Overview

Longevity and immortality have always been a goal of mankind, but old age, sickness and death, as the unchanging laws of nature, are almost impossible to be changed by man. No

With the progress of medical conditions, the average life expectancy of human beings compared to the ancient times has been extended by more than double, even so, we are still not satisfied, still trying to find ways to make their lives longer.

In recent years, scientists have found a secret to longevity in male sheep that seems to be applicable to humans, but the price behind this seems unacceptable. Today we will take you to understand together.

Aging of organisms

In fact, biological aging is a process that cannot be reversed at all, because there is a limit to cell division in all carbon-based organisms.

Take humans as an example: our cells divide themselves once every two years, and the process of such division can last up to 40-60 times, which means that the theoretical limit of our human life span is about 120 years. This process may be accelerated due to the environment and lifestyle habits.

According to known data, by reducing the frequency of cell division, our life expectancy can be extended, which is one of the main directions of modern medical research.

Gender-generated differences in life expectancy

In our human society, the average life expectancy of men is lower than that of women. Scientists have not discovered the reason behind this phenomenon for a long time, except that it is clear that women live much longer than men at every stage of life.

Earlier it was thought that this was an incomprehensible difference by gender, but a group of scientists from the University of Otago in New Zealand have come up with their own idea, conducting an experiment in which male sheep were sterilized to observe the difference in their lifespan.

• Neutered male sheep

When farmers in New Zealand raise male sheep, they prefer to sterilize them at a young age. This is believed to increase the life span of male sheep and reduce their hot temper to avoid fighting among the flock.

Scientists carried out research based on this phenomenon, and in the process of observation they unexpectedly found that neutered male sheep do live much longer than normal male sheep.

The DNA aging process in neutered male sheep is greatly slowed because males harvest a similar DNA methylation pattern to females after neutering, and this pattern results in a relatively slow DNA evolution rate, allowing males to achieve the same longevity as females.

Scientists believe that androgens have a positive impact on the creatures, helping them to gain more strength and fitness, but they can directly affect their lifespan, making them live shorter lives compared to females of the species. Almost all species in the natural world can be applied to this law.

Human applicability

So does this secret of longevity apply to us humans?

Researchers believe the answer to this question is yes, and that we human males can reap the benefits of a longer life span if we are willing to do the same.

This is undoubtedly a difficult choice for the majority of male compatriots to balance, although human society is no longer the most important survival significance of the heirarchy, but after all, the loss of their most important symbol as a man, such a price is really some big.

And the average life expectancy of women compared to men is actually not much higher.

As far as we can see, the average life expectancy of women in the current era is about 83.5 years, while that of men is 80 years. To sacrifice part of one's normal function for the sake of an average life expectancy of just three years is undoubtedly an unwise choice, and the idea is naturally not implemented.

However, throughout the ages, it is not without reference to cases, such as the ancient eunuchs.

Eunuchs who live long

In ancient times in all corners of the world have such a special class of people, they serve the royal family, and in the palace before the testicles were removed, such a group of people is the eunuch.

An article published in the prestigious journal Current Biology shows that the average eunuch in ancient times lived a full 19 years longer than an able-bodied male.

In the average life expectancy of only 40 to 50 years of ancient society, the eunuchs can even reach about 70 years of age, and even more can live to a mind-boggling 100 years.

From this, it does seem to be a viable solution.

Ways to extend life

Although it is true that the removal of testicles can extend the average life expectancy of a person, the cost of this is undoubtedly unacceptable, so with the current view, to extend our own life expectancy, we have to start with all aspects of life.

To develop good habits, to stop the effects of smoking, alcohol and junk food on our body, and to stabilize the internal organs and cells of our body in a scientific way.

At present, the average life expectancy of human beings has become longer than 2000 years ago, a full 60 years, and the current social stability of the international situation is also one of the guarantees of our good life, only under a safe and comfortable environment for regular life, is the only way to extend our life towards the limits of human beings.

Concluding remarks

Some people think that death is God's best gift to mankind, and that eternal life is an extremely painful thing, but it is also true that if our human life span is extended indefinitely, then the increase in population will bring unbearable pressure on our society and the earth's environment.

Death is something that we cannot reverse and do not need to reverse, death is part of life. No matter what method we use, we cannot avoid this event. Therefore, to calm down our fear of death and live every day of our lives is what we should pursue in modern times.

In the coastal mountains of Chile, scientists have discovered an ancient tree, known as Alerce Milenario or Gran Abuelo, which hid in a cool, moist canyon and escaped or, human felling without incident, and which is now more than 4 meters in diameter. Chilean environmental scientist Jonathan Barichivich estimated that this ancient tree may be more than 5,000 years old and may be the oldest surviving individual on earth.

This age is really amazing, bearing in mind that humans were still very primitive 5000 years ago, when even writing had not yet appeared. If we humans can also achieve such a long life expectancy, how good it would be? Even if we can't extend our life span to thousands of years, it would be wonderful to live for hundreds or hundreds of years. The question is, are we humans able to do to achieve life extension? In order to achieve life extension, scientists have indeed carried out a lot of relevant research.

Scientists reset cells to reverse aging in rats

According to a study published in the journal Nature Aging, after scientists partially reset the cells of middle-aged and older mice, it turned out that the aging process was successfully reversed in middle-aged male mice. This one finding suggests that reversal of aging in living organisms is possible.

As these organisms age, a number of different chemical patterns exist on the DNA of the organism, and these substances are known as epigenetic markers, which are different in young organisms than in older organisms. Previously, researchers found that adding a mix of reprogramming molecules called "Yamanaka factors" (Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and cMyc) to those aging cells reset the epigenetic markers to their original patterns. Back in 2016, researchers had used these Yamanaka factors to extend the lifespan of mice suffering from premature aging disease. Later in 2021 scientists found that in young mice, Yamanaka factors also accelerated muscle regeneration.

The researchers then conducted additional studies using these Yamanaka factors on healthy mice at different ages of young, middle and old to test changes in cell regeneration methods, and found that after 7-10 months, the injured skin cells of the mice had a greater ability to proliferate and appeared to possibly form permanent scars. Moreover, the metabolic molecules in the blood of these mice did not show age-related changes.

Scientists discover secret of longevity in male sheep

In addition to the reversal of aging found in mice, scientists have found in other animals some secrets that seem to be associated with longevity. For example, a farmer in New Zealand found that castrated male sheep seemed to live longer, several years longer than the average sheep, and the farmer could harvest wool for several more years.

In New Zealand, there is a sheep named "Shrike", according to its fate should be the same as other sheep wool, but this sheep does not want to be wool, in order not to be master wool, it hid in the mountains, "reclusive" up. It took six years before the locals found the "runaway" sheep again. Due to a long time without wool, so Shrike's body wool is very heavy, like wrapped in a thick layer of quilts, even the eyes are covered. After being found, Shrek eventually did not escape the fate of wool. In the end, Shrek lived to be 16 years old, knowing that the average life expectancy of male sheep is only about 10 years, which means that Shrek's life expectancy far exceeds that of normal male sheep. What's the deal?

It turns out that Shrek the sheep is a castrated male sheep, so can castrated sheep really achieve an extended life span? An international team of scientists led by Victoria Sugrue from the University of Otago in New Zealand proved through research that male sheep, after being castrated, are indeed slowing down the aging of the DNA of these males.

In the study, the researchers constructed an "epigenetic clock" that can be used to genetically test biological age, and tested the physical age of these sheep, both male and female, as well as male sheep before and after castration. It was found that androgens accelerate the aging of certain organs and tissues in male sheep, which leads to faster aging in males. The castrated males aged slower and lived longer.

Seeing this one, many of our friends may be torn as to whether this one method is applicable to us humans. At present, there is no evidence that this method is applicable to all living creatures or to us humans, so we should not try it indiscriminately, it is a very dangerous thing.