On the advice of my doctor I’ve been eating a children’s aspirin once a day. Other than chronic pain from a back injury in in good health. Doc said “if you want to live a long life the best thing you can do is take an aspirin a day”, so I have been. I know that it thins your blood, so I guess that helps prevent clouds and strokes. So, is it true an aspirin a day will help increase your lifespan?
The blood-thinning aspect of aspirin to reduce clots & stroke has been the accepted norm for maybe 20 years now. My doc has had me taking one for about that long. The flip-side is that in certain cases, usually when accompanied with some other chronic condition, the blood-thinning aspect can increase the risks associated with internal bleeding.
As strokes are one of the major causes of death for oldr people, the beneficial effects of a daily half-dose aspirin seems likely to keep death away (at least for a whule).
The use of aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (i.e. to prevent CV disease in those who have never had it yet) has little, if any, net effect on death rates. It is not a straightforwardissue especially in low risk individuals.
OTOH, the use of aspirin is a different story in people who’ve had CV disease already, where it is of benefit.
I’ve read a daily dose of Ibuprofen after a certain age increases lifespan because of the anti-inflammatory effects. I could prob find the article later.
And the study that suggested an increase in lifespan, the only one I could find didn’t relate to humans, but either way I think it’s intriguing enough to warrant further study to see if indeed humans could benefit:
Some folks are at such high risk for thrombotic problems that both ‘blood thinners’ (anticoagulants) and aspirin (an anti-platelet agent) are used together, despite the increased risk of doing so.
Except for coronary stents, I am aware of only one proven indication for the combined use of aspirin and oral anticoagulants (i.e. warfarin). Specifically, in people with mechanical heart valves there is evidence from randomized controlled trials (well, one trial anyway) that the benefit of such combined use outweighs the risk.
On the other hand, for all other (non-coronary stent) indications, the combined use of aspirin and anticoagulants increases bleeding risk without an offsetting benefit.
I just threw that in because of the ubiquitous advertising that implies that everyone should do without qualification. (Except maybe in the tiny tiny print.)
Yes, my father was taking baby aspirin based on info from the net but his doctor told him it wouldn’t really make a difference since he doesn’t have the relevant risk factors. He’s gotten off it.
Here’s a useful calculator for helping you decide if the reduction in risk of cancer and myocardial infarctions from taking low-dose aspirin is worth the increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding: