F-Bomb Longevity Made Easy

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Dr Jones, who began her career as a sports and exercise physiologist and psychologist working with Olympic squads, and later studied applied neuroscience at King’s College London, has been researching optimum wellness for 30 years. The trouble is, she says, we’re mostly doing the wrong things at the moment: prioritising physical fitness over wellness at a cellular level. What’s now considered vital for longevity is controlling inflammation in your cells. Listening to loud music stimulates the nervous system when it produces “the chills”, and when experienced with others you get the added longevity benefit from social interaction. Listening to music before bed can slow down breathing and improve sleep quality. “Our brainwaves synchronise to musical rhythms, which makes music a great metronome, enabling us to influence the release of brain chemicals and the activation of brain networks,” Jones says. “And of course, learning a musical instrument is proven to be one of the best ways of slowing cognitive decline and building new brain connections. Music really is a super-tool.” Eat 30 different plants each week Jones offers an eight-week programme to embed the lifestyle changes she advocates; several thousand have completed it online, many as part of corporate sign-ups. Her GlycanAge score is 51, very close to her actual age of 52. Middle-aged women often have high scores, she says, because of the menopause (inflammation can increase due to the decline in oestrogen). It’s why she is desperate for women in their forties and fifties to get on top of their daily habits as early as possible. “Many women I test in their early fifties come out in their mid-sixties unless they’re on HRT, so as someone who is combating declining oestrogen I’m pretty happy with a score of 51.” Julia has been studying the effects of music and sound on behaviour and wellness for 30 years. The first book helped in boosting a surge of interest in this area and became a unique music-based wellness programme run at offices of some of the largest companies in the world. As an academic her PhD, MSc, MBA, PG Cert and BA (Hons) studies and research all examined various aspects of neuroscience and psychology. She began her professional career as a Sport & Exercise Psychologist and Physiologist in the early 1990s, working with Olympic squads. It doesn’t have to be the stairs; the idea is to exercise to the point where you can’t carry on a second longer. These really short bursts of intensive activity can activate the anti-inflammatory pathways that are the key to longevity. For some people that might be 20 seconds, for others longer. “It doesn’t really matter as long as you get to fatigue,” Jones says.

You’re activating those three pathways that keep the cells clean and operating well. If you’re eating dinner at 8pm and getting up at 6am or 7am to eat breakfast, you’re never in the fasted state that allows that process to happen. Humans never used to eat this often – our ancestors weren’t munching all day long.”Jones, who began her career as a sports and exercise physiologist and psychologist working with Olympic squads, and later studied applied neuroscience at King’s College London, has been researching optimum wellness for 30 years. The trouble is, she says, we’re mostly doing the wrong things at the moment: prioritising physical fitness over wellness at a cellular level. What’s now considered vital for longevity is controlling inflammation in your cells. “Biological ageing is an inflammation- related process, and continuous low-grade inflammation is now known to be at the core of pretty much all our health problems. It happens over decades and is completely invisible until it erupts in physical symptoms that then result in a diagnosis, such as cardio-metabolic conditions, neurodegenerative diseases or cancer.”

and operating well. If you’re eating dinner at 8pm and getting up at 6am or 7am to eat breakfast, you’re never in the fasted state that allows that process to happen. Humans never used to eat this often — our ancestors weren’t munching all day long.” Jones eats within an eight-hour window Monday to Friday and relaxes it at the weekends. Having your window from 7/8am to 3/4pm also works but is harder to achieve. Don’t drink alcohol less than three hours before sleepIf you have any kind of sleep monitoring device, you can see that when you drink at night you tend to go into a deep sleep, but it’s not natural sleep,” she says. Gratitude is an easy way to boost positive brain chemicals and produce a calming effect, activating the parasympathetic nervous system — the rest and repair branch of our autonomic nervous system that stems the release of stress chemicals,” Jones says. “I sit with my dog Charlie for my first coffee of the day and list the good things in my life. Some people worry they have to come up with a different list every day but it doesn’t really matter what you’re being grateful for. As long as you’re doing it intentionally and not running through in your head all the things you need to do when you get to the office, it still has that benefit.” Dr Jones eats within an eight-hour window Monday to Friday and relaxes it on the weekends. Having your window from 7-8am to 3-4pm also works but is harder to achieve. Definite wellness food for thought. Rule 2: Don’t drink alcohol less than three hours before sleep Try delaying your breakfast till 11am to extend your overnight fasting period. Image: Getty Rule 1: Delay having breakfast till 11am There is no reason why most humans can’t live to 100, says Dr Julia Jones, bluntly. The neuroscientist and author is annoyed that on a recent longevity predictor test, her healthy life expectancy came out at “only” 97.

As an academic her PhD, MSc, MBA, PG Cert and BA (Hons) studies and research all examined various aspects of neuroscience and psychology. She began her professional career as a Sport & Exercise Psychologist and Physiologist in the early 1990s, working with Olympic squads. So big is the buzz around this newly emerging area, that Dr Jones offers an eight-week program to embed the lifestyle changes she promotes; several thousand have completed it online, many as part of corporate sign-ups. Her Glycan Age score is 51, very close to her actual age of 52. Middle-aged women often have high scores, she says, because of menopause (inflammation can increase due to the decline in oestrogen). It’s why she’s desperate for women in their 40s and 50s to get on top of their daily habits as early as possible. “Many women I test in their early 50s come out in their mid-60s unless they’re on HRT, so as someone who’s combating declining oestrogen I’m pretty happy with a score of 51.” Another technique is to have periods every day when you slow your breathing and exhale longer than you inhale. Turn your shower to cold before getting out

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Why would someone who’s physically fit come out with such poor readings? “We’ve put so much emphasis on cardiovascular fitness in the past few decades,” Jones says. She was a sports and exercise scientist in the Nineties and helped to launch a chain of gyms, so advocated exactly that. “But fitness and wellness are not the same thing. You can be fit but not well, as measured by what state your cells are in.” You’re increasing the levels of the brain chemical GABA– essentially putting the brain to sleep. That fake sleep isn’t healthy and it disrupts the quality.” Dr Jones says she doesn’t tend to drink during the week and no longer drinks to unwind late in the evening. Smart advice for the wellness-seekers among us. This is to preserve and improve the quality of sleep, a key to longevity. “If you have any kind of sleep monitoring device you can see that when you drink at night you tend to go into a deep sleep, but it’s not natural sleep,” she says. “You’re increasing the levels of the brain chemical GABA — essentially putting the brain to sleep. That fake sleep isn’t healthy and it disrupts the quality.” Jones says she doesn’t tend to drink during the week and no longer drinks to unwind late in the evening. Persevere with kombucha and kimchi