Are the Firewalls Working for me?

From a personal viewpoint, I often ask myself whether the anti-aging firewalls are working for me. That is, are the firewalls succeeding in their objective of slowing, halting or reversing my aging?  Am I kidding myself about getting younger?  This is a very important question for me for two reasons.  First, I want to deliver on the intent I formulated in 1994: to live and active, healthy, happy and productive life to the age of 230.  Second, having recently adopted being a communicator in the field of anti-aging science as my new career, I want to make sure I bring 100% integrity and full transparency about the state of my health to my public reading audience. 

It is tough to address this question, first because it is highly subjective, and second because the firewalls programs have been in constant evolution.  I started taking dietary supplements with vitamin C in 1970, and have been adding substances and revising the regimen ever since.  I started taking curcumin only about three years ago, resveratrol about two years ago, and astragaloside  IV about six months ago.  I started systematic exercising only about five years ago and I am much more regular about it now than I was then.  As readers who follow the updates in the online anti-firewalls document will observe, I keep revising the firewalls as my knowledge increases.

So, having turned 79. Last November, what can I say now?  First: taking five years as a benchmark my subjective impression is that I am not getting perceptibly older in terms of appearance, vitality, creativity, physical energy, or stamina.   I will be posting some unretouched past and present photos.  Looking at them over an 11 period, it is hard to see significant differences.

In terms of disease conditions, there has definitely been a shift. Since the age of 40 at various times. I have been plagued with attacks of rheumatoid arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and trigger finger. Through a series of adjustments in my supplement regime, particularly through supplements that are strong anti-inflammatories, I have finally been able to disappear these conditions during the last few years. I remain free of all the serious diseases of old age: cancers, cardiovascular problems, senile dementia, diabetes, etc.  I still go to New Hampshire and do plenty of hard physical work maintaining my summer camp and dock there on Bear Island.  I faithfully swim or treadmill 47 minutes a day. I have had to have surgery in the last 10 years for rotator cuff injury and on my knee and fingers, all mechanical repairs to injuries resulting from slipping on the ever-present winter ice where we live.  My balance seems to be about the same as 5 years ago.  On the other hand, my hearing may be deteriorating somewhat, at least according to my wife.  Recent 6-month changes since I started taking the astragaloside IV seem to include: