(00:00:01) We're going to talk about aging during the noon hour today specifically the process of Aging among men Curtis pizmon is in the Studio's. He's the chief of research at Esquire magazine and the author of a new book out just a couple of weeks now entitled how a man ages the book includes chapter specifically on the skin hair eyes bones heart brain and other parts of the human body Curtis. Welcome pleasure to have you with us today. Thank you. Well the phone lines for a listener questions in just a couple of minutes, but maybe to begin you might comment a little bit about where the signs of aging first begin to appear where the visible signs are right off the bat. All right for a man. It usually hits around the mid to late 20s because the receding hairline is a very normal thing among Men at Large if you look at the average sweep of the population and yet it's a very different thing from male pattern baldness. So just to put some people out there at ease. In the mid to late 20s, you know that is a separate and distinct thing from baldness the receding hairline. They may be related but they don't have to be what is male pattern baldness. Is that what you said? That's the more dramatic right occurrence in which you know, you might notice a real thinning of the hair aside from a hairline and also the monks spot in back of the head that's where the thinness really seems to show up and that can occur in the 20s 30s 40s or 50s. But just so people know that that's a separate and distinct condition, you know from the average population which notices the receding of the hairline and also the face shows up fairly early around the age of 30 or so. That's when the man really starts to see the the forehead lines and some of the first facial lines which happens to be later than in women as the hair is receding and the phases beginning to get a few wrinkles and spots. What's happening inside the body. Okay. This is something that's that's internally much more dramatic, but we don't even seem to notice it or see. Care much about it in their 20s and 30s. And that is the changes in the cardiovascular system heart lungs and the arteries and the veins and the important thing to know their that in absence of exercise a lot of Aging change occurs in a lot of damage occurs in the 20s and 30s so that we really are not worrying about it when we should be most people don't even think about you know, the idea of heart problems or heart disease until they're either approaching a milestone birthday of 40 or 50 or if their families had a history of heart trouble and yet the experts in cardiovascular circles will always tell you the most important years or 20 to 40 when you can really do something about your chances and better yourself and it's much easier to do then than it is to play catch-up in you're in your 40s and 50s. So it's a good idea to keep that in mind because in the absence of exercise a lot of things can occur, you know from cholesterol and arterial changes to actual changes in the heart muscle itself curious a little bit about how you came to write. Write this book. And what's your sources of information were okay. I came into the field of aging and gerontology which is the larger the larger term through a kind of a side door in sports medicine, which is what I've been doing a lot of for the magazine, you know at Esquire. They have a regular column called sports clinic and what it does is really go out invade and report on the World of Sports Medicine in what the Layman can gain from really either professionals are serious amateurs and I did some articles on that subject and in absence of a real medical writer on staff it seemed as though a sports medical writer is a good person to tackle the subject because there's so much crossover between really what we're reading and hearing about with Olympians in the studies of the body the heart the lungs the performance nutrition and really keeping a body in Peak condition. There's a lot you can pick up from you know, champion and serious amateur athletes and then share that kind of information with the Layman so this This book was sort of a natural outgrowth of what you were doing at the magazine then exactly. It's it's also something in terms of my own interests, you know in health and fitness just that so many of us which I didn't know ten years ago really want to know more but we don't we don't ask the questions until it's probably too late. So I didn't want to try to ask the questions early on and really aim this book for people in their 30s and 40s and 50s, even though it's a book about aging that most people would think should be mostly for people in their 60s and 70s five minutes past 12:00 o'clock kurta specimen is our guest author of a book how a man ages and will open the phone lines now for your questions to to 76 thousand for those of you in the Minneapolis st. Paul area 2276 thousand for Twin Cities area collars, in other parts of Minnesota. The toll-free number is 1-866-560-4440. Five to nine 700 and if you listening in one of the surroundings Eights or in Ontario by all means call us directly in the Twin Cities the area code 6 12 and then the rest of the to 276 thousand our listeners may be surprised as I was surprised to see that the author of this book on Aging hasn't had a lot of experience with the subject. At least unless you have some secret that is keeping you a lot younger looking than you really are. Well now I'm I'm 26 years old. And again, I would only answer there that in terms of the real interest in Aging in the people that are going to make the difference in terms of how Society views age over the next 20-30 Years A lot of it will be the by and large the baby boom generation people who are now, you know, 25 to 40 who really will make a difference in terms of our hospitals or doctors or medical staffs. And really that's when the focus of Aging will be hot burning and it's not so far away. What have you learned about aging at the age of 26? To change any of your own lifestyle. Well in terms of the most of the experts I spoke with, you know, you hear something so much and you talk with the people who really are leaders in their field and you can't help but pick up bits and pieces along the way I've certainly changed my own diet and lifestyle in terms of exercise from what it was before. I don't call myself a fanatic and don't think I'm a fanatic but it's mostly some of the themes that I picked up along the ways a couple we could mention from the dietary Community. I was amazed to read this report of a woman back in about 78. She was a writer for medical Tribune. She was sent to cover a conference on cancer where the by they were Specialists from around the world in various kinds of cancer treatment detection and cure and she you know, she listened to their their talks there. The conference has made some notes made some reports and then she took it upon herself to go around and find these people on a one-to-one basis. With a notebook in hand and say okay. I enjoyed your talk. But listen, what did you have for breakfast? Hmm. What are you going to eat for dinner tonight? What do you do as a leading expert in cancer a world expert in cancer in your own life and your family's what do you do and simply made a listing of about six seven or eight of these world-renowned cancer experts what they eat what they do and how they live their lives and maybe put that alongside her other reports and say regardless, you know of the official lines asses on the theory that the experts are doing what they do. Not what they say exact. Well, sometimes they're the same sometimes they're not but the feeling was they probably say a little more than they do and if that is the case, what do they really do and and those kinds of things came back to me in a couple different ways, but that was the most striking I was in medical Tribune about six years ago, and it really came, you know came to become some simple themes. Number one these experts seem to follow Very low fat low meat diet on average high in fiber also high in a lot of the different types of grains and and fruits and you know, some of the Common Sense things you've heard but they actually live these things out also they seem to be low caffeine Drinkers and they seem to be moderate drinkers of alcohol. Nobody seemed to say, you know, that's that's a killer in terms of cancer prevention. But those were things they did in also that they might not tell their patients to do by and large they seem to be very knowledgeable and very interested in in certain vitamins and nutrients and some special kinds antioxidant nutrients that again the public at large might not be comfortable with yet and yet they were living their lives that way and that ties very directly into the book because I remember asking a different doctor at one point, you know, would you expect or would you would you think that some of these anti cancer? Theories and methods have a lot to do with aging and he said by all means that's life extension. If you can just delay the onset of some of these diseases be they heart disease or cancer just delay them 10 years. You'll be amazed at how the life expectancy of the country will shoot up and indeed. We'll probably see that within 10 to 15 years. Well here we are 10 minutes past the are already slipping away quickly. Maybe you should slip your headphones on and we'll go to our listeners with questions and we've been waiting patiently now. Hi. You're our first caller. Go ahead, (00:09:21) please. Yes, my name is well nevermind that but what I was wondering about is on the matter of reflexes and around 8:30. I know they slow and how much do they slow and can these be delayed or else can response time be increased and also tying into your first statements are about antioxidant nutrients. What were some of these? (00:09:43) Okay the first question in terms of the the neurons and neural impulses, there is indeed a slowing with time in terms of how quickly The brain can react to send these messages up and down your spine spinal cord and to the various muscles and Bones the thing that you probably should remember those that they're not major differences from a 30 to 40 to 50 year-old. These are very minor differences. And if you really study the brain, you know, one of the the chapters I included in the book looks at recall in memory recall and you know say on average a 20 year old might remember 14 words out of a list whereas a seventy-year-old might remember eight or nine words out of a list but you know, yes, there is a decline there in terms of the neurons and the memory but the important question is what have you gained with those years and indeed the statistics aren't there yet, but the the people who study aging Minds say that, you know, the problem solving abilities in the means to an end of an older person are greater than a younger person and maybe they don't remember lists as well partially because the lists aren't as important and that if you know a better way to do something that small fraction of decline that you've experienced either with memory or Her on a neural impulse can certainly be overcome by wisdom and experience so that I wouldn't worry so much about that. And although there is indeed a small decline. I think it shows up really better and in the sports world where by it's rare that you see forty three or forty four-year-old Champion hitters, you know following a ball coming in 60 70 80 90 miles an hour. Whereas in some of the other sports, you still find 70 year old marathon runners. So the you know, there are certain things you learn to adapt to and you can make some changes with and in terms of the other question the antioxidant nutrients, I would first mention that these things have only been proven so far in terms of animal research studies. They have certainly shown declines in certain diseases and increases in life expectancies for laboratory rats and animals. So, you know, it hasn't yet been proven with humans, but it's a good bet and the theory is sound and some of these nutrients themselves are different kinds of vitamins a a is 1 C is 1 e is one also some nutrients. In Mineral selenium is one cysteine is another and these things should be taken in certain specific amounts, which we won't get into here. But the theories are there and that in combination what these do in the lab and hopefully with humans is that they slow down the natural aging processes of the body the ones that can be damaging, you know, the oxidation of cells, you know with time and so it's not a Magic Bullet or a magic pill as much as it's working with the natural aging processes of the body to try to slow them down. And I'm sorry, I can't yet here I sit here and tell you these are the ones that will increase your life, but they have shown shown up in the lap. Let's take another listener with a question for Curtis specimen on the topic. How a man ages the title of his new book. Hi, you're on the air. (00:12:41) Hello. Yeah, go ahead, please I'll give you a brief synopsis of myself. And I have always drink milk and I've never drank any Spirits, you know was born from a large family and about till 20 years ago. They took away testing for me coffee, especially because they say it restricts of blood vessels. But my difficulty is that I can't seem to generate potassium and I want to just fry it is I seem to be a alert web to I stand this plea minded and I still play the piano and so forth, but why is it that I can't seem to generate in my Pulsar 48 and my blood pressure is 100 over 68. I'll hang up and let you touch your comment, please. (00:13:41) Okay, let me let me first say that it's a really hopeful sign to hear that kind of thing because when I was interviewing so many of the dental experts I kept hearing this this Echo coming back to me saying this new generation. And that we have, you know people who grew up with fluoride, you know, you won't find people in their 60s and 70s 30 years from now missing teeth and and indeed it's great to see it's already happening. But that's the first first point to make secondly in terms of the actual alertness and the capability that that we've just heard about, you know, still playing the piano and low blood pressure. Again, that's another another sign from the Aging community that you know, certain ages don't mean declines in certain functions, you know that it's a better indicator in terms of how you will ages to how you lived your life in your 30s 40s and 50s, you know with different mental activities and also a prudent diet in terms of intake of caffeine alcohol that kind of thing. So again, it's almost as if in certain instances we are becoming an age irrelevant society and these are both positive things in terms of the negative that the potassium problem you mentioned. I really I don't know enough in terms of medicine to explain why you might have this problem other than to say There are natural declines in certain bodily functions and hormones that we do have and that certain things do happen over time that we can do very little about I would only hope that supplements either in terms of food or or vitamins can help you out with that problem and it might be the sort of thing that she could ask her personal physician about get some advice from him or her 16 past the hour. Here's another caller with a question. Go ahead please. (00:15:17) Yes. I'm real Rock. I really feel you miss. The most important thing is you're going to bring it up and that's heredity. My husband's entire relation on both sides have tremendous jeans and I don't have good teeth in my children inherited his his teeth. He's 60 my husband 61 years old. He doesn't have one gray hair. They don't have heart disease and the entire relation on either side. They have tremendously high cholesterol diet. They are active they do enjoy life and out of my four children. The youngest is 20 only one has had one cavity. They all have perfect. And I think I am very interested in diet and so forth, but I really think heredity is your big factor there. My husband's gone uncle that is 83. He doesn't even show signs of aging everybody is just a Paul in his dad is 91. He looks fantastic. My mother didn't have his good genetics, but she was very active and she went wide open till she was about 95. (00:16:16) All right Curtis some comments about heredity. Sure my first I just like said definitely agree that hereditary heredity is important. It's very important in terms of so many of the late-life diseases we have and how we hold up over time. So no I didn't want to miss that but what I definitely wanted to make the point alongside that is that so much of what we grew up thinking was a cause of Aging is not and that it's mostly a cause of inactivity or of a certain way. We've lived our lives so that so many people confuse aging within activity in the results of disuse rather than age and that what I was trying to focus on in the first part of the show and hopefully The book is to bring out the areas within the body and the mind that you can do something about either alongside of or in connection with the the hereditary jeans. Maybe they're good. Maybe they're not so good, you know certain people come from families where the genes may tell them. They might be prone to early heart disease and this is a very important part where we'd want to pass along good information telling them what they might be able to do to counteract. So maybe negative jeans some lines open again in the Twin Cities area 2276 thousand if you have a question on Aging for Curtis specimen author of the book how a man ages 2276 thousand for Minneapolis st. Paul area listeners and our toll-free number is open. That's one eight hundred six, five two 9700. You can call that anywhere within the state of Minnesota now The Listener waiting with a question higher on the air. (00:17:45) Yeah, my first comment was going to be on heredity and I think the only thing that says it is If you want to live a long life choose long-lived ancestors, and that's what the lady was describing. But apparent age is the thing that has always intrigued me because if you are male and you hang onto your most of your hair and you don't re very rapidly probably because of heredity then people tend to categorize you if they meet you for the first time in my own particular instance since I played trumpet for 14 years and French horn before I think I exercised my facial neck muscles and all in ways that a lot of people didn't and as I approach 60, I don't have a sagging chin and all of those kinds of things which some people equate with a certain age then comes a whiplash injury and you have to give up as I did tennis and swimming and then you find what happens to your waistline. So I think that the apparent age is possibly as important. Your physiological age and I'd be interested in hearing your comments. And how do you spell your last name, Chris? Okay. (00:19:14) Well, I'm glad to hear that that you've brought up something I didn't bring up in the book and that is playing instruments is a way to prolong that youthful face and neck because I heard so many plastic surgeons tell me the real giveaway is not the Cheeks is not the eyes is not the lines in the forehead. The real giveaway is the neck and that's where the gravity takes its toll and really in midlife and Beyond and of course they have an interest in plastic surgery for the right reasons, but nobody ever mentioned that and I think that's fascinating. I'm I'm interested to see if anybody when I go back on the road if anybody else has heard about that because that's a certainly a different way to deal with those those facial changes. But in terms of the the other things you bring up a parent aging again, I think it's real important for everybody to know that there are things. Things you know that we can do in early adulthood in midlife and Beyond to Stave off some things just not prevent them from happening but make them happen at a later age. And again, that's that's refreshing and I'm glad to hear you bring that and I also would say in terms of having to slow down, you know, because of an injury in terms of your physical movement and exercise that there are you know, there are other things that are that might be possible to even you may not have tried yet that you could try and to bring you back into a more active bodily state. I'm only wondering and I don't I don't profess this to be a cure for everybody. But whether some some yoga exercises and breathing exercises might not be a way to keep the body more Supple and you know, maybe even work for you in the absence of more rigorous bone-jarring types of activity and I just I just offer that as a thought and finally the last name is PES, I'm Iain. PE SME, there is anything a person can do I suspect about the rate at which they lose their hair or if it begins to change from brown or black to gray? But what about the facial appearance is anything that can be done to slow down the Aging of the skin sure, there was there was not a dermatologist or a plastic surgeon. I interviewed who did not mention the sun they all do and I also went back to them and said yeah, you know, we've heard that before we know that's true. But what is the reality of this because so many people who are doing things for their bodies do them outside and especially, you know, after months of inactivity in the winter. You do want to get out there and they said, you know, we'll listen this doesn't mean never go outside or never going to Son. But if you do it become familiar with with this little SPF thing, we've just started to see in the last few years sun protection factor with sunscreens and sunblocks and become familiar with it because they think it's going to change, you know, right now it only goes up to about 15 for the most part in terms of what the Cosmetic These are putting together in their son blocks and sunscreens and you can get a tan with these things. It takes a little longer but you don't absorb as much of the ultraviolet radiation, which is really the the premature aging thing that they all talked about. You know, we all age in some of us gracefully some of us not but in terms of premature aging it really is the Sun and for that reason the the sunscreens and Sun blocks will become all that more important and the numbers may change. They may go up to 20 before too long 23 minutes past 12:00 o'clock another caller with a question on Aging. Hi, you're on the air. (00:22:33) Hello. My name is Jim Benson. I'm about 30 and I was an All-American summer in high school. That's where my interest in nutrition comes from. I was really interested to hear you talking about the antioxidants in the cardiovascular system because that is a particular interest that I've had and some of the things you mentioned know vitamin E vitamin C vitamin A all very common things. A lot of people aren't basically, you know, don't believe or don't Stand that they can have this effect as an antioxidant and also on the so-called free radical damage with that certainly. Okay, that is another thing with the sun there. You know, the Aging that has to do with that right? There's some other things I've put in there. I just interested in a comment. If you have one, you know, I've taken B6 which is another vitamin and fennel alien and RNA and DNA and cattle AIDS if you've heard of those and the something called superoxide dismutase, right? And now this is a Formula that I've kind of found, you know from reading and stuff is been shown to be effective for the aging process and the oxidization and a premature premature aging I just was interested in a comment on that. There's one other thing. I'm going to ask you. (00:23:51) Okay. Well, let's let's take that one first because again, I was I was certainly happy to get that question and talk about it. I would only add here though that in terms of the proof. We still don't have human examples in terms of proof that this works but it's certainly a good bet and you know with careful consultation and working with these kinds of nutrients and vitamins and a Physicians Care. You know, I certainly think it's something worth looking into I was able to read some of the studies that did show, you know marked improvement in the laboratory in terms of Life Extension just because of these free radicals that you mention. These are really chemical reactions that are happening inside the body. They are normal. The only problem is they do cause degeneration to happen and what we might be able to do with these antioxidants is slow down this degenerating process and that you know, they do attack not just regular cells but also the DNA and the proteins within the cells so that this is something that happens along with age and hopefully we can do something about it in terms of what people can buy. There are also various kinds of antioxidants out there. Some are made by a company in New York called twin lab others are made. By a company called Durant X in California that I was very impressed with only because the people who founded that company Juran ticks are people at UCLA who have been working in immunology and aging and actually anti-aging for about 30 years. So to me, it was a company that was founded in good science. And this is not to talk about the others as being not as good. But certainly this is one that I found of extremely high caliber and that if anybody's interested in in reading more about it, and it actually buying some of these products that your antics name seemed to me to be one that was highly reputable. All right, another quick comment from (00:25:40) you either. Yeah, I agree. I want to see what that you mention some formulas are and that's good and animal subjects are where all the experimentation starts. So anyway, as far as cardiovascular system OCTA Cosmo and Marine lipid complex. Have you ever heard of that and any research? As far as you know, Marine lipids are fish fats are very (00:26:02) okay. I I think we better move on Curtis quickly comment on that and another listener. Okay. The only I haven't heard directly of studies with those actual chemicals. But what I do know is that in terms of the encouraging news, we've been able to find an in studies of the heart and cardiovascular disease. There's definitely an advantage in many cultures to eating and and some dietary changes then involve a lot of fish oils in terms of you know, possibly offsetting some of these changes that we've been talking about more listeners waiting with questions for Curtis specimen. He is chief of research at Esquire magazine and author of the book how a man ages just out a couple of weeks ago. Hi your next go ahead, please. (00:26:44) Yes. I was wondering if you could comment on sugar. And what it does to the body and also are all sugars the same equally bad or not bad. (00:26:54) Okay, in terms of sugar in general the natural sugars are better for the body those that we find in fruits and certainly refined sugars are not as good be they white sugar or even honey is not as good everyone always thinks that's so great for you know, it is not but the most amazing thing. I came across in my reading and research for the book was that a you know, a simple can of cola can have up to nine teaspoons of sugar in terms of its natural content and certainly that's not good for the body and certainly what happens in time. One of the most glaring things is just the process of adult onset diabetes people who you know have had high sugar intakes throughout their life might become prone to this. Whereas those who come from perhaps more primitive cultures and more prudent diets would never show evidence of this kind of thing and that it indeed taxes the Morgan's more heavily be they kidneys or others along the way so, you know in answer to the question natural sugars are better for the body, but mostly we eat too much sugar don't we definitely yeah, 29 past 12 next listener is waiting. Go ahead, please. (00:28:05) Hi. I'm a 26 year old male and about a year ago. I started a new position at work. So I thought well might be a good time to go physical because I hadn't had one in about three or four years and when I made the appointment the person was going to set me up for X-rays and everything and once I got there. The doctor did the very basic things of checking heart and breathing and whatnot. And then he said well, you don't smoke you don't drink very much. You're pretty healthy. See you in five years. What's your comment on that? (00:28:43) It doesn't surprise me that much but I think there's a lot of room for something that that you and I will both be seen it before too long. And that is if you know you seem to be someone who's interested in his health early on and that's good and basically this doctor was echoing a comment that so many have and that is these aging changes and these age-related diseases show up so much more frequently in people closer to 40 in their 40s and in their 50s that they're trained to seek them first and place you in a so-called low risk category. I think it would have been very helpful for you just to while you were there. I would have hoped you could have gotten at least a cholesterol count and also just a, you know, a regular blood pressure checked so you will know how it changes over time so that Five years you'll have something to compare it to and that getting back to something. We touched on earlier say you were a person who is not concerned with your health and a person who's been overeating and not exercising for years. You may have already had a lot of arterial damage and cardiovascular damage that wouldn't show up until your 40s but it already could be accumulating and could be there and this is the kind of thing that it's very helpful to just get early signs. If we can what I think is going to be happening though is so many of these Sports Medicine clinics, you know, they started with just doctors who happen to specialize in Podiatry or running related injuries. These are are either teaming up or becoming parts of groups with health clubs and I think before too long we're going to see people in these Health Clubs who actually have medical degrees and go beyond the so-called trainer whom you know who may or may not be well trained, but at least you know, he's got some interest in your body Beyond it just telling you how to work the machines. I think that more of these health clubs and Sports Medicine clinics will become affiliated with either hospitals and doctors so that people in their In 30s can have a much better chance to see what they're doing inside their bodies and also find doctors who are more receptive to their age group. So listener is waiting with questions for krita specimen and go ahead please you're (00:30:39) next. Hello. (00:30:45) May we have your question, please now, we'll try this line. Hi, you're on the (00:30:49) air. Hi, you talk about people's facial features. What the is the cause of the kind of rounding of people's facial features in the 30s and 40s and on and are there things that exacerbated or make a difference? I'm a I notice sometimes my face is much more pudgy or puffed up in some warnings. When I look in the mirror Che have been others. I'll hang up and let you answer (00:31:16) that. Okay. Let me say first that most people if they you know, if they have followed or cared about skincare, you know, they certainly would have heard about the sun damage in terms of Again, but a lot of people don't really realize that simple gravity takes its toll over time as do some of the you know, actual facial movements and scrunching of eyebrows and so forth. So these all contribute to some of the Aging features we see on the face and in terms of the the puffiness you mentioned or the swelling a lot of these can be actually diet-related one of more interesting things. I found in just doing the research for the book was that it would be helpful for all of us to drink about eight glasses of water a day. If only for our skin and bodily fluids and it sounds like a lot and maybe it is but just in terms of what's going on inside the body it certainly cannot hurt you to do this and it might make the the skin changes the internal changes operate on a more even Keel. So it's something we're thinking about is it eight glasses of water above and beyond what you would normally want this for thirst? Well, yeah, it's the first you want three to break a total of eight or yeah total a total of eight is what's considered a good healthy. Not just to keep things running and you know, of course you'd have to space it out throughout the day but it certainly can help the skin. And that's I was very surprised to find that interesting another listener with a question for critically had you're on the air. (00:32:39) Thank you in terms of cholesterol build-up and plaque developing inside the arteries and so on. Is there any way that this can be reduced either through diet and exercise or through a process called chelation in which a chemical called EDTA is combined with the calcium and excreted through the kidneys. This is a kind of a controversial subject in medicine today. (00:33:01) Yeah, I would say first that the in terms of cholesterol build-up certainly fiber has been proven to not only keep a cholesterol level down but also to help lower the level of cholesterol because of its relation to the liver and bile formation and what happens in the body as it tries to digest fiber, you know, which really it cannot do easily. And so that's whenever you up your intake of fiber and Various forms you are actually going to bout lowering your cholesterol, or at least keeping it at a certain amount. So that's helpful. Number one. Number two. Most people are pretty familiar. Now with the whole idea of a low-fat diet. I would only stretch it one degree further and to mention a chef that I talk to in putting the book together. He's a guy who cooks for people who come to the pritikin longevity Center out west and in California, and I you know, I asked him basically what can we the average people learn from you who are cooking for people who have this problem, you know severe cholesterol problems and heart disease and heart trouble. And what do you do to make this food interesting, you know, because we all know it's good for us to follow low-fat diets, but we don't always do it because it doesn't seem to be fun and he just started rattling off all these various spices and lemons and things he uses in place of butter and that was his his number one key was no oil no butter and being a chef he's able to experiment with and come out with 16 or 17. For ways to cook foods to make them interesting as well as being healthy, which is another another part of this whole thing and certainly one of the most interesting benefits of exercise. I was able to pick up along the way was that the arteries and veins also benefit from aerobic exercise. It's not just the heart and lungs but that through a regular program three four times a week, you know, 20 30 minutes us at a shot the arteries and veins can expand and contract more easily and that's definitely worth thinking about because of what it means to the whole system. It's not just the the heart and lungs. It's the cardiovascular system. So there again, those are two things you can do to really help yourself along the way and try to better your odds against any kind of disease or plaque buildup. Unfortunately, I'm not able to talk about EDTA just because I haven't become too familiar with it in terms of the cases that are being studied right now. It's 24 minutes before one o'clock Curtis. Piston is the studio guest today chief of Research at Esquire magazine. He's also the author of a newly published book entitled how a man ages and that's the subject of our conversation this noon a couple of phone lines open again in the Twin Cities area 2276 thousand and our toll-free line is 1-800-662-2386. Good anywhere within the state of Minnesota now The Listener waiting with a question. Hi, you're on the air (00:35:52) when we were talking about a parent page. The follow-up was that for people who don't have to be trumpet players. There is a book published about exercising facial muscle, which was pinpointed in a movie of Russian. Ballerina her whole body from the neck down was very youthful and very graceful and then they showed close up in the little girl sitting next to her mother said Mom she's old but my observations are that routine abusive. Skincare you picked up on the sun which is high on the list and I think smoking also leads to more rapid wrinkling. Thank you, (00:36:37) you know response on that smoking as a problem with skin. Yeah. No it really is and I'm glad he mentioned that too because it doesn't affect all of us, but certainly the the people who do smoke it's been known to to speed the drying. All right another caller with a question. Hi, you're on the air. (00:36:54) Thank you. I'm in my late 40s and I've been experiencing what I expected as I eat a little less strength fewer responses and so on but I've run across some nuisance changes. No wonder if you've addressed these things like body odor being higher and eat more showers the hair and my ear and ears and nose has started growing wildly. My ears are exporting wax. I never knew I had ear wax as a youngster just things like that. Which kind of surprised me. I wonder if they've been addressed on books. (00:37:29) Yeah, most of them not all of them. I would say first they're definitely hormonal changes that do occur throughout a man's life and it you know for the most part it hasn't really gotten the attention certainly that that the female menopause has and this is not to say there is a proven physiological male menopause, but there is a great deal of knowledge now about male hormonal changes, you know, the same things you sometimes hear either relatives or friends in their 60s and 70s their voices change over time. Well that is partly age and partly the result of some of these hormonal changes some of the male hormones androgens testosterone this kind of thing they do change over time. So that could be responsible for the first problem. You mentioned secondly I was kind of kind of shocked when and bemused when I when I read one of the reports about changes within the ear and you had mentioned the growth of hair. Well, I didn't know originally that that we as humans we Wax and and grow hair in our ears originally. This was a protection for us to keep insects out. So it's it's a strange kind of physiological thing that's going on for Millennia it now and it is a natural and age-related occurrence. We do grow more hair usually an unwanted places, you know, either our noses our ears or both sometimes in the back and this is something that is again age-related and seemingly form only related both of these two things. And again, thanks for mentioning them 20 minutes before one o'clock. Here's our next caller. Go ahead. You're on the (00:39:03) air. Thank you. I began in the last I'm 40 and I begun in the last year to begin to drink mineral water versus tap water and I'm noticing that drinking sparkling mineral water seems to be aiding the digestion for me. I haven't looked at any studies for the value of drinking mineral water versus tap water and what may be taken out of Tampa auditory processing give any comment. On that thank you. (00:39:28) Yeah, I would definitely mention in terms of the digestive system that we all men and women alike. We all change as we age the stomach in terms of digesting it does secrete less juice has less gastric juices in our 40s and 50s and this is one physiological change that really applies to both. So in terms of your counteracting that perhaps with mineral water, I can't point to a study until you. Yaha you've hit it, but it sounds like there could be a relation in the same way that people, you know might be taking colas or sodas over the years for other digestive troubles, you know, there might be some chemical mix there. That's actually helping you out. And then also in terms of the digestion, I would just mention that for this reason and others. We do have less of an appetite over time and the digestive system on average becomes a little bit more sluggish. So what you might be doing it is simply priming it a little bit by by using mineral Waters and and it might be more of an Aid then by you know regular tap water being more of a hindrance the title of your book courtesy is how a man ages nobody's asked this but I suspect people might wonder if women age differently than men and if there are some signs you found that certainly there are differences and I would just briefly mention. We at Esquire are in the process of putting together a woman's volume should be out within a year. And again, there are enough changes to Warrant this and just to hit them briefly. The man's skin seems to age later than a woman's for two reasons the thickness overall in his skin. And also the oil glands see to be more active throughout his lifetime, you know, they slow down later. And for this reason he's able to hide the wrinkles and in lines a little bit later, you know, they don't show up an average eight to ten years later than they would on a woman certainly the male pattern baldness we talked about before is really no counterpart. That we know of female pattern baldness, although both men and women over time their thickness of their hair decreases its measured in microns and you can look at a couple of hairs under a microscope and see a difference between a 20 year old in a 70 year old. So that's something that does apply to both and certainly there's a big age Gap, you know life expectancy for a woman is still about seven to eight years longer than a man, you know the from about she can expect to live to about be about 77 78 on average whereas a man's life expectancy is closer to about 70 and I can't tell you the reasons why the Aging experts can't tell you the reasons why they used to think it was it was all pressures of the workplace or the you know, the mail traditionally working in more dangerous jobs, and maybe there's some truth to that, you know toxic chemicals are part of it smoking is certainly part of it. Although some of the later research says women are smoking more. So that might be a reason for the Too narrow, and certainly we touched on the menopause question other hormonal changes do occur. But the big question really is that aging Gap and it's going to be interesting to see in the next 5-10 years whether we might not have some better explanations for it. It's not all work-related 16 minutes before one back to listener calls high. You're (00:42:41) next. Hello. I'm calling from Wright County and I was just wondering can a man's age contribute to the likelihood of an older couple having a Down syndrome (00:42:51) child. Old I really can't say I don't know if it if it's all if it's all related to his jeans, but you know, it certainly certainly is the case that you know, the risk factor is greater for for later life pregnancies, but no I can't tell you whether it's that man's age. That might be the more important factor. Okay. We'll take another listener with a question. Hi, you're on the air. (00:43:14) The reason I'm calling is you mentioned a couple companies who are making supplements that you thought were high-quality some people I know are using supplements from a company called Herbalife. Have you ever heard of that one? No, I (00:43:26) haven't. Oh well local or do you know where it's from? (00:43:29) I guess it's in California. And the reason I was asking is you talked about oxidants and this guy was telling me that you know, we're like has all these I antioxidants in it and it gave me a list of them. And actually that's what I was Wondering if they were you know, as good as what he was saying and helping aging and stuff. Like you said that (00:43:46) yeah, I would only just as a cautionary note for anybody out there who's curious about the antioxidants and what's reliable and what's not it's so new a field that that nobody really knows which are the best and which aren't but that all the landmark studies in this were done by a guy out of the University of Nebraska denim Harmon and by writing to the University of Nebraska. There's an aging Center there you could read for yourself the actual studies that have been done in the lab and then make you know, your own opinions and talk about them with your doctor from there. It's about a quarter to 1:00. Here's our next listener. Hi, you're on the air. (00:44:19) Well, yes. I'd like to know what you had to say about alcohol and just (00:44:33) in general as with everything else abuse is not going to help anyone. In the world, although I was I was surprised to find and in some way please define that some doctors think moderate alcohol can actually keep a body functioning. All right, which is to say one drink a day not a hundred drinks a day or not, you know three or four drinks a week. It was just that there may be some benefits to very moderate alcohol use on occasion. So it's not you know, some people would swear by teetotaling as the answer and that doesn't seem to be the case in the literature. But the real key there is use versus abuse and that that's what we should keep in mind. Okay. We'll move on to our next listener. Hi, you're on the air. (00:45:20) Good afternoon. I like to thank you first for having an empty are for us in this area. (00:45:26) Where are you calling from? (00:45:28) All right. I have a question for your guests. I've been exposed to the theory that cooking in aluminum. Where can have an adverse effect. On the memory, I'll hang up and listen to the answer. (00:45:44) Yeah, I've read a lot of reports about aluminum being a causal factor or a possible factor in Alzheimer's disease which which really is a very traumatic and and age-related cause of senility the most recent thing I read was about six months ago and that had said that autopsies of Alzheimer's patients who had gone see now did show higher traces of aluminum in their brains, then did those of normal healthy adults who died of other causes so, you know, from what I've been able to tell there's some relation but I don't know whether you know that can happen just by cooking with or using aluminum where it certainly seems to be related, but I don't know if it's the cooking or whether it might be other chemicals in food water or where you live that might also show up in terms of the traces of aluminum in the brain. Another caller with a question go ahead please kurta specimen is listening. (00:46:44) Good afternoon. I'm wondering if a person can get good exercise without elevating the heart rate. Let's say by taking an easy walk or a slow bike ride. And also if you don't push your body or push your heart rate up Beyond an easy bike ride or walk. Are you doing your body any good? (00:47:02) Certainly. There's you know with all the talk about aerobic exercise people forget how important flexibility is in terms and strength in terms of your training over time and simple walking again. I lose something I picked up along the way in the chapter on Fitness there have been good studies shown and repeated in both hospitals and exercise physiology Labs that show that nothing more than simple walking with people in their 60s can show great benefits just because of all the damage that inactivity does so know you might not be able to gain the great aerobic benefits, you know that runners or Members or serious bikers might get over time in terms of building up their capacity but by virtue of the flexibility and the strength and you know, keeping the joints bones muscles moving this kind of thing is so important that that I would definitely recommend it and even people who say they have no time in their day to do this if they could simply Park their car a half a mile from the office or eight blocks from the office, whatever it may be just the simple pattern of activity can be very good for the body Beyond those aerobic benefits 11 minutes before one o'clock. Another listener is waiting. Go ahead please you're (00:48:14) next. Hi. I'm calling about couple of things a good friend of mine who's in his early 40s went into a panic this week. He bikes a lot. He Cycles a lot. He eats high fiber and he had his first hemorrhoid. I want to know if these things are inevitable. I mean TV commercials make you think that everyone is destined for that. The other thing is what's the genetic factor in prostate troubles for men? (00:48:39) Okay? First what kind of seed is on his bike? I'm just curious if if that might be a problem. But no it's it doesn't seem to be certainly children are not susceptible to hemorrhoids as well as adults are but I would happen to think and just from what I've read and talk with with a doctor's about that it be more important to find out not what he's doing in terms of biking but is he sitting all day and is he office Bound in desk-bound and maybe that might be more the cause them hitting any magic birthday of 42 43 and in terms of your second question, I wasn't sure if I caught all that. Well, I guess he has slipped away. We'll take another listener and maybe get that one. Go ahead, please. You're (00:49:18) next. Yeah, perhaps you already commented on this, but I'm curious to know if there's any relationship between laughter human and humor on the aging (00:49:28) process. That's interesting. That's a that's a great question at it sounds as if you might be familiar with or you read Norman Cousins book, perhaps called The Healing Heart. Whereby he he actually ordered. This is what I thought was fascinating he ordered her or no, he didn't order. He asked the ambulance driver after suffering a heart attack to please not turn on the siren because he didn't want to upset he knew what was going on in his body and he didn't want to upset his body or those around him anymore than need be and the whole idea of relieving stress as much as possible as an antidote to maybe stress-induced bodily changes is very informative and he his book actually talks about the benefits of laughter and humor and what you can do to sort of pump and prime the body's recuperative abilities. And I think there's there's much more a mind-body connection than at least the current generation of medical people have been brought up to believe and they're opening their minds as are we to finding out these connections and I think We become greater even something as simple as as the relaxation response. You know that Herbert Benson out of Harvard and Boston has talked about simple breathing exercises things. He's borrowed from meditation and the Oriental cultures and is trying to really get the word out to those of us in America to pick up bits and pieces of these things really to keep the stress level down and help the body heal itself in a faster and more efficient way as we get older today's guest is Curtis specimen author of a new book how a man ages but not for a couple of weeks now published by Esquire magazine Curtis is the chief researcher there at has choir and we have more listeners with questions. Hi, you're next. Am I next? Yes, ma'am. Go (00:51:13) ahead. I've done a lot of work with people of all ages. I'd like to ask if there are any Good dietary books, which will show what the body needs to get along instead of all the store-bought additives and the young people especially in some of the older ones to are buying far too many food additives and vitamins, which they cannot get along with in other words. They're spending money uselessly and sometimes even to their detriment of their health. Can you recommend some books which show you what kind of foods are necessary to your health? Thank you. I'll hang up and listen. (00:52:02) Okay. Thanks for the question. I wouldn't actually promote anyone diet as being as being the best or better than any others in terms of age-related occurrences, but I would mention just in terms of what I was able to find it including the book a couple of good guidelines to use, you know, you don't have to to follow a fad to contact a local American Heart Association which publishes you know throughout the country various low-fat diets for their patients who have either experienced heart attacks or some evidence of heart disease and these are good models to build from, you know, these are things that they prescribed both with doctors and medical experts for people in their 40s 50s and 60s who have had heart problems and yet those of us younger than that or those of us who come from families where we know there might be heart trouble along the way either genetically or otherwise can certainly build from these and use these as good guides and also another book I found very helpful in Of diet what we need and what we can gain from diet is called maximum lifespan. This was written by a doctor Walford out of out of UCLA on the west coast and aside from the nutrient qualities and various factors with food. He also offered the idea that undernutrition can bring benefits of long life. And this isn't malnutrition. This is under nutrition eating very healthy foods, but less than you'd normally think your body needs that it really helps the body in terms of its immunology and disease fighting capabilities. So that's also a different thing to take a look at and borrow from your listeners are waiting with questions for Curtis BisMan and your next go ahead, please. (00:53:44) Hi. Good afternoon. I'd like to know What's the effect water has on the body and the skin such as swimming or much bathing and if oil is better? To use, you know, like creams or Oils, right? (00:54:01) Okay, I would certainly say that it's been shown, you know that some of the chemicals and you mentioned swimming and swimming pools and chlorine and those kinds of things do have a drying effect both on the skin and the hair and also some harsher soaps, you know, in terms of daily bathing and shampooing and that kind of thing these do based on their chemical makeup of can have a drying effect on both skin and hair and pours the counteract their the way to counteract that is to really try to use moisturizers. Regularly. The perfumes aren't important the moisture capabilities are and to remember that the skin is actually a couple of layers. It's the dermis and the epidermis epidermis being on the outside layer and that when you read and when you see so many claims and adds about, you know, this really prevents aging keep in mind that lotions and creams don't get down into the dermis what they really do is cover and try to trap the moisture inside. The epidermis which is your outer layer and that most any cream can help you do that and help counteract. These these drying effects that we've been talking about you hear stories about men using their women using their wives products and all that holidays and cosmetic companies coming out with the things for men. I guess aren't there. They're definitely waking up to the idea that it's a huge market and if you know, maybe they take out some of the perfumes and just promote the healing capabilities, but then indeed the market might wake up to their ideas. It's about three minutes before they are I don't think we can answer all the questions left on the lines. We will take as many as we can. Go ahead please your (00:55:31) next time. Oh, yes. I'd like to ask a question about the genetic disease Progeria. I'm wondering if you and your readings have discovered whether any correlations have been made between that particular defect and the bio chemical characteristics of an aged person. I will hang up and let you (00:55:49) answer. Okay, there are a lot of similarities, you know, in terms of following the child with progeria because you know, he really X some of the Aging changes that happen to all of us over time only in a much more concentrated way. I don't know the cause nor do most of the doctors who study this thing but it's instructive. If only to see, you know, the some of the newer drugs that are being tested such as brain changes, you know, the l-dopa with Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's that maybe you know, some of the the good research in terms of Aging might come out of of studies with with children with this disease. It's unfortunate and yet it does the strange thing is it does mimic so many of the natural changes that we all under grow in the much more concentrated time. Another caller with a question for Curtis passman. Go ahead. Please turn your radio down. Will you please before you ask your question? You have to make sure your radios are turned down before you go on. Otherwise we get that feedback sound. Okay, go (00:56:51) ahead. I like to say it's a very interesting topic and it's good to hear that so many younger people are also concerned with subject question. I'd like to ask regards aging and sexuality a friend of mine was in medical school and when he was taking his medical history, so you just omitted asking any sexual questions or questions about their sexual history to older patients and when his superiors took him to task for the see started asking the question and was amazed and actually hurt and to find out that even people in their 80s were having active sexualize (00:57:28) and we have only about a minute left in (00:57:30) doing just after some discussion about (00:57:37) 30 seconds for that Curtis. Unfortunately glad it came up because of the expert. I talked to at the National Institute on Aging Clyde. Martin was one of the original Authors of the Kinsey Report, he's been studying this for over 35 years and he was able to find groups of normal healthy aging males and now females are being studied at The Institute who reported an average sex having sex once every three point nine days now, he called them active but he also said these are not unusual cases and just keep your eyes open and your ears open and keep a healthy life in midlife and that's a better indicator than age in terms of what life life sexuality is all about. I'm sorry, we've run out of time Curtis because when we obviously could continue talking about this subject for quite some time to come Curtis specimen is author of a newly published book how a man ages. He is the chief of research at Esquire magazine. Thank you for coming in and thanks to all of you who called with your questions today. Today's broadcast of midday was made possible by WT Cien news 11. Thanks to Linnea Schultz for answering the phones and engineer Joe Jonas. This is Bob Potter.