Reversing Blood Aging and the New Science of Longevity

Imagining waking up one day to scientists attempting to reverse the aging process not with a magic pill nor a sci-fi gadget but by attempting to find out about something that flows through you every second of your existence. Your blood is not only a delivery system for oxygen and nutrients. It might be the holder of the key to the process of and the answer to why we are aging.

To us all, aging seemed a given. Wrinkles form. Metabolism slows down. Our bodies heal more slowly. But what if aging wasn't a number or a fate, but a biological process we could even control. That is the hope from new studies of the life that flows in our blood.

The Story in Your Blood

Above the age of fifty, a subtle change begins to occur in the human body. The blood, which previously circulated with a well-balanced combination of different types of different stem cells, begins losing balance. Some of the stem cells quietly gain power and others fall behind. Scientists call such a change clonal hematopoiesis. It is a condition in which a small number of mutated stem cells dominate all others.

It does not necessarily seem like much initially. But the stem cells are the origin of all the different types of cells that make up our immune system and blood. When one type grows predominant, the diversity that initially made us robust begins to deteriorate. Low diversity is linked with long healing, increased infections, and a higher vulnerability to such diseases as leukemia and heart disease.

And what is most astounding about that is that it does not occur overnight. Such transformations can occur gradually and unnoticeably over a period of decades. That gives one the leeway to do something about it.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge and the Wellcome Sanger Institute have also been studying such changes for decades. Through looking long and hard at the chromosomes in the blood from hundreds of people, they discovered that negative stem cell clones accumulate over a course of many years. Some of them are only prevalent after thirty or forty years.

This is an opportunity for us. If we can catch the changes early enough, we can slow, or even stop, the damage that is created. More importantly, we can perhaps recover the youthful balance that keeps our blood and our bodies well.

Imagine routine blood tests no longer only for cholesterol or blood sugars, but also to monitor the patient's stem cell health. And when a wayward clone becomes a threat, the physicians can act early. Perhaps treatments can be given so other cells can proliferate, regain diversity, or reboot the entire system.

Researchers are working in a number of different directions. Some are looking for drugs to stop mutant clones from growing. Some scientists are looking at the way factors such as diet and exercise control aging in the bloodstream. There is also interest in using the latest techniques such as reprogramming cells to make them act young again.

These are ideas that seem like science fiction now. But the science is advancing very quickly.

Why It's Important to All of Us

We all see what aging looks like from the outside. But with our bodies, it is oftentimes the smallest things which make the biggest difference. A less robust immune system. Slow healing. Unrelenting exhaustion. These are not simply aging symptoms. They are external expressions of what is going on at the cellular level.

This research also reminds us that aging is not a process of passive decline. Instead, it is a process that can be studied, understood, and perhaps even one day be turned back.

The objective is not to live forever. The objective is to live more. To ensure our bodies are strong for longer. To gain more time to do the things we enjoy with the people we love.

Growing Old with Strength and Significance We are just starting out down that path. But the path we are following is one of much promise. Science is offering us a new vision for aging. No longer as something we must accept, but as something we can shape with information, compassion, and hope. The blood running through our veins each day contains more than oxygen. It carries with it a tale of who we are and how we live. Now, it might also contain the key to living well for many more years.