The Fountain of Youth is a legendary spring that putatively renders anyone who drinks of its waters forever young. The mankind has never stopped searching for such magical waters ever since the dawn of intelligence. The tales date back to at least the time of the Alexander Romance in the West. In the East, the efforts of searching for permanent youth were recorded in the Huangdi Nei Jing (the Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine) - the earliest medical classic in China, written 2000 years ago.
In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon believed that the magical spring was on the island of Bimini, or "beemeenee" called by natives. Unfortunately, the explorer did not find Bimini, instead he ended up at St. Augustine of Florida. The landing site is now part of "The Fountain of Youth National Archaeological Park".
While Juan Ponce de Leon was sailing to the legendary spring, ancient Chinese believed that the fountain of youth was actually inside our body - the "qi". The qi inside our body is part of the qi spreading through the entire universe. The fountain of youth is the life force present in all living things. The thousands of years of civilization has extended our life span, but permanent youth is still a dream with more fascinating tales. The longest person ever lived was a Japanese man Shirechiyo Izumi, who reached the age of 120 years in 1986.
Gerontology now reveals that the fountain of youth is, indeed, inside our body. But it is not the "qi", it's the genes inside every cells of every man and woman's body.
As gerontologists continue to isolate and characterize more and more longevity-and aging-related genes in laboratories, the mankind has gained more and mote insights in designing genetic interventions to reverse the symptoms associated with aging, and to further extended our life spans.
For instance,
GH-Releaser, a clinically tested capsule has the potential to turn back your biological clock safely with
HGH (human growth hormone), and look and feel younger.
We've finally come to the edge of the Fountain, but still a few steps away from fetching the waters.
Copyright @2005, Bruce Zhang
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