According to a new study conducted by David Vilchez, a professor of medicine at the University of Cologne in Germany, relocating to a colder environment may help you live longer.
Florida is a popular retirement spot because of its warm temperatures and sizzling beaches. If you’re looking to live for many years after retirement, however, scientists recommend looking for a more frigid area up north. New research finds that moderately cold temperatures increase a person’s longevity and decrease susceptibility to age-related diseases. This is because the cold prevents proteins from clumping together.
The findings arose from using a non-vertebrate model organism, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, and cultivated human cells. Both carried genes for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Huntington’s disease, two diseases featuring the accumulation of harmful and damaging protein deposits.
When German researchers exposed both models to cold, the low temperatures actively removed protein clumps and stopped the further build–up of protein clusters. More specifically, the scientists found the cold affected the activity of proteasomes, a cellular mechanism which removes damaged proteins from cells. With a moderate drop in temperature, the cold stimulated proteasome activity. One proteasome activator called PA28y/PSME3 helps with reducing the deficits caused by aging in both the nematode and human cells.
“Taken together, these results show how over the course of evolution, cold has preserved its influence on proteasome regulation – with therapeutic implications for aging and aging-associated diseases,” says study author David Vilchez, a professor of medicine at the University of Cologne in Germany, in a media release.
According to a study published on Friday in the peer-reviewed journal Lancet eBiomedicine, some humans are able to live to 100 years of age due to a unique composition of immune cells that provides highly effective protection against illnesses.
You can read more about this topic here.
One Response
Except more people die every year from cold effects than heat.