The AGER+LEARNS Decade Challenge Overview

Under development - come back soon!

The Positive AGER Lifestyle [PAL]

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A+LDC Organization

If you are familiar with course offerings on the internet you will notice that The AGER+LEARNS format is quite different. It does not have a dashboard and structured lessons with required content to study . There are no quizes or final exams. The whole system is very low tech, and low cost ! Actually FREE!

This is by design. As a professional educator and psychologist I wanted to break the mold from traditional course offerings to make the A+LDC more accessible and "learner" friendly. Successful aging lifestyle growth and enhanced longevity requires sustained effort and skill development over a period of years. You don't pick it up in a six week course. Why should it be expensive with extra pass/fail or course grading stress loaded on? There are no secret ingredients and discoveries that you should have to pay for. Healthy aging science is not patented. Learning should be free and fun. That is the difference you will experience with the A+LDC. And the bonus is that you might even live longer. Not a bad deal!

How long does it take to finish the course[s]?

The full A+LDC requires 100 hours for completion. There are 10 courses, each one requiring 10 hours to complete. Each letter in the AGER+LEARNS acronym is referred to as a Decade and the 10 Decades symbolically represent 100 years! 100 hours, 100 years, getting the picture? That's why I am sometimes called the Ten Man, but I prefer Da Decade Dude!

You can find numerous videos on my You Tube Channel that go into extensive detail for how to complete the A+LDC program. Back to how long? It all depends on your time committment. For those with limited time I suggest a starting level of at least 10 minutes a day. If you are blessed with more time available, I recommend at least an hour per day. That's a three month completion schedule. If you have more time you can finish sooner, of course.

In reality, you will never be finished with the program, if you are successful with it. You will be continually monitoring your progress in changing and implementing better lifestyle habits. You may find a new enthusiasm for learning more about health, fitness, happiness, and longevity science that will be with you for the rest of your life. At least that is what I hope!

How realistic is it to add an extra decade to my life?

This is a very fair question. I became interested in the possibility after learning about research coming from the Medical Center and University in Loma Linda, California, my Blue Zone neighbor made famous by Bill Butner in his books and Netflix series. I have discussed these findings elsewhere and won't repeat the results here. The evidence for living an extra decade, beyond average life expectancy is quite possible with those who practice the health principles of the Seventh Day Adventists. I also believe the general population can adopt some of these lifestyle habits and share the longevity benefits.

I have made living an extra decade my personal goal and work on reaching this goal each day for a number of hours. Will it work? Who knows? When asked that question I always repeat the same response. Doing nothing to improve lifestyle characteristics will result in no change from the status quo.

It is important to also accept reality. A lot depends on our current health condition, age, and some good luck. Genetics plays a role too, but many scientists suggest it controls only 20% of the formula for longevity. That gives us 80% to manipulate in our favor. I believe that any contribution we can make toward a more healthful lifestyle may result in a longer life, whether adding days, months, or years is unknown and will remain so until the end. I believe the effort we invest will result in commensurate benefits. I'm committed to making a good shot at it. I hope you can join me and others on the journey to a longer, healthier, and happier life.

Do You believe in longevity drugs?

There is a difference between those who advocate lifestyle changes for longevity and those who promote biohacking and experimenting with supplements and other substances that may prolong life. I am very interested in both avenues for longevity but I only teach and practice what I know and suspect works, not what may require many more years for the evidence to be demonstrated. There are also legal steps that need to be taken before anti-aging "pills" can be available to the public. I suspect that lifestyle interventions will always be recommended in addition to any "cures" that may reduce or reverse aging that is considered normal today. Most biohackers also recommend lifestyle changes in addition to biomed interventions to increase longevity.

Besides, I want change NOW and the potent biomed stuff isn't here yet. Those substances that ARE available and recommended by some researchers, such as rapamycin, resveratrol, metformin and others are still being investigated. When the FDA starts approving supplements for human consumption I'll make the decision about trying them, if I'm still around.

In the Who's Who and Business sections I provide profiles on some of the leaders in biomed research and longevity technology. I encourage all those interested in the future of longevity research and development to follow these pages. When the time is right we can join the bandwagon and maybe pick up a few more good years!