The recently published book "Dopamine: The Secret Weapon Against Aging" addresses with an innovative approach the ability of this neurotransmitter to delay deterioration and diseases of aging.
Dopamine, a molecule in the brain which has traditionally been associated with motivation and the pursuit of pleasure, could hold the key to delaying aging, according to the latest research in the fields of Psychology, Medicine and Biology, as stated in the book.
Dopamine would not be involved so much in this search for pleasure and reward, but in the ability to strive to achieve vital goals and overcome challenges.
The levels of this neurotransmitter decrease from the fourth decade of life, which partly explains the progressive decline of our illusions, initiatives, activity, etc. and the appearance of the first manifestations of aging.
Some personality traits such as extraversion, optimism, creativity, enthusiasm or impulsivity correlate with greater longevity, and in turn, these traits are mediated by a greater amount of dopamine in the brain.
It has also been seen that one gene, DRD4, a dopamine receptor gene, is associated with novelty-seeking personality trait and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which in turn is associated with increased physical activity. This gene favors a more active life and is represented in the longest-lived people.
The Depression, considered by the WHO as the main cause of health problems and disability worldwide, it is due, in a high percentage of cases, to a deficit of dopamine in our brain.
The telomeres They are a kind of caps that cover the ends of the chromosomes and that get shorter as we get older. The people that suffer from depression and those who have suffered episodes of abuse in childhood show a shorter telomere length.
In addition, depression is inherent to aging and accelerates physical and psychological degeneration.
Alzheimer's, one of the most devastating and cruel pathologies that affects a greater number of people each year that passes, according to recent research could be caused precisely by a decrease in dopamine in some regions of our brain.
There are also connections between our immune system and this neurotransmitter: dopamine receptors have been found in the thymus gland and on lymphocytes, which regulate our ability to cope with infections and pathogens.
According to the author of the book: My idea at first was, as a psychologist, to explore the aspects of our personality and our character that can help us age better.
However, as I investigated, a new variable emerged with more force in the equation, dopamine, which is responsible on many levels, for our deterioration in addition to the strictly psychological decline.
I was discovering surprising things such as its relationship with the loss of immunity or with the onset of Alzheimer's disease; there is even evidence that dopamine is present in lower concentrations in tumor tissues than in benign tissues and that increased dopamine levels appear to inhibit tumor cell proliferation.
All of this made me see that there was an unexpected connection between dopamine and longevity.. As indicated in the book, this connection could go further since dopamine would also have the ability to extend life.
A Hungarian doctor named Joseph Knoll developed a drug called deprenyl in the 1960s that, by inhibiting the enzyme MAO-B, prevented the breakdown of dopamine that we all suffer from as we age.
This drug showed, for the first time, that the life of a living being could be extended beyond the maximum limit set by nature, according to Pérez Mulet.
Diet, exercise, or genetics, are the variables that have been most repeatedly related to anti-aging, and in a field as topical as medicine antiaging, original and novel information is presented for the first time that could shed new light in the hope of delaying the pathologies of old age.
In this entertaining and scientifically rigorous 588-page essay, the causes of why we age, what is the ikigai, the role of nutrition and physical exercise, whether love or sex can rejuvenate us, how self-fulfilling prophecies and negative attributions about old age accelerate deterioration, or the others elixirs of eternal youth in addition to dopamine, such as resveratrol, metformin, caloric restriction, intermittent fasting or epigenetics among others.
The book is now on sale on Amazon for € 4.99 in ebook version and € 19.88 in paper
"An innovative study that revolutionizes everything we knew so far about dopamine and its influence on aging processes"
Dr. Javier Álvarez González, Professor of Pharmacology (Faculty of Medicine, University of Valladolid).
The author, Eduardo Pérez Mulet, He has a degree in Psychology from the University of Salamanca and a Master's degree from the Center for Research and Behavior Therapy (CINTECO) in Madrid, where he later worked as a therapist specializing in the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders, and since 1996 he directs the Addiction Prevention Plan of the Provincial Council of Valladolid.
https://dopaminaging.com
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