Jose Maria Labeaga: “Longevity is being perceived as a threat, but it really should be understood as an opportunity”

Increasing life expectancy has economic consequences for society. In the forthcoming edition of the Longevity World Forum, UNED professor Jose Maria Labeaga will analyse these challenges and needs.

In general terms, what have the main economic effects of the increase in life expectancy been to date?

Increased life expectancy should be seen as a very positive development. What has undoubtedly not been all that positive is the way in which countries have faced this challenge, which has taken place at the same time as the fertility rate has declined. Essentially, the worst consequence of not having taken measures to deal with these changes has been that, from an economic point of view, the effects of increased longevity have not been very promising until now. As a result, companies have not taken advantage of the skills of the working population of a certain age, and governments have not taken steps to deal with the added and growing pressure that benefit/subsidy programmes are exerting on public accounts.

In your opinion, is longevity a threat or an opportunity for the economy?

Generally speaking, longevity is being perceived as a threat, but my view is that, with the right changes, it really should be understood as an opportunity. Why is that? The introduction of improvements related to health and to how the workplace operates, as well as the change from work that currently requires effort to work that fundamentally requires knowledge, means that an increasing percentage of people in the 60s and 70s age group, who in the past (and even today) did not contribute to the economy, will be able to do so.   If the trend continues, we know that a significant percentage of workers in this age group prefer to work part-time. Therefore, if there is a demand for this type of employment, the retirement age should be increased and the pressure on public spending at this age should be reduced. In addition, older workers have a wealth of experience and vast knowledge that can be very useful. Of course, this desire to stay in the labour market also requires a certain balance with the need to keep up to date and, consequently, such workers need to recycle or update their knowledge through continuous training.

Spain has one of the highest life expectancies in the world. What specific economic implications does this entail for our country?

As the necessary changes have not been made to adapt to the new times, and  moreover, we have had to face a serious economic crisis, expenditure on health and dependency, which affects the elderly in such a relevant way, has been affected. In this context of austerity and increased spending on pensions, health care benefits, including dependency benefits, have suffered significant budget cuts and we have still to fully implement the Dependency Care System. Users of medicines also saw their benefits cut and a co-payment was introduced which even affected (with a spending threshold) expenditure on medicines. Pensions were frozen during the first years of the crisis. In short, in a context of such high life expectancy, if the necessary reforms are not addressed, these budgetary imbalances may be affected in the coming years.

Could it be argued that longevity is being capitalised, or is it another business?

Both issues are happening at the same time. As far as Spain is concerned, both in terms of income and wealth, it’s the older generations that have best endured the economic crisis and, consequently, several sectors (tourism, insurance, even certain sectors involved in the sale of both non-durable and durable goods and services) consider these groups to be a market segment in which to do business.

If it were up to you, what short-term measures would you take to make the most of this phenomenon?

There is no simple way to meet the challenge, partial or short-term measures are not enough. We need a global strategy that cuts across many policies. It would however seem advisable to reach agreements on the sustainability of the pension system and on tailoring the amounts paid out to the needs of the recipients.

Why did you decide to participate in a congress such as the Longevity World Forum, and what idea would you like to put across?

I believe that ageing is one of today’s most important challenges. It is exciting from the analysis (research) point of view of and it is important from the point of view of economic and social policy measures. I would like to put across an idea that clearly reinforces the need for inter-generational equity, and that requires awareness and solidarity between the different generations.

Life expectancy and healthy ageing, under debate in Spain at the Longevity World Forum

The Longevity World Forum, a European congress whose approach to life expectancy and healthy ageing is breaking new ground, will turn Spain into an international forum on human longevity for the second consecutive year. Specifically, on 14 and 15 November, professionals from all over the world will gather in the city of Valencia to share their knowledge of and experience in this subject from the many sectors involved.

 

According to the advance programme that the organisers of the Longevity World Forum have released, the focus in 2019 will be on scientific innovation, explaining the latest research that is currently being carried out in the field of longevity; on the guidelines that have recently been shown to be conducive to living longer and better; and i societies with ever-increasing life expectancy, the socio-economic effects entailed by such an increase.

 

To this end, the second edition of the congress will feature top-level experts such as Rafael de Cabo, head of the Translational Gerontology Division at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore (USA); Reason, the co-founder of Repair Biotechnologies, Inc. (United States); Manuel Serrano, a doctor and professor currently working on the ICREA programme at the Barcelona Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona); Bruno Vellas, a doctor in the Aging Unit at the Gerontopole University Hospital in Toulouse (France); and Álvaro Pascual-Leone, a professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School (United States).

 

The fact is that since its first edition in 2018, the Longevity World Forum has positioned itself as the meeting point for the global scientific community, as well as for academia and industry players from different countries whose work is related to increasing life expectancy and healthy ageing. The congress also has the support of the Royal Academy of Medicine and other public and private institutions from the biosanitary and biotechnological sector, including Calico, the Google company specialising in longevity, which has collaborated with this initiative since its first edition.

Google’s Calico renews its support for the Longevity World Forum, Spain’s most important congress on ageing

Calico (the California Life Company) has confirmed that in 2019 it will once again sponsor the Longevity World Forum, the first international congress in Europe to address life expectancy and healthy ageing from a professional and scientific perspective. Google’s biotechnology company, which specialises in longevity research, is thus endorsing the meeting for the second year running.

 

Calico was founded by Google in 2013 with the aim of extending human life through technology. The company studies the mechanisms behind and the causes of degenerative processes, in order to develop tools to treat the different age-related diseases. To this end, it has a multidisciplinary scientific team that covers such specialist fields as medicine, genetics and molecular biology.

 

The positive synergy that exists between its work philosophy and the Longevity World Forum’s educational vocation of the Longevity World Forum not only prompted Calico to join the project in the first edition in 2018, but also to renew its sponsorship agreement this year. In this way, the congress is on the list of collaborations that the Google company has signed with prestigious entities in the industry, such as AbbVie, and universities around the world.

 

The second edition of the Longevity World Forum will be held on 14 and 15 November at the Palacio de Congresos in Valencia, a city that is rapidly establishing itself as a scientific capital. On this occasion, the focus will be on scientific innovation applied to healthy ageing, the latest research currently being carried out in the field of longevity, and, in a society with ever-increasing life expectancy, the socio-economic effects entailed by such an increase.

 

First-rate professionals will once again be on hand to address these issues. For example, Rafael de Cabo, head of the Translational Gerontology Division at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore, United States; Reason, the co-founder of Repair Biotechnologies, Inc. (United States); Manuel Serrano, a doctor and professor currently working on the ICREA programme at the Barcelona Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona); Bruno Vellas, a doctor in the Aging Unit at the Gerontopole University Hospital in Toulouse (France); and Álvaro Pascual-Leone, a professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School (United States), among others.

Pedro Almaida: “As the circadian system ages, an organism’s ability to adjust its biological rhythms to environmental cycles is compromised”

Dr. Pedro Almaida has been researching the circadian system for years. His participation in the 2019 Longevity World Forum will give him the opportunity to explain its importance in terms of healthy ageing and to report on the latest discoveries in this field.

Why should we pay attention to the so-called “biological clock”?

Biological rhythms are essential for maintaining optimal health. Throughout human evolution, we hominids have been exposed to regular cycles of light and darkness during each 24-hour period. This process, which evolved over the course of millions of years, led species to adjust their physiology and to synchronise it with the cyclic environment of their habitat. Vertebrates, including hominids, developed groups of neurons that made it possible to monitor the environmental photoperiod. These are located in the hypothalamus, in what is known as suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN). SCN, which form what we call our biological clock or central pacemaker, are an oscillator in their own right, orchestrating most of the known circadian rhythms in vertebrates.

In order to enjoy healthy aging, how should we care for the circadian system from a young age?

The main strategy to prevent imbalances in the biological clock is to reinforce the circadian signals and increase day/night contrast. Bright blue light is the main synchroniser of the circadian system; when applied at the right time, it is able to produce an increase in the amplitude and stability of biological rhythms. But as well as light, we also need darkness to synchronise our rhythms. The absence of darkness leads to the disruption of our biological rhythms. As well as improving physical health, regular exercise, taken at the right time, can also synchronise the biological clock. The timing of when we take our meals is especially important as a synchroniser of most peripheral clocks. Being active socially can also help keep our biological clock running smoothly. And if these guidelines are not enough, we can always take melatonin, which has similar effects to darkness.

What are the main ailments associated with our biological rhythms?

One of the main characteristics of developed societies is their 24/7 lifestyle. Members of these societies are exposed to contradictory synchronising signals, which lead to the emergence of chronodisruption (CD). CD is a relatively new concept that serves to provide a name for the imbalance that exists between an organism’s internal time and the actual environmental time; and also for the loss of internal temporal order, which leads to the dysfunction of the circadian organisation of the physiology, endocrinology, metabolism and behaviour of an organism.

In October 2007, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the World Health Organization (WHO), classified “shift work involving disruption of circadian rhythms” as potentially carcinogenic in humans. In addition, the most prestigious scientific journals, Nature, Science and Current Biology, have recently echoed the health risks produced by inadequate exposure to light, which has also been associated with a greater likelihood of metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases, cognitive deterioration, affective disorders, sleep disturbances and cancer.

What treatments are used to combat circadian system problems in old age?

Just like any other structure of the organism, the circadian system grows old too. And, with ageing, the biological clock is characterised by a deterioration at every level of its organisation: information entry routes, central pacemakers, and exit routes (the biological rhythms). Thus, with ageing, the circadian system receives less temporal information, the central pacemaker (the suprachiasmatic nuclei) is generally out of sync and, as far as the circadian rhythms are concerned, there is an advance in their phase, fragmentation and a decrease in amplitude.

Therefore, as the circadian system ages, the body’s ability to adjust its biological rhythms to environmental cycles is compromised and chronodisruption may occur. Fortunately, as we have just seen, there are a number of strategies that people can follow to help our biological clock work better: increase day/night contrast (exposure to bright days and dark nights), take melatonin (if necessary), get regular exercise, and improve sleep and meal times and your social life.

What are you currently working on in the Chronobiology Group at the University of Murcia?

I am working on the LUMEN project (Light, Melatonin and Aging), funded by a research grant from the ONCE Foundation and from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Its main objectives are, on the one hand, to measure the impact of different light/dark schedules on how the circadian system works, by analysing activity/rest rhythms, melatonin production, the sleep pattern and the expression of clock genes in animal models. On the other hand, we are looking for associations between chronodisruption and age-associated diseases by analysing the oxidative status, the lipid composition of cell membranes (especially mitochondria) and the damage caused to mitochondrial DNA throughout the life cycle of animal models.

The LUMEN project is part of a larger project: “Circadian Healthy Ageing”, which is part of the Carlos III Health Institute’s  CIBERFES, the Fragility and Healthy Aging division of the Biomedical Research Network Center.

Why did you decide to participate in the Longevity World Forum and what do you think a congress like this brings to the scientific community and society?

It is an honour for me to be able to attend this prestigious forum dedicated to longevity and quality of life, and to present the work that our research group has been carrying out. These congresses are vital to scientific advancement. They bring together expert researchers from different areas of knowledge, whose efforts are focused on the study of ageing. This is especially important in an area such as aging, which requires interdisciplinary approaches. These meetings encourage the establishment of networks and new lines of action to advance scientific knowledge and improve the quality of life of the population.

José María Labeaga

Professor of Economic Analysis at the UNED (Spain)

He holds a degree in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Zaragoza and a PhD in Economics from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He is Professor of the Foundations of Economic Analysis at the UNED, where he was Director of the International PhD School and where he currently coordinates the Doctoral Programme in Economics and Business. He was Director General of the Institute of Fiscal Studies and Director of the FEDEA-BBVA Chair of New Consumers at the Foundation for Applied Economics Studies. He is currently an Affiliate Researcher at Economics for Energy. The areas in which he has developed his research include the analysis of the behaviour of individuals in consumer decisions and job offers, as well as in the simulation and evaluation of the effects of public policies. He has been and is a Member of the Scientific Committee or of the Advisory Committee or Editor of several academic journals and he has published the results of his research in national and international journals in his specialty.