ON TODAY’S COUCHTALK WE WILL BE TALKING ABOUT “REVERSING AGING”… So excited to have as my guest today, Dr. Bill Andrews.  I’ve known Bill for almost a decade, and I’ve watched him really just push the envelope in so many areas of physical health, and in particular, relating to the science of maintaining healthy telomeres and literally reversing aging. For those who aren’t familiar with telomeres, they are the tips on every one of your body’s chromosomes.  Why Are Telomeres Important? Science has shown that our telomeres get shorter as we age. And they get shorter when we have a disease, are chronically stressed, etc! So clearly a better understanding of what will shorten and lengthen our telomeres is important to living longer…and living more healthily. What’s so interesting about our discussion during this awesome interview is the perspective between “slowing aging (or slowing decline in our health)” vs. “reversing aging”. We discuss the science behind telomeres and telomerase (an enzyme identified as having the ability to lengthen telomeres) in an understandable way for such a complex area of science. This is definitely worth a thoughtful listen to and please post your questions. SOME KEY POINTS WE DISCUSSED: Telomeres really are the “end of life clock that is ticking inside all of us”… Science has proven telomeres are shortened every time cells divide (Bill explains why in our interview), so diseases and lifestyle choices that cause greater cell division cause your telomeres to shorten more quickly! This includes chronic stress and anything that increases your inflammation! Pessimistic thought has been linked to shorter telomeres! Women who experience greater sexually intimacy – and who are in long-term, committed relationships – have longer telomeres! People having more oxytocin in their lives have longer telomeres! Mediation and yoga seem to result in longer telomeres! BILL’S BOTTOM LINE: Lifestyle choices can slow decline in your health (and can cause telomeres to shorten more slowly)…but there is no current solution to lengthen telomeres (aka: reverse aging). But Bill is working on this! Learn more by listening in to this fascinating interview. MORE ABOUT DR. BILL ANDREWS Dr. Bill Andrews is the president and CEO of Sierra Sciences. As a scientist, athlete, and executive, he continually pushes the envelope and challenges convention. He’s been featured in Popular Science, The Today Show, and numerous documentaries on the topic of life extension. In his 32-year biotech career, he’s focused in the last 20 years on finding ways to extend the human lifespan and health span. It’s not only enough to live a long life but to live a quality life. And that has been in his research on telomere maintenance. He’s going to talk to us all about what telomere is and the importance of that. As one of the principal discoverers of both the RNA and protein components of human telomerase, Dr. Andrews was awarded 2nd place as “National Inventor of the Year” in 1997. He earned his Ph.D. in Molecular and Population Genetics at the University of Georgia in 1981. He has served as Senior Scientist at Armos Corporation and Codon Corporation, Director of Molecular Biology at Berlex Biosciences and at Geron Corporation, and Director of Technology Development at EOS Biosciences. He is also a named inventor on 45 US issued patents on telomerase and author of numerous scientific research studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He is also at age 65—did we say 65? He does a hundred-mile runs, finishing at the top of his age group. We’ll talk about that by doing grueling races including Death Valley races and races in the Himalayas. Learn more at http://www.sierrasci.com/ He also has a book, Telomere Basics: Curing Aging. I’ve included the link for it on Amazon (click on the photo), with a brief description if you are interested in more information. In the book… Bill Andrews explains the groundbreaking science of telomere biology, the f