Most individuals wish to reside a protracted, wholesome life, and there’s loads of analysis devoted to attaining that aim. Whereas science has discovered that doing issues like consuming a plant-based weight loss program and exercising commonly might help prolong your life, new analysis has linked a number of seemingly random drugs to elevated longevity.The research, which has been shared on the preprint server MedRxiv, analyzed prescription medicine and mortality information for greater than 500,000 sufferers within the U.Ok. Biobank, a large-scale biomedical database and analysis useful resource in the UK. The researchers checked out 406 prescription drugs and located that, as a complete, most medicine have been linked to a shorter lifespan — probably due to the impact of the illness that the medicine is attempting to deal with, they mentioned.However 4 drugs have been linked to a decrease threat of mortality through the 12-year research interval, together with sildenafil (higher generally known as Viagra), the ldl cholesterol drug atorvastatin, the ache reliever naproxen and the hormone estradiol.It’s essential to level out that the research is awaiting peer assessment, which is when the medical neighborhood evaluates and analyzes a research; that’s thought-about the gold normal in analysis. However the findings are already elevating a variety of questions. Here is what some consultants are saying.How do these drugs work?Every of those drugs are totally different they usually’re designed to deal with utterly unrelated situations:Sildenafil. There are a number of model names for sildenafil, however the best-known one is Viagra. This medicine treats erectile dysfunction in males by growing blood circulation to the penis throughout sexual stimulation, Medline Plus explains. That elevated blood circulation can then trigger an erection. Some types of sildenafil can even enhance the power to train.Atorvastatin. Offered beneath the model title Lipitor, atorvastatin is designed to assist decrease ldl cholesterol and triglyceride (fats) ranges within the blood, Dr. Lewis Nelson, chair of emergency drugs at Rutgers New Jersey Medical Faculty, tells Yahoo Life. It really works by blocking an enzyme wanted by your physique to make ldl cholesterol, decreasing the quantity of ldl cholesterol in your blood within the course of, the Mayo Clinic says.Naproxen. It is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that’s used to deal with ache and fever, Nelson says. Whereas it’s out there by prescription, it’s additionally bought commercially beneath model names like Aleve.Estradiol. This is identical as estrogen, and it’s used as a drugs to handle and deal with signs of menopause. Estradiol is the most typical type of the estrogen hormone for hormone alternative remedy in menopause.Why may these medicine be linked to longevity?It’s essential to level out that this research solely discovered a hyperlink between these drugs and longevity. Which means, it didn’t show that taking any of those drugs causes somebody to reside longer. Nevertheless, there are a number of theories.“For atorvastatin, it might be performing by means of decreasing ldl cholesterol and stopping heart problems,” research co-author Kevin Perez, co-founder and head of analysis at anti-aging firm Epiterna, tells Yahoo Life. “Sildenafil may act by enhancing cardiovascular well being, psychological well-being or elevated bodily exercise. Estradiol and different hormone alternative therapies (HRT) have been linked with cardiovascular safety, bone well being and neuroprotection.”Naproxen is an anti-inflammatory medicine and “there may be vital proof that irritation contributes to mobile growing older,” Jamie Alan, an affiliate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State College, tells Yahoo Life.There’s some analysis to assist the findings although. One giant research printed within the Journal of Sexual Medication discovered that males who took sildenafil or drugs in the identical class of medication had a lowered threat of a number of coronary heart occasions, together with coronary heart failure, angina and cardiovascular demise. “Sildenafil is used for erectile dysfunction, but it surely was initially designed for hypertension,” Alan factors out.A mouse research printed within the journal Immunity additionally discovered a lowered threat of colorectal most cancers and coronary heart illness in those that took NSAIDs. “Estrogen can be cardioprotective,” Alan says. However analysis on statins like atorvastatin has solely discovered a small lower within the threat of dying from coronary heart illness on the medicine.Medical doctors say it’s essential to take these research outcomes with a grain of salt. “I don’t suppose you possibly can draw the conclusion that these medicine trigger you to reside longer primarily based on the outcomes of this research,” Dr. David Cutler, a household drugs doctor at Windfall Saint John’s Well being Heart in Santa Monica, Calif., tells Yahoo Life. “An affiliation will not be a trigger.”Nelson agrees. “When you have a look at 400+ issues, you’re going to search out associations which will or will not be true,” he says. Quite a lot of the findings are probably tied to what else is occurring in a affected person’s life and their well being past the medicine, Nelson provides.“You’re extra more likely to be utilizing a drug like sildenafil since you’re wholesome [enough to be taking it],” Nelson says. “It’s additionally not a drug you’re taking on daily basis. It’s arduous to think about how a drug you’re taking now and again will have an effect in your well being like that.”Provides Cutler, “People who find themselves sick are a lot much less more likely to be taking Viagra than people who find themselves in vigorous well being.”Nelson says it’s “very potential” that a number of the drugs studied might help prolong an individual’s life, but it surely’s troublesome to say for positive. Alan says there are additionally probably drugs that weren’t linked to an extended life on this research that truly can improve lifespan. “I’m stunned that an antidepressant didn’t make this listing,” she says. “Nevertheless, it will be extremely arduous to tease out the impact of 1 drug on lifespan, provided that lifespan is influenced by many elements, together with genetic elements.”In the end, medical doctors say it’s greatest to take a drugs when you want it — and keep away from it when you don’t. “The online worth of any medicine is individualized and might’t be unfold throughout a complete inhabitants,” Nelson says. “It might be a nasty thought to take these drugs with out talking to your care supplier.”