From the wires, aging in bees is reversed.
A friend cited this study on her facebook page and it interests me because anti aging is part of the “charter” of Chinese Medicine with a lot of thought, theory and effort going into it. But it also brings up a few things I’ve wondered about. One is that, in Chinese Medicine, they explain the forward curvature of the body with age a result of decreasing kidney energy coursing through the Governor Vessel. I’ve often wondered whether by staying limber and consciously bending the other way, as in a Cobra pose, would actually sort of reverse engineer the aging and actually help the kidney energy and help keep you young. It also brings up a theory brought up by Swedish Acupuncture Researchers that acupuncture stimulates the body in the same way exercise does, so that it helps your mood and overall health as if you’ve had exercise. Exercise, of course, would be better, but many people, especially the aged, have disabilities that interfere with effective exercise and I’ve often thought that acupuncture is helpful in that regard to the elderly. Manni, an Italian acupuncture researcher involved in Nerve Growth Factor research, has also postulated that acupuncture gives stimulation similar to exercise or massage. And lastly, as I’ve aged, I’ve noticed how the world around you treats you differently and have wondered if this doesn’t contribute to aging, causing a feed forward mechanism. I’m also curious about the protein cited Prx6. Never heard of it.
When older honeybees take on tasks usually handled by younger bees, aging of their brains is effectively reversed, a new study finds. The discovery suggests that in humans, social intervention ought to be considered in addition to drugs as a way to treat age-related dementia...
The researchers also discovered changes in the proteins in the brains of the bees that had learned new things. One of the proteins that changed, called Prx6, is also found in humans and is known to help protect against dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease...
Other studies have shown several non-drug tactics can help boost brainpower in older people, including going for walks, taking music lessons, and gaining a sense of control over one’s self and surroundings.
The findings, announced this week, are detailed in the journal Experimental Gerontology.
