Posts Tagged ‘longevity’

Longevity is tied to a youthful appearance. People who look younger then their years have a healthy advantage. Perceived age is recognized by doctors as a general indicator of a patient’s health.

Study

Research published online in the British medical journal backs this up.

In 2001, Danish researchers conducted physical and cognitive tests on more than 1,800 pairs of twins over aged 70, as well as taking photos of their faces. Three groups of people who didn’t know the twins’ real ages guessed how old they were. The researchers then tracked how long the twins survived over 7 years.

The experts found that people who looked younger than their actual age were far more likely to survive, even after they adjusted for other factors like gender and environment. The bigger the difference in perceived age the more accurate the forecast was.

Biological Explanation

They also found a possible biological explanation: people who looked younger also tended to have longer telomeres, a key DNA component that is linked to aging. People with shorter telomeres are thought to age faster. In the Danish study, the more fresh-faced people had longer telomeres.

The telomere is the tip of the DNA, something like the tip to a shoelace. People that are over 60 that had the shortest DNA tip were three times more likely to succome to heart disease, and eight times more likely not to be able to fight off infectious diseases. People with younger and longer telomeres do better.

Shorter-than-usual telomeres also have been found in many cancers, including those of the pancreas, prostate, bladder, lung, kidney and head and neck.

Good News

Telomeres are influenced by your everyday choices. Everyone knows unhealthy choices such as smoking ages you. These choices can add anywhere from five to ten years to your appearance. Which we now know can deduct years off your life, while adding years to your looks. 

In a San Francisco study, the men who changed their diets, got regular exercised and cut their stress with meditation increased levels of enzymes that lengthened their telomeres in the immune cells.

Getting off the diet roller-coaster and achieving a consistent lower weight. Eating healthy foods like vegetables, fruit, whole grains, good protein and healthy fats from fish, nuts and avocados are associated with longer telomeres.

Inactive people have shorter telomeres than active people. Smoking two packs a day aged participants in one telomere study by 7.4 years. Telomeres, in one study, were longest in those eating the most vitamin C-rich foods — including citrus fruit, strawberries and red bell peppers, and vitamin E-rich foods such as whole grains.  Also, salmon, trout, and olive oil are healthy choices.  Researchers in Hong Kong found the longest telomeres in men who drank three cups of green tea or sometimes black tea a day.

Action

Longevity is generated by your choices. Reducing risk factors means you have to take action. Scientific validation is playing a role in understanding the favorable modifications that change age-related disease processes. Additionally, prevention brings with it a youthful appearance.  

 What This Means To You

It means a longer healthier life, where you get to look and feel good. With longevity tied to a youthful appearance, it means that looking young has a purpose. The beneficial effect is that you avoid debilitating health conditions. You are afforded the perfect opportunity to take charge of your life. The picture emerging is empowering and offers everyone the opportunity to experience better health. Telomeres are for today and tomorrow, holding a veritable treasure trove of life giving properties

Anti-aging and longevity is one of the most interesting fields of research. The triage theory of aging is one of the most comprehensive explanations of how we accelerate aging. 

Bruce Ames, Ph.D., a biochemist with the University of California at Berkeley and Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, presented his theory in the Nov. 21, 2006 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Accelerated Aging

Aging is accelerated when diets are deficient in vitamins and/or minerals.  Dr. Ames found that vitamin and /or mineral deficiencies can cause DNA damage to both human cultured cells, and test mice.

This would account for conditions that were once seen in only mature people showing up at earlier ages.  From all accounts it is a product of a poor diet high in calories, low in nutrition.

Lifespan

Dr. Bruce Ames says there is a known triage between organs.  It works like this if you’re short iron; you take it out of the liver before taking it from the heart.  The heart is vital to your immediate survival.  By taking it from the liver the damage will not show up for many years. Nature is smart it keeps you from keeling over, because you’re deficient in an essential nutrient. So the place it goes is to less vital organs for a supply of the missing nutrient.

It will impact your lifespan, but it may take 20 years for a problem to show up.

Short on micronutrients

The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of nutrients is not sufficient.  This is based on acute needs. The long term needs of optimal health are not being met.  The American way of eating is causing deficiencies that are contributing a whole host of conditions.  Heart failure is a sometimes a lack of certain B vitamins. Almost all diseases are coming from a lack of micronutrients.

According to Dr. Ames DNA damage occurs because of a deficiency of micronutrients.  This makes sense since cells are dependent on the fuel you give them.

Conclusion

Aging is accelerated by nutritional deficiencies.  The best health insurance is a diet that is nutrient dense.  If you are looking for the fountain of youth, look no further than your kitchen.

STRATEGIES

Our idea of anti-aging strategies is to take aggressive steps to repair the damage of time, using commercial preparations, surgical procedures, and fad diets, and relying on many unproven approaches. While this may seem to improve our appearance, it does little to slow the chronological years from taking its toll, it has little bearing on our overall health. Good nutrition and weight loss are at the front line of any anti-aging program. Living healthy is the nearest you can come to looking and feeling younger than your age.

HEALTH

The conditions that affect your health, also effect how you age, and are associated with lifestyle choices. The goal is to analyze the conditions, which are applicable to keeping a youthful appearance even with advancing age, which include hydration, collagen formation, elasticity of the skin, and muscle tone. The essential nutrients are readily available; there is an abundance of ways to slow the hands of time that will improve your health, while improving your appearance.

There are examples of people that defy aging, with little or no help from the medical establishment. There are creams that will reverse the signs of aging, but these are not going to dramatically improve your appearance, because your appearance is reliant on what is going on inside the body. Beauty is an inside job, and no amount of restoration work will change that. Unfortunately, a pill is not available for this.

The biochemistry of health and the restoring of youthfulness is product of a healthy diet, exercise, stress reduction, and a lower amount of calories. Regardless of your age, you will reflect the choices you make in your appearance. Maintaining your health is one of the best investments you can make to achieve long lasting beauty.

WELLNESS

The wellness revolution has changed the way people age; we look younger than previous generations, due to many factors. Advanced knowledge of nutrition, and breakthrough discoveries of the nutrient value of the right foods; preventive healthcare is a new concept that is catching on. What you do to prevent aging is an invaluable tool, to achieve optimal health, and longevity.

NUTRITION

Nutrition is the core of any good anti-aging program. Remarkable anti-aging effects are found in an abundant source of dietary compounds found in specific foods. The consumption of fruits and vegetables provide a broad spectrum of naturally occurring nutrients. This is significant, because it will supply critical components to maintain a variety of functions necessary for good health.

There is evidence that compounds found in plant foods have an immune-stimulatory effect.  Additionally, reported improvements in energy, sleep, blood sugar, blood pressure, and optimal brain function make it of tremendous importance. To meet all of your nutritional needs is apparently a step to achieving the anti-aging benefit, it is a wise investment to protect your health and increase your quality of life.

Eating a lot of greens, and fiber from plants means you can eat a large volume of food with low calorie value. The amount of calories you get from this type of diet is much lower than what you normally consume. 

CALORIE RESTRICTON

Calorie restriction is the consumption of a low calorie nutritionally balanced diet. This enables people to stay healthy longer. What do fewer calories mean to you?  Studies have shown that eating fewer calories over the long haul can lower your risk of many disorders. Calorie restriction has been researched and validated as a method to retard ageing.  It’s only recently in our evolution that we’ve had free access to food.  We may be suffering from something called calorie poisoning. A nutrient dense low calorie diet is one of the best anti-aging strategies.

KEY TO LONGEVITY

By fighting back to stay young, you may have unlocked the key to longevity. Anti-aging means better cognitive and motor function. This means the anti-aging effects of a healthy lifestyle positively affect your brain, vision, hearing, vitality, and libido. The only way to improve your appearance, which is associated with rejuvenation, is through lifestyle changes. The natural methods can help reverse a lifetime of neglect.

On yourhealthupdates.com we will show you how to feel, and appear younger from the inside out, without drugs. Achieving health is something that is an individual effort, and one that translates into an anti-aging strategy.