Access Your Body's Built-in "Fountain of Youth"

How a strong vagal tone protects telomeres

One effective technique for decreasing stress and slowing aging is to strengthen your vagal tone. Your vagal tone is a measure of how fast your body bounces back after a stressful event.

When your vagal tone is strong, your body is able to return itself to a calm, collected state quickly and easily.

But when your vagal tone is low, your body is more apt to remain in a heightened state of alert for longer. This increases the amount of time your body is affected by high levels of the “stress hormone” cortisol, further shortening telomere length.

Fortunately, a 2018 study analysis on cellular aging found that techniques that improve vagal tone—including sound-based vagal nerve stimulation (VNS), meditation, and breath work—help to strengthen and even lengthen telomeres.

In addition to fortifying your vagal tone and avoiding the four major age-accelerating habits, there are three more easy ways you can protect your telomeres. 

• Get moving. Exercise helps burn away any excess cortisol heightened by chronic stress. Physical activity can also boost the production of the telomere-building enzyme, telomerase.
  
  
• Eat well. Increase your intake of dietary fiber and healthy unsaturated fats (like olive oil). Decrease your sugar and saturated fat consumption——both of which can speed up telomere damage.
  
  
• Strengthen your vagal tone. To build up your vagal tone, you must also strengthen your vagus nerve—the longest nerve in your body. Here are eight easy (and free) ways to get started.

Taking care of your telomeres has been the best-kept secret in anti-aging for years. But now, the word is out!

Working these manageable steps into your everyday routine will give you the best chance for healthier, happier, stronger years. You certainly deserve it!

Be well, Jim

_SOURCES:

_{Ask, T., Lugo, R. and Sütterlin, S. (2018). The Neuro-Immuno-Senescence Integrative Model (NISIM) on the Negative Association Between Parasympathetic Activity and Cellular Senescence. Frontiers in Neuroscience. Retrieved from: frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2018.00726/full}

_{Blackburn, E. (2017). Could your thoughts make you age faster? TED. Retrieved from:ideas.ted.com/could-your-thoughts-make-you-age-faster/}

_{Blackburn, E. and Epel, E. (2012). Telomeres and adversity: Too toxic to ignore. Nature. 490: pp. 169 – 170. Retrieved from: nature.com/articles/490169a}

_{Dean, S. et al. (2017). The association between telomere length and mortality in Bangladesh. Aging. 9(6): pp. 1537 – 1548. Retrieved from: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5509454/}

_{Epel, E., et al. (2011). Can meditation slow the rate of cellular aging? Cognitive stress, mindfulness, and telomeres. Annual New York Academy of Science. 1172: pp. 34 – 53. Retrieved from: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3057175/}

_{OpenStax College. (2016). Telomeres and telomerase. Khan Academy. Retrieved from: khanacademy.org/science/biology/dna-as-the-genetic-material/dna-replication/a/telomeres-telomerase}

_{Schutte, N. and Malouff, J. (2014). A meta-analytic review of the effects of mindfulness meditation on telomerase activity. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 42: pp. 45 – 48. Retrieved from: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24636500/}

_{Shammas. (2011). Telomeres, lifestyle, cancer, and aging. Current Opinions in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care. 14(1): pp. 28 – 34. Retrieved from: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3370421}

_{Schulman, J. (2018). Telomeres: The Key to Staying Young and Disease-Free? Healthline. Retrieved from: healthline.com/health/telomeres#telomere-lengthening}

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About the author:

Jim Donovan M.Ed. is a multi-platinum musician, educator and TEDx speaker.

His mission is to share the restorative power of music through education and performance.

Donovan is an Assistant Professor and Director of Music and Wellness at Saint Francis University.

His viral TEDx Talk "How to Trick Your Brain Into Falling Asleep" has been viewed over 6 million times to date.

He currently performs with his band The Sun King Warriors who can best described as as a blend of rhythm heavy roots rock, with a strong dose of big barreling drums. 

Jim Donovan got his start as a founding member of the multi-platinum selling band Rusted Root. 

There he co-wrote the song “Send Me on My Way” featured in the movies "Ice Age", "Matilda" and the Netflix series "New Girl".

During his time with the band 1990-2005, he recorded and released seven full length albums. Including "When I Woke" (3x platinum).

He also had the honor of sharing the stage with many of his musical influences and heroes including Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin (1995 US/UK tour), Carlos Santana (1997/2002 US tour), The Allman Brothers Band (1995/96 US tour), The Grateful Dead (1995 Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA) and many others.

Send Me On My Way also became the first song on Mars where it “woke up” NASA’s Mars Rover.