Because as it turns out, exposing your body to less-than-comfortable temperatures is another very effective way to turn on your longevity genes. - David A. Sinclair

Up until the second half of the twentieth century, it was generally accepted that organisms grow old and die “for the good of the species” — an idea that dates back to Aristotle, if not further.

Over fifty years, Goldman estimated, the potential economic benefits of delayed aging would add up to more than $7 trillion in the United States alone. And that's a conservative estimate, based on modest improvements in the percentages of older people living without a disease or disability. Whatever the dollar figure, though, the benefits "would accrue rapidly," Goldman's team wrote, "and would extend to all future generations,"

The way doctors treat illness today "is simple," wrote S. Jay Olshansky, a demographer at the University of Illinois. "As soon as a disease appears, attack that disease as if nothing else is present; beat the disease down, and once you succeed, push the patient out the door until he or she faces the next challenge; then beat that one down. Repeat until failure.