The Youth Continuum

THE

YOUTH

CONTINUUM

Published by John Northern at Smashwords

© Copyright 2011 by John Northern

No part of this book may be reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means, which includes, but is not exclusive to: electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except by a reviewer or an author, who may quote brief passages.

An amazing new discovery can change your life from short-living to long-living.

In this non fiction book I will tell you a true story about the amazing outcome of a scientific experiment.—But most of you won't believe it.

But even if you don't, a new discovery in this book will tell you how you can live longer and healthier than today's average person.

DISCLAIMER

This book has been written in a general context, and the information within it does not claim to meet any specific individual’s health needs. It is understood that all people have health problems or assets, which are unique to their own human body. For this reason, it is herein stated that no person should use the information in this book to replace the services of a physician, nor is it meant to encourage diagnosis and treatment of illness, disease or other health problems by any living creature. Any application of the recommendations set forth in this book is at the reader’s discretion and sole risk. If you are under a physician’s care for any condition, he or she can advise you about whether the program described in this book is suitable for you.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART ONE

Chapter 1 - The Fear of Aging

Chapter 2 - The long-living People

Chapter 3 - Vilcabamba

Chapter 4 - The Himalayan Mountains

Chapter 5 - Georgia & Azerbaijan

Chapter 6 - Similarities

Chapter 7 - Abuse

Chapter 8 - The Number One Abuse

Chapter 9 - Semi starvation

Chapter 10 - Fasting

Chapter 11 - You Choose

PART TWO

Chapter 12 - Electromagnetic Energy

Chapter 13 - Ionizing Radiation

Chapter 14 - Shielding Radiation

Chapter 15 - The Rate of Aging

Chapter 16 - Irradiating the Fruit Fly

Chapter 17 - The Missing Factor

Chapter 18 - The Cause of Aging

Chapter 19 - Considering the Facts

Chapter 20 - Living to 120

Chapter 21 - The Portland Experiments

Chapter 22 - How Can This Book Help You?

Chapter 23 - Speculation

Appendix A - Theories on Aging

Appendix B - Average Life spans

Appendix C - Taxonomy

Appendix D - Facts

Bibliography

Reference Bibliography

PART ONE

CHAPTER ONE

THE FEAR OF AGING

There are a lot of people who would rather die at a young or middle age, than to live to be old, senile, and decrepit, but these individuals are unaware of the joys and fulfillment experienced by the long-living citizens found in three different locations in the world.

When some Americans are presented with the idea of living to be older than the age of one hundred, a look of horror crosses their faces and they emphatically state that they do not want to be imprisoned in an ‘old’ body. Obviously, Americans envision the aged as senile, fragile, decrepit, and diseased. This creates a fear of aging, which is understandable since none of us want to suffer and live in an old folks home, wearing diapers and being lifted in and out of bed. The dread of becoming old is so strong in some people that they talk of ending their lives before it can happen. A friend of mine told me that when he was sixty years old he was going to drive his car off a cliff, so he wouldn’t have to experience the symptoms and signs of old age.

In the United States this type of thinking begins at a young age when a youth observes the old folks—either a relative, grandma or grandpa or a stranger, in pain caused by various diseases, and decrepitude caused by pathological aging. Old people, hunched over and walking slowly down the street, having to use a walker, or pulling an oxygen tank behind them with a tube running from the tank to a mask on their faces, or using a cane to steady themselves, or often times being forgetful of the simplest of things, can leave a lasting impression on young minds, which leads to fear as they travel through middle age approaching old age.

But this fear need not be a part of our lives as these impressions are not representative of all the ‘old’ people on the Earth. You might think if a person lived to be one hundred twenty years of age, or longer, and was more youthful than most people at seventy, had no senility, and no major illnesses, then it could be stated that this person has experienced the magic of Shangri la and the elixir of life. According to statistics, most people in the United States do not live past the age of seventy-five, and when they die it usually involves some painful disease.

When someone lives to be older than a hundred years, the reason for it is unknown, as the scientists cannot explain it, and it is seen as a rare occurrence in the industrialized nations.

Nevertheless, there are three geographical locations in three different third world nations where it is reported that many people live to the age of 120 years or older with no senility, no disabling diseases, and no lack of energy, in other words these people are active and healthy until the day they pass away, and magic and the elixir of life has nothing to do with it, and more importantly, neither does genetics, nor race. But why do these people live so long and so healthy when most people in the United States and the other industrialized countries die before the age of 75 years?

Scientists have been asking this question for many decades, every since they discovered these three locations

The mystery remains.

Why is it some people age faster than others? Why is it that a person can be seventy years of age and ‘old,’ living only a short period of time; or seventy years of age and ‘young,’ living another forty or more years? Does the geographical location make a difference?

The Long-living People

Because of the new studies in longevity, and because of the increased numbers of people living longer lives, new terms have been adopted to describe the age of the longer living. It is believed that it won’t be long until they will have to coin new terms to denote people living between the ages of one hundred twenty and one hundred seventy.

70 - 79 years of age: septuagenarians

80 - 89 years of age: octogenarians

90 - 99 years of age: nonagenarians

100 – 109 years of age: centenarians

110 – 119 years of age: centedecinarians

CHAPTER TWO

THE LONG-LIVING PEOPLE

Most of the long-living people reside at high elevations where the sun shines and the air is free of pollution. Does this have anything to do with them being long-living?

The three geographical locations, where there is a high percentage of the long-living people in their population are Vilcabamba in Ecuador, the Himalayan Mountains in Pakistan, and Georgia and Azerbaijan of the late Soviet Union.

Researchers, composed mostly of scientists and medical doctors, have swarmed to these areas to conduct studies in order to determine why and how these long-living people are living to the age of one hundred and twenty years or older. The research they have performed can be broken down into categories, which include demographics (population, growth, density, distribution, and vital statistics); the radiation levels of the ground upon which they live and farm; elevations at which they live; climactic conditions; nearness to the oceans; nutrition; smoking and drinking habits; the surrounding environment—especially urban versus rural; family structure, which includes how many brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, and so on; how long did their parents, siblings, and other relatives live; exercise; education; occupation; and family trees. Also, they performed physical examinations, which included blood tests, urinalysis, X-rays, and physiological function tests. They studied their eating habits, their drinking habits, their smoking habits, their exercise habits, and their stress levels.

In conjunction with these studies, the researchers also had to authenticate the ages being reported by the long-living. Are they as old as they say they are?

Because many scientists are skeptical and are unwilling to believe that people can live to one hundred and twenty years or older, there have been intense debates as to the authenticity of the ages. In those parts of the world where the long-living are reported in high numbers, there are some whose ages are reported as being hundred and forty years of age. Unfortunately, and the reason for the debates is that these ages cannot be verified with any kind of documentation, that is, birth certificates, baptismal records, or notations in the city’s history. One person in the late Soviet Union was reported as being one hundred and sixty-eight years old when he died. Although the Soviet scientists stated that this was true, they never presented any evidence to support it.

In spite of the fact that one hundred and forty, and one hundred and sixty-eight years of age cannot be verified, there is overwhelming evidence, including recorded documents, that there are many people in these areas who are living to be one hundred and twenty. This is enough evidence that skeptical scientists can no longer