Important Tips to Stay Young!

Interviewer:  You have a new book out called, "Telomere Timebombs".  Can you Discuss that and what people might learn from that?

Dr. Park:  Sure, It's right here "Telomere Timebombs", and it basically...  You can see here its a time bomb on a chromosome and you have the hand pushing back the needle.  So the premise is that, again, stem cells are ticking down.  I mean, they're actively lengthening with telomerase, but its a constant battle and if the fuses burn the nub, then you get chromosomal damage.  So the entire thing is like a new theory, a unified theory of aging and disease which in my opinion will become orthodoxic very soon because there are so many studies, there are so many things pointing to telomere erosion, and you name it, across the board.  Now everyone is kind of thinking, "Well, isn't that a coincidence that this is showing up in my disease of interest or this research."  Well, no, I mean if you just take it on faith that this is a sufficient condition, this is a robust explanation to explain all the diseases, I think it becomes clear that this is a good explanation for a lot of what happens as we get older.  So it talks about my journey, it talks about my patients' experiences, it waxes a little bit on the medical-industrial complex, and it gives you some actionable things to research and to do, so.

Interviewer:  Can you give us a clue?  What are some of those things that people can do to maybe, you know, slow that aging process down?

Dr. Park:  Sure.  You know, I started out in medical orthodoxy, trained as a medical doctor, and so things like "holistic" or "alternative and complimentary", "homeopathic", they were buzzwords for "quackery", you know, not "efficacious", "placebo", and I started to realize that actually the body and the consciousness of the body is a pretty efficient system and it can repair a lot of things. So whereas in the past I would have said, you know, aerobic exercise, which is great, you know, or fish oil, blah-blah-blah.  But I think you really need to be holistically well. So what does that mean? You need to live well, you need to breathe well.  A lot of people don't breath properly and so they're all in their head and they're anxious and they're tight.  So breathing is important sleeping is so important to regenerate because all the stuff that you wouldn't even know how to fix, the body is fixing while you sleep.  So high quality sleep is important.  Good Karma.  You know, it sounds flaky and new aged, but if you're sitting thinking about how bad things are and how little you have, then that's going to be a negative perpetuating thought, and then your enjoyment of life will be less, but also I think that you'll age faster, and we see that in the presidents before they take office.  They have to... Stress is a big ager.  Some people have a great sense of humor so that's a great way to defray some of the angst. You know?  So anything you can do to sort of relax [laughs], sleep better, enjoy whether it be, you know, exercise, or, you know, making love or what have you just laughing, helping others, I mean that sounds really non-medical but I really and truly believe that if you're happier person and you see this in my patients that are really old. You know, they live longer. So if you really want a secret to live a good life, be happy, be in love, help other people, don't be a jerk, you know, these kinds of things, believe it or not, and laugh a lot.  It's important.  You know?