Rick Handel wrote on 1/28/2007:

> Hi,
>
> I'd like to follow Philip Hillis' lead. I've lurking for a little
> while now. I remember (and miss) when Paul (then Tom) was
> moderating the LEF forums. Although I have had the morelife site
> bookmarked for a few years, to be honest, I hadn't looked at it much
> and just recently noticed that this yahoo group exists. I may be
> the youngest one here.....
>
> My name is Rick Handel. I'm 39, 5 foot 7 inches and I weigh 150.
> I'm generally in good health.

Hi Rick,

You'd have to subtract quite a few years to be the youngest person who
is a member of this group. Our co-moderator Olafur Olafsson is 26 and
there are several others in their mid to late 20s. I am pretty certain
that we even had a post sometime back from a member who was at that
time in hir mid teens. And since all messages can be read by anyone,
there's no telling what the age of the youngest regular reader of this
group - and MoreLife.org (or SelfSIP.org, for that matter) - actually
is.

[I am very surprised that you thought you might be the youngest one here.
Perhaps there weren't many young people posting at the old LEF forums. While the
body of young people generally does not show as strong signs of age related
deterioration as does the body of older people it is only because the
accumulation of age related damage has not yet reached the levels needed to
cause clear signs of deterioration. Age related deterioration of the body
concerns every human being regardless of his/her age. For most age related
dysfunctions, including age related diseases, it is much easier to prevent them
from occurring in the first place than it is to reverse them after they have
occurred. It is therefore reasonable for a person to start learning about and
practicing methods that aim to prevent or reverse such deterioration as soon as
the person possesses the mental capability to do so rather then waiting until
one is old. I personally started to study how to slow down the aging process
when I was 22 years old and had for long before that been interested in
improving my health. -°Olafur]


While you may not currently have any presenting health problems and
your BMI at 23.5 is above the midrange of "normal" -
http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmicalc.htm - you might want to
consider bringing it closer to 20.
BTW, how recent is the photo of yourself (with son) that you uploaded?
How much did you weigh when it was taken?

> The only (potentially significant) problem I have is that I
> developed extremely mild idiopathic peripheral neuropathy when I was
> 33. I saw one of the nation's top experts in this area (Dr. Norman
> Latov at the Weill Cornell Medical School) and after an extremely
> extensive workup, they could find no known cause. I started adding
> supplements to my regimen to follow LEF's Neuropathy protocol. The
> results have been outstanding! Not only has my condition not
> progressed, I would estimate it's about 50% improved compared to 2
> or 3 years ago. I just get an extrememly mild "pins and needles"
> feeling in my feet that at times is almost not even noticeable. As
> you might guess, I developed this during a period when I wasn't
> taking good care of myself. I was in graduate school, wasn't
> exercising at all, couldn't afford supplements at the time, and was
> eating a lot of junk (i.e., the "SAD
> " diet).
>
> Right now, the primary thing I am working on is diet. I am eating
> well, but not as consistently as I would like. I am also looking
> into perhaps starting a calorie restricted diet. I've known about
> this for years, but kept putting it off (e.g., "I'm only 31, this
> can wait"). Well, it's probably time now.

[Restricting your calories is certainly a good idea. Note that the restriction
doesn't have to be severe in order for you to benefit from it. Even a mild
restriction of calories will go a long way towards improving your health.
-°Olafur]


There's a considerable amount of information on the MoreLife.org
regarding food as the major means towards improving and maintaining
one's health. Our own examples in the Personal section could easily
keep you busy for awhile ;>)

It can be extremely difficult to maintain good eating habits,
especially one that is considerably lower in calories than is typical
in North America, if other members of a live-together family are
eating considerably differently (maybe even everything and anything).
It can't help but be a strain on the relationships in such a family,
since food intake is such an important part of everyone's life. So,
hopefully, you and your wife will agree on the type and method of food
selection, preparation and intake. If she hasn't become familiar with
the Food information on MoreLife.org and various discussions on the
many aspects of nutrition here at MoreLife Yahoo, I hope she will
soon.

> Sincerely,
>
> Rick Handel
>
> P.S. My wife and I also recently signed a cryonics contract with
> Alcor. I'm curious, has anyone else here signed up for cryonic
> suspension? It may be an extreme longshot, but it's not that
> expensive and I figure it's better than the alternative. :)

I and Paul signed cryopreservation contracts with Alcor in March 2005
- after having contacted them the previous December regarding using a
variable annuity contract as the method of financing. It took until
December 2005, before Alcor sent the formal "Congratulations! You are
now an Alcor Member." letter. Neither of us consider ourselves
"members" in the sense that we agree with what the Board of Directors
of that organization does. We simply have a contract with Alcor to
carry out cryopreservation procedures on each of us when/should the
need arise.

Both I and Paul (independent of each other) were members of CryoCare -
he actually a founding member, having previously been with Alcor and
dissatisfied with the policies there - until CryoCare ceased to exist
in 1998. The history of CryoCare is short, but bloody in the sense of
much dissension with some key individuals after what was an excellent
start using better financing and storage arrangements than was or is
present at Alcor. The full details - and much of the written exchange
- is available on the Internet to those who are interested in cryonics
organization history. If you have not yet read the Preserving Section
of MoreLife, I think you will find it of value -
http://morelife.org/lifespan/preserving/ IMO Paul's activities in
cryonics in the 1990s have often not been given sufficient credit;
that's why it was very nice to get the acknowledgment a few weeks ago,
noted on the Science Index under Preserving.

And yes, cryopreservation, while definitely no guaranteed procedure of
storage in a condition from which removal of initial or incurred
damage can be removed at some time in the future (if any organization
is present and willing to do it), is the only current alternative to
simply ceasing to exist soon after legal death.

Thanks, Rick, for posting your introduction and also uploading your
photo - and that's a good-looking son you are holding. In addition,
It's been some time since I mentioned the MoreLife Frappr -
http://www.frappr.com/morelife There's a link also from the front
page of this group. (FlashPlayer 8 is needed to view the map.)

**Kitty