Platelet Factor 4 Talk by Tara Walker PhD

#1

There are other comments here about PF4, but thought it worth posting a talk by one of the researchers, Tara Walker, which emphases the connections between PF4, brain health, and exercise.

Worth 15 minutes, especially if it spurs us on to more physical activity. Starts at 20 minutes in.

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#2

Exercise was the actionable thing I took from the whole Klotho / Platelet factor 4 discussion.

Additional longevity benefits from exercise

  • HIIT (acute inflammation causing) reduces senolytic cell burden. Also helpful in burning visceral fat. Increases vo2max (limited without increase in aerobic capacity)
  • resistance training for bone health, muscle quality and strength for avoiding frailty and maintenance of metabolic health (more room to store glucose). Can help with resistance to injury from exercise.
  • endurance (low intensity) exercise builds blood volume, capillaries, mitochondria, stimulates nitric oxide release, etc. Builds a base for higher capacity for bringing in, distributing, and using more oxygen (higher vo2max).
  • exercise can also help with sleep. A tired body is a sleepy body.

I would argue that anyone who isn’t working to maximize the benefits of exercise isn’t serious about their health and longevity. Supplements won’t save you. Even from a starting point of limitations, everyone can get better over time. Progressive overload and patience / persistence is all that is needed.

It’s like the analogy of balancing on a bike. At a stand-still, balancing on a bike is very hard. But while moving forward, balancing on a bike is trivial. Moving forward is exercise.

I also think that while machine based exercise is good, using rough terrain (eg, unpaved trails) and sports with unexpected needs to react suddenly (eg, pickleball, tennis) are even better for the brain.

I probably over shared but there it is. This is my #1 focus. My limit of 10 supplements is in part a way to keep from being sucked into spending my time on the things that won’t help enough. I don’t want to “major in the minors”.

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#3

“I would argue that anyone who isn’t working to maximize the benefits of exercise isn’t serious about their health and longevity. Supplements won’t save you.”

Agree, although I can’t say I’ve maximized or optimized exercise, it’s a key part of my life, and has been for at least the last 12 years (70 now). Still trying to fine tune. Sufficient physical activity clearly modulates many pathways which affect aging in a positive unified way helping to preserve body and brain.

If you’re not aware, another example being hype about TRIIMX (Greg Fahy), Janet Lord PhD showed years ago the long-term older cyclists had immune systems which were decades younger than their age would predict as well as preserved thymus function, although some of this may be due to keeping a trim body as well.

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#4

Awesome. I haven’t looked into thymus regen but it makes sense. There are so many interwoven systems in the body it’s impossible to manage them all via artificial interventions. But we don’t have to since our bodies know what to do. We just have to give a wobbling plates a spin now and then. Exercise is the easiest and best way to spin some plates. Diet / supplements can help with raw material deficiencies but the easiest fixes are the items to stop / remove that impede proper function (too much visceral fat from excessive calories as an example).

Optimal isn’t a real thing to achieve…it’s something to aim for that shifts as we gather better information.

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#5

Here is a talk from about 5 or 6 years ago by Prof Janet Lord.
Section on long term cyclists and immune function/thymus starts about 26 minutes in, but there’s other good stuff throughout. May be updated work by her or others in this area but haven’t checked.

Paper on immunity and exercise
Immunesenescence, thymic output, and exercise 2019 JM Lord

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#6

Exercise…check! Rapamycin…check! Release the pathogen, I’m ready.

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