Can Hugs Slow Aging?

No one ages in the same way. We are all very aware of this fact; science is slowly beginning to explain why this is true. We age everywhere in our bodies every day, however, the processes that underlie aging do not appear to target any particular tissue in an isolated manner. Different parts of our bodies age at different rates. Individual tissues display different degrees of sensitivity or resilience to aging. Is there anything that we can do about this? Can we manipulate the manner in which our tissues age?

Until very recently, the answer has been a resounding “No!” However, a series of recent studies suggest that the process of aging is modifiable and that some people are already, unknowingly, providing the proof by their lifestyles.

The first thing to appreciate is that the brain appears to be the key regulator of lifespan. Brains demand a lot of energy, thus anything that one does to modify brain aging seems to be reflected in how fast the rest of the body ages. Restoring the brain’s plasticity may also restore the body’s plasticity, and vice versa. Three interventions have proven to be effective in restoring the brain’s plasticity: modest exercise, caloric restriction and heterochronic parabiosis. Most people are familiar with the first two approaches which can be summarized as eat a lot less and move a little more. The third one takes some explaining but holds great promise for potentially unlocking the secrets to effectively slowing the aging process.

Heterochronic parabiosis is really quite simple – you can do it at home using this simple two-step process. First, find a young person; second, attach your circulatory system to theirs…permanently. This rather gruesome technique was first studied during the Civil War by Dr. Paul Bert. Essentially the blood from young people can rejuvenate old people leading to greatly improved brain function and improve regenerative capacity throughout the body. Studies on old mice have shown that sharing blood with young mice lead to reduced signs of aging of the heart, bones, liver and digestive system. Sharing your cardiovascular system with a younger person can also reverse the age related decline in pancreatic beta cell function that may underlie type II diabetes.

These studies indicate that converting the composition of aged blood into a youthful composition can reverse, not just slow, the functional decline of the aged body and brain. The challenge is to identify the array of pro-youthful and anti-aging factors that exist in the blood of young people so that these might be administered to old people. A few of these factors have already been identified; one is oxytocin, which is better known as the “trust hormone” or the “love hormone” because its level in the blood rises after hugging or kissing someone we love or experiencing social bonding or sexual pleasure. More recently oxytocin has been posited to help us manage both emotional and physiological responses during life-altering events. The simple lesson here is that rather than attaching yourself to an unwilling teenager for blood rejuvenation it might be easier, and far more enjoyable, to just give and accept hugs freely and often.

© Gary L. Wenk, Ph.D. Author of Your Brain on Food, 2^nd Edition, 2015 (Oxford University Press)

TED talk: The Brain Cafe