Beating the Clock! The Anti Aging Solution.Anti-Aging information can be found all over the web, in book stores and magazines, but sorting through all of the hype may seem a daunting task. It doesn't have to be, in fact an anti-aging solution may be simpler than you think. I am not going to get into the highly technical data. Although, there are some great websites that do a great job of discussing the break down of DNA vs RNA, and The mitochondria being induced to high concentrations by oxidative stress, SOD, and peroxisomes and... etc. Instead, I want to keep this as simple as I can, if for no other reason, just so its easy to adapt and use.  First, what does old age look like? What is it? As more anti aging research is done, and more anti aging information becomes available and as you discover more, the question NEEDS to be asked. I know what you are thinking... "what kind of question is that?!" But if you think about it, why do we age? Your cells renew themselves constantly. So why the break down? More importantly, how can we slow or stop it? "What makes me so certain that the natural human lifespan is far in excess of the actual one is this. Among all my autopsies (and I have performed over 1000), I have never seen a person who died of old age. In fact, I do not think that anyone has ever died of old age yet. We invariably die because one vital part has worn out too early in proportion to the rest of the body." Dr. Hans Selye There are many scientists that believe people can live much longer than we currently do. In fact, some believe we should live hundreds of year, some believe much longer. It does seem probably when you think of it. So, how do you maintain your health, and your balance? Lets start with what we put into our bodies. "One of the biggest tragedies of human civilization is the precedents of chemical therapy over nutrition. It's a substitution of artificial therapy over nature, of poisons over food, in which we are feeding people poisons trying to correct the reactions of starvation." Dr. Royal Lee, January 12, 1951
If we first look at what happens as we age, it will show you what to do to prevent or slow degeneration down. As you age, your brain, according to modern research, declines in weight by 10% by the time you are 86 from when you were 20. Some researchers have found no decline in brain weight or IQ among the mentally normal elderly. Dementias are more common among the elderly who develop cardiovascular disease . Your Joints Collagen & elastin in tendons & ligaments become less resilient and more fragmented as a person grows older, particularly due to glycation. The synovial fluid between joints becomes "thinner". Decline in circulatory function contributes to this process. Glycation of collagen & elastin is accelerated in diabetics due to high blood sugar. Your Skin Aging of skin is commonly divided into "chronological aging" and "photoaging", with up to 80% of skin aging attributed to photoaging in non-smokers. Photoaging is due to ultraviolet (UV) light, which activates an inflammatory response as well as inducing free radicals activity. Collagen & elastin also lose elasticity. The epidermis (outer layer of skin) thins with age, leading to wrinkles. Decreased secretion by sweat glands increases vulnerability to heat stroke. Your Organs Skin, lungs, muscles, blood vessels and organ-function in general is adversely affected by protein cross-linking -- which is increased in diabetes. Most of those 65 years of age and older, have at least some symptoms of subclinical diabetes and because most of the symptoms of aging are accelerated in diabetes, diabetes figures strongly when the elderly are described in terms of averages. Generalized reduction in blood flow due to atherosclerosis also has an adverse effect on most organ systems -- some more than others. The kidney provides perhaps the most striking example of individual variation in the effects of aging. On average, kidney weight declines about 15% between ages 40 and 80. The kidney's filtering capacity for the average 90-year-old is typically half what it is for the average 20-year-old. High blood pressure and diabetes are particularly damaging to kidney function. Studies also show, the kidneys show little decline in function in elderly men who had no health problems. Digestion or lack there of, becomes more prevalent as you age as well. The hydrochloric acid in your stomach loses strength. This is known as hypochlorhydria . The frequency of hypochlorhydria in the population is fifteen percent. Among people who feel sufficiently ill to warrant a doctor's visit, fully fifty percent are affected. By age forty, forty percent of all people are affected, and by age sixty, fifty percent have hypochlorhydria. A person over age forty who comes to a doctor's office has about a ninety percent probability of having hypochlorhydria. It is easily the most under-diagnosed and misdiagnosed condition in medicine.Aging and Wellness The good news is, there really is something you can do about the slowing down the aging process. First, Consider an anti aging diet since much of the aging process seems to be dependent upon a loss of function and the body's inability to continue to repair itself. There is a lot of research to support the idea that triglycerides, LDL and VLDL, as well as free radicals, and Advanced Glycation End-products (also known as AGEs.. these are toxic molecules formed by heating proteins, sugars and fats together) accelerate the aging process. Not mention various foods that increase your insulin resistance as you age, which, speeds up your clock. So it seems reasonable that the anti aging formula would focus on repair, regeneration, and keeping balance. A simple, yet effective anti aging formula may include dietary changes, stress reducing techniques, exercise and health food supplements.  Just as you will eventually see sickness in tree branches, when the roots are unhealthy, so it is with your body. If the roots, or, the underlying body functions that supply the rest of your body with nourishment, is not healthy, it is often not immediately known. Keeping with this analogy, it would be unwise to only treat the tree's branches for an illness that originated in the roots. Fortunately there are many signs and symptoms that indicate the function of your body. Using both traditional Chinese medicine, and lab tests, you can discover possible dysfunction in the nourishment of the "roots" before they manifest in the "branch." A good example of this is cholesterol testing, but most tests only give you part of the answer. Actually, by many accounts, your cholesterol numbers are not nearly as important as your oxidata numbers, since there is a lot of research, and anti aging research, that confirms, it may not be cholesterol that causes arthereosclerosis, but the oxidation of cholesterol that is dangerous. This why we run an oxidata test will all of our patients. Given all of the anti aging information on the web, how do you determine who is right? First step to figuring out your own personal anti aging solution is covering the basics. The first step in anything is, figuring out where you are starting from. A complete urinalysis can give a long of information about your own body's functions. In addition to lab testing, a complete patient intake must be done to assess the value of your current diet and current wellness plan or more specifically, your aging wellness plan.  Anti aging information is not enough. Reading books and articles and sorting through all of the different anti aging information out there, will not do anything to slow the clock. You must act. There is a lot of anti aging research being done with fruit flies, and DNA, RNA, and various other molecular compounds to search for an answer, but one thing still remains the same. Good nutrition, exercise, sleep, and stress reduction are all key, everything after that is just fine tuning.
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