Praktikos Institute

You know that proverb, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy?” As it turns out it probably will not help Jack age well either. According to a new study inCMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). folks who enjoy life maintain better physical function in daily activities and keep up faster walking speeds as they age, compared to those that don’t. Seems like common sense, but it does take a concerted effort to really change our dispositions.

There have been a lot of reports over the years claiming some red wine may improve your health. Actually, enjoying some red wine in moderation may prolong your life, reports Doctor’s Health Press on Jan. 2, 2014. It has been found in a recent study that moderate drinkers have been living longer than people who abstain from drinking.

Imagine for a moment that you are a 74-year-old man diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and you are quickly losing your ability to think, move and function, despite adhering to an intense regimen of all the latest pharmaceutical offerings for this miserable disease. Then imagine that nearly all of your symptoms subside almost miraculously after beginning a dietary routine that involves taking large doses of all-natural coconut oil every day.

Treating premature infants with probiotics, the dietary supplements containing live bacteria that many adults take to help maintain their natural intestinal balance, may be effective for preventing a common and life-threatening bowel disease among premature infants, researchers at UC Davis Children’s Hospital have found.

While it’s true that people are living longer these days, it’s not a guarantee. You still have to take good care of yourself, of course. You likely know the basic steps to staying healthy, like loading up on fruits and vegetables, exercising and getting regular checkups, but there are other ways to extend your life that might surprise you.

Sustained physical activity can add years to life and substantially improve the quality of those years, according to the latest results of a long-term study into more than 12,000 elderly Western Australian men. In a paper recently published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers from The University of Western Australia found that 150 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week added two to three years to the lives of those men who remained physically active for the duration of the 13-year study.

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, ginseng was all the rage for energy and stamina, preventing illness, and increasing libido. Somehow it faded from western natural health awareness and consumer interest. But the history of ginseng’s ability to instill energy, stamina, libido enhancement, and longevity goes back four to five thousand years ago in Chinese medicine. Now, a new wave of ginseng research interest may reinvigorate ginseng public awareness.

A stubby little plant from the icy permafrost of Siberia just might help you feel better and live longer, University of California-Irvine researchers say. They found fruit flies fed extracts of Rhodiola rosea, or “golden root,” live 24 percent longer than their otherwise healthy peers. The research itself is a sign of the times: Today’s physicians are becoming more open to the idea of using herbal remedies to treat their patients, and they need the science to back it up.

Vegetarians may live longer than meat-eaters, according to a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. The research involved over 70,000 members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and showed that vegetarian diets are linked to reduced death rates with more favorable results for males than females. The potential association between diet and mortality is a critical area of research, the authors explained.

People who followed a vegetarian diet had a lower risk for death from any cause, and men in particular also saw benefits for cardiovascular mortality, a large prospective study found. Among individuals who adhered to any type of vegetarian diet, the adjusted hazard ratio for all-cause mortality was 0.88 (95% CI 0.80-0.97), according to Michael J. Orlich, MD, and colleagues from Loma Linda University in California.