East vs. West: Taking Back the Years Explores The Fight Against Aging

VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Jan. 14, 2014) - Is aging a disease that can be cured? Will we be able to live to be 200 years old in the next 25 years? Can diet, exercise, or vitamins significantly reduce or even impact our body's 'real age'? What about meditation, Ayurvedic practices or herbal remedies? Taking Back the Years, which airs February 3rd at 10pm on VisionTV, is a provocative journey through the world's most interesting and potent approaches to fighting aging and the famed scientists, doctors, researchers, and practitioners behind them.

"From Deepak Chopra to Dr. Audrey de Grey, never before have so many and such diverse treatments for aging been available," explains Hilary Pryor, Producer, Taking Back the Years. "Much more than a look at the ongoing human compulsion to fight aging, Taking Back The Years is an exploration of two seemingly opposing cultures East vs. West - when it comes to lifestyle and general attitudes to health."

Taking Back the Years begins at an Ayurvedic centre in Kerala, South India where Rajendra Patel undertakes the rigorous, 4000 year old practice of Kayakalpa. Meanwhile in the West, Canadian filmmaker Hilary Pryor, the same age as Mr. Patel, undergoes the latest discoveries in Western medicine in her own 90-day age fighting regime. Through these two seemingly opposite journeys, the world's most noted anti-aging experts showcase a provocative range of beliefs, which include the following:

• "Meditation can fight aging." According to Deepak Chopra and Dr. Elissa Epel, meditation increases the production of telomerase, which works to slow down or even reverse the effects of aging.
• "Aging is a disease that will eventually be cured. We'll be living to 200 years of age in the next 25 years." Cambridge's Dr. Aubrey De Grey, co-founder of the SENS (Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence) Foundation, undertakes cell research that shows how we can slow down the effects of growing older via engineering cells.
• "Great sex is the key to longevity." Dr. Jonny Bowden, best-selling author and nutrition expert, believes that diet and exercise is key to reducing the body's 'real age.'
• "Perspective and relationships determine your lifespan." Based on a decade-long, famed study called the Longevity Project, Dr. Howard Friedman shows how personal perspective is the greatest influencer of lifespan.
• "Kayakalpa can add 30 years to your body's age." With over three decades of research in Ayurveda, Dr. Sethu Madhavan, says Kayakalpa can add 30 years to the lifespan of his patients.

Taking Back the Years airs as a six-part documentary series Mondays, beginning February 3rd at 10pm on VisionTV.

Twitter: @TakingBackYears

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Taking-Back-The-Years/254370268047401

Taking Back the Years Promo: https://vimeo.com/49472322

May Street Productions is an award-winning production company with a respected reputation for telling compelling stories that change perceptions. Since 1996, May Street's television programming has been commissioned by prominent broadcasters including CTV, Corus, APTN, VisionTV and CBC. They've garnered Gemini nominations, Chris Awards, Awards of Excellence from the Alliance for Children's Television, the Maeda Prize in Japan and Hollywood's prestigious Humanitas Prize. They focus on TV programming that makes you think, makes you laugh, and leaves you thoroughly entertained. www.maystreet.ca