscribed, go to iTunes, hit the subscribe button. You won’t miss a single episode, they’re all 100 percent free, plus, you help us reach more people, and hopefully, impact their lives and help them live longer, healthier lives.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Awesome.

Jonathan Hunsaker: Thank you, everybody, for listening, and we’ll see you on the next show.

TeriAnn Trevenen: Thanks, everyone.

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Episode 46 – Telomeres and Slowing Down Aging

Telomere

Telomeres shorten during ageing of human fibroblasts

Structure and function of telomeres

Telomeres and The Natural Lifespan Limit in Humans

Oxidative stress shortens telomeres

Gene Expression

Epigenetics

Organixx 7M+