#12: Hormesis: What Doesn’t Kill You Will Make You… Live Longer

If you thought diving into a pool of ice-cold water was a terrible idea then boy, have I got news for you.

Engaging in ‘stressful’ endeavours will introduce a phenomenon known as ‘hormesis’, which is the adaptive response of living organisms to said stress. It is an evolutionary ability of all living things.

How many times have we heard stress can kill you? And it can, if it’s the wrong type of stress. Being exposed to the ‘right kind of stress’, conversely, can help you live longer.

Hold up. What is ‘the right kind of stress’?

It’s All About Putting Your Body In A Perceived State Of Adversity

You can bring about a perceived state of adversity through the actions you perform on a day-to-day basis. Much like hitting the gym, fasting, or taking cold plunges. This kind of stress is different from the emotional stress we tend to experience from, say, toxic relationships, overworking, and financial crises (i.e. chronic stress).

To induce a perceived stress state, you don’t actually have to damage your body. You do, however, need to convince it that a challenge of sorts is underway.

As we said earlier, exercise, hunger, and extreme environments (like cold climes) are all great ways to put your body in this situation. That’s why fasting, training, and cold plunges (or saunas) are all roads to controlled adversity.

By giving your body acute stressors, longevity genes in your cells will ‘switch on’ and take special measures to protect the body. This ‘switching on’ will lead to the production of sirtuin enzymes; protein-modifying enzymes that respond especially to changing NAD+ levels and to caloric restriction. They also respond to chromatin, energy metabolism, mitochondria, learning and memory, neurodegeneration, cancer, and cellular reprogramming

How Can We Induce Hormesis?

Training

Training is the easiest way to induce hormesis. Especially if you’re doing something like martial arts training. I can share my two cents worth of experience here.

Sparring competitions can be great for your health, provided there are no physical injuries.

It is quite uncommon to find a mid-thirties father-of-two practicing taekwondo. Less so, competing. Yet, I still prioritize it. Way more than hitting the gym or running. Physical training aside, the benefits of sparring cannot be ignored.

Working with the Iron Taekwondo League is a great opportunity to spar with athletes, most of whom are much younger (and more athletic) than me. The activity, especially if puts me at a greater disadvantage, becomes a form of stress. But I wouldn’t call it a negative form of stress. Rather, it puts me in a controlled ‘fight or flight’ situation, triggering deep-rooted survival genes.

By sparring, I am introducing a state of hormesis and keeping fit at the same time.

Eating Less

David Sinclair is the world’s leading anti-ageing expert.

David Sinclair, a professor in the Department of Genetics and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Harvard Medical School, studies sirtuins. His team performed a study where 10,000 mice had diets of varying carbohydrate, fat, and protein ratios. You would think that different macronutrient ratios would affect the longevity of mice in different ways. And it could. But in truth, the mice that lived the longest were the ones who had access to food for only two hours per day.

Eating less often is another way to go about inducing hormesis. That is not to say you should starve. But maybe skipping the odd meal here and there, or going through periods of a caloric deficit, or fasting could trigger this effect.

Sound rationale that it isn’t just what you eat, but how often you eat it too.

Extreme Environments

Sitting in the sauna and jumping into cold water are two other ways to trigger acute stress. In the passing years, they have both gotten a lot of media and scientific attention for their perceived benefit.

Cold environments can induce hormesis.

Cold plunges have been associated with stronger immune systems, better metabolism, improved cardiovascular health, less pain, greater insulin sensitivity, and better cognition and mood. It could simply be a dive in a cold pool or a cold shower for a brief period. 30 Seconds to one minute is a good place to start.

Being in a cold environment may induce hormesis. However, it is imperative that the environment is controlled and that one doesn’t remain in such an environment beyond human capacity.

As it is with cold environments, it is with hot.

Sauna sessions promote relaxation, if not also a reduction in the overall levels of stress. According to a 2020 research review, it does this by evoking physiological responses that help regulate hormones associated with the body’s stress response.

One 20-year study investigating 2,315 middle-aged men found that regular sauna use (one to seven times per week) had a cardioprotective effect, even decreasing the risk of heart attacks, stroke, and all-cause mortality. The same study even found improvements in respiratory health because saunas humidified the airways, enhancing bronchodilation (the relaxation of the lungs and widening of the airways) and reducing inflammation.

Consuming Plants Cultivated In Harsh Environments

Sinclair explains how plants grown under stressful conditions produce bright-colored fruits that, when consumed by people, may activate cellular defenses and longevity pathways.

In this case, one can benefit from consuming plants grown in organic conditions. That is, not being treated with pesticides and other chemicals. Plants produce defense molecules called polyphenols; like resveratrol, quercetin, and fisetin, as their own hormetic response to stress.

When the production of these polyphenols is activated, these defense molecules extend the plants’ lifespan. And according to Sinclair, when we consume these plants, they also stimulate our cellular defense pathways and confer pro-longevity benefits, somewhat similar to the benefits they provide for plants.

Grapes are famous for their own polyphenol: resveratrol.

This idea led to the coining of the term “xenohormesis” in a 2004 paper published by him and colleagues from Harvard Medical School. “Xeno-”, stemming from the Greek “xénos,” meaning alien or strange, takes this concept further. ‘Xenohormesis’ refers to the consumption of foreign compounds, not produced in the human body, as a means of providing mild short-term stress and ultimately benefiting the consumer.

Xenohormesis benefits humans by triggering anti-inflammatory genes and detoxifying enzymes at the cellular level. The information provided in this video segment may inspire health-conscious individuals to eat more plant-based foods containing polyphenols to potentially extend their healthspan.

The antioxidant resveratrol is often called a xenohormetic molecule because it has been associated with a host of protective effects in the body. And through various mechanisms too (although more research is needed to confirm this).

Some meta-analyses have shown an association between human polyphenol consumption and improved cognition in older adults. This suggests that a polyphenol-rich diet can enhance healthspan. Other human studies have suggested polyphenols have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties and may prevent cardiovascular complications. Some studies have even found a positive link between polyphenols and weight management.

The TakeAway

There is no question that prolonged stress is terrible for your health. Small, acute, and controlled stresses, however, may have the opposite effect.

Not that we needed another reason to do so, but training hard and eating well (and with restrictions in time) are two ways to induce hormesis.

There is some wisdom behind doing things that scare you too. Hard sparring is one way to go, but there are many other creative ways to go about it.

The benefits of cold plunges and hot environments (like saunas) are not to be ignored either. A cold plunge could just as easily be a minute-long cold shower every morning. A ‘hot plunge’, conversely, can be a controlled stint of time outside in the Maltese summer. If not that, then a 15 - 20 minute stint in the sauna.

Given Sinclair’s research, I would also encourage opting for organic produce. This would ensure a greater polyphenol content in your food.

I do urge you all to follow David Sinclair and his research, which predominantly targets aging (or the reversal of, rather).