This is awesome (science)

🎆 Happy Fourth of July (Independence Day)! A quintessential part of the celebration is seeing a fireworks display, a tradition that is almost as old as the nation itself. Fireworks are an awe-inspiring spectacle that taps into a primal part of our biology that could have profound health benefits. In this edition:

Let me know: How are you celebrating the most red, white and blue day of the year?

Awe is a nervous-system reset that can have vast physical and mental benefits.

Fireworks on Fourth of July are more than an illuminating tradition–they might inspire awe, that ‘wow’ and ‘whoa’-inducing feeling we get from encountering something vast or sublime (art, music, nature).

\ Science says fireworks inspire awe in 144 different cultures.

😮 Awe can significantly boost physical and mental health–it might even impact your life expectancy, says UC Berkeley psychology professor Dacher Keltner, PhD, author of Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, according to Inc.

How? Awe is a treat for the nervous system. Awe tones the vagus nerve, takes us out of ‘fight or flight’ mode, lowers disease-causing inflammation, and boosts oxytocin, the ‘love’ hormone.

This can manifest as less stress and anxiety, reduced symptoms of depression, and a greater sense of well-being and satisfaction with life. 

It also has other benefits directly, or indirectly, linked to life expectancy:

It even softens negative self-talk and gets us out of our own head, Keltner says in New York Times. 🤫 “We are at this cultural moment of narcissism and self-shame and criticism and entitlement; awe gets us out of that.” 

The takeaway

Awe does not have to be rare. You can seek out awe on a daily basis—whether through art, music, nature, journaling, mindfulness, or looking at others performing acts of kindness. 🎨

When you see awe, you’re not just seeking inspiration–you are doing something that cultivates long-term health.

Picture this: The Declaration of Independence was just signed. Bell ringings, bonfires blaze, and a new nation is born–the future looks limitless (although I bet no one foresaw ChatGPT). 

This calls for celebration—time to eat. 

Refrigeration did not exist, calling for other methods of preservation: drying, canning, pickling, and salting. “Colonists had to eat seasonally,” writes the Citizen Tribune.

Real food, eaten with intention.

Plates would have been included what could be hunted 🥩—venison, fish, beef, lamb, or pork—or grown in backyard kitchens: corn, oats, beans, wheat, barley, squash, and fruit.

In the North, sides would have included peas, boiled new potatoes, local greens, and cornmeal hoecakes, while those in the South would have eaten Hoppin’ John (a dish of pork, rice, and peas), writes Food Republic.

🍻 Booze and brine: The celebration might have also called for copious amounts of alcohol and oysters (🦪 packed with vitamin B12, heart-healthy omega-3s, and essential trace minerals like selenium), according to Food Republic. 

Not everyone could afford–or was offered–the opportunity to eat like this. But those who could celebrated with nourishment–fiber-rich vegetables, complex carbs, wild protein (lower in saturated fat), local produce, and joy.

To keep the celebration going, let’s read a letter-to-the-editor from Livelong subscriber Ariel Paisley.

_{Editor’s Note: Livelong does not confirm or support any claims made by guest contributors. These are purely the experiences and opinions of the individual. Reader discretion advised.}

Skin health may be a simple, observable metric for gauging one's personal success at biological age reversal. Observable improvements in skin health is evidence that internal organs have already been repaired. 

Our bodies have to repair all sorts of damage from a limited resource base, so more important organs get higher priority for repair. All of our organs are interdependent…one healed organ makes it easier to heal other organs, so the more one heals, the faster one can heal in the future.

It takes seven to 10 years to replace every cell in the human body, so true biological age reversal should be approached as a seven- to 10-year project. I am living proof that bio-age reversal is not only possible, but real here and now.

I'm 70 and I have successfully reversed my bio-age so that my body performs as it did when I was in my late 40's. I'm continuing to get "younger," now that I've obtained a red light therapy bed. My sense is that the the graph of my healing will plateau and my body will eventually settle around the "age" of 35.

I didn't use any injected substances to accomplish my age-reversal. I did it all with good lifestyle, supplements, and red light therapy. I'm of the opinion that age-reversal can be much less expensive than many people imagine it to be.

Bold interventions may, indeed, speed up the age-reversal process, but there is not substitute for simple day-to-day consistency with maintaining good habits. 

Ten years of living right equals 3,655 days of making the right decisions at every meal, totaling over 10,000 good food decisions. Ten years of healing includes sleeping well over 3,000 times, exercising thousands of times, and avoiding self-damaging behaviors uncountable times. My secret power is the power of consistency.

—Ariel Paisley

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Look good, feel better, live longer