Prevent the Process of Aging

Aging is a normal part of life, but it doesn’t have to derail your life. There are many proven techniques that can minimize and reverse the effects of aging, so that you can have a long and fulfilling life. By preventing aging we don’t mean, just getting rid of gray hairs or extending your lifeline. Aging is a complex process that produces changes in you physically, mentally, psychologically, and socially. This process happens over time and can result in poor health, mental deterioration, and discontentment. The techniques and lifestyle changes described below are designed to prevent aging that his harmful to your quality of life.

Many of the symptoms of aging can be slowed or prevented altogether. Whether you’re in the process of aging or are taking care of someone who is aging, it’s important to know what aging can affect, and how to keep that from deteriorating your quality of life.

Aging starts most obviously with our bodies. Systems like the cardiovascular system, muscular system, skeletal system, and nervous system can all be affected by aging.

The cardiovascular system, specifically the heart, undergoes regular changes as we age. Your heart over time may develop fibrous tissue and fat deposits, or it may lose some of it’s cells. This can create slower heart rates. These changes can result in an increase in the size of your heart or a thicker heart wall. A heart beat that is irregular is called arrhythmias. Arrhythmias is more common in older people.

Valves in the heart can also become thicker or stiffen. This thickening can also happen in veins which causes wastes and nutrients to be exchanged at a slower pace. If this thickening happens in the aorta artery, blood pressure can rise and the heart may have to work harder to pump blood through out the body. A rise in blood pressure is a common sign of aging. Along with these physical changes medications, bodily strain, and stress can also cause heart problems. However, these problems can easily be reduced or avoided through maintaining blood pressure and cholesterol levels, a healthy diet, and exercise. You can also improve heart health by quitting smoking, and maintaining a healthy weight.

As you age you may also find that your muscular system undergoes some changes. Your muscles are at their best when you are around the age of thirty. After this, you may find that your muscle mass begins to deteriorate. Without this muscle, you may have difficultly lifting things, and you may have problems with general mobility.

This process of decline in skeletal muscle is called sarcopenia aging. You can combat this process with exercise and a healthy diet. Failure to do this, can result in a loss of half your muscle mass by the time you are seventy. However, even those who are past their seventies can see an improvement in strength and muscle mass by beginning regular exercise. it is recommended that you exercise with a physical therapist or licensed trainer if you are older to prevent injury.

You can also improve muscle mass by adding protein to your diet. Some protein rich foods include milk, cheese, beef, tuna, chicken, peanuts, soybeans, and eggs.

Osteoporosis or bone loss is another sign of aging. Bones are filled with small holes on the inside, and are broken down and rebuilt all the time. As you grow older your bones may start to break down much faster than your body can build them. When this happens the holes grow bigger, and the outside of your bone which feels solid actually becomes thinner and more frail. This makes bones easier to break and is common in older women because of the loss of estrogen.

You can fight against bone loss with calcium, vitamin D, and weight bearing exercise. You should also lower smoking and alcohol consumption to maintain bone strength.

The nervous system is also affected by aging. You may see things through cloudy or blurry eyes as you age. This cloudiness is often cataracts. While cataracts can occur in children, they are more common with older people.

Cataracts may seem like a small problem at first, but they worsen over time. This worsening can make it difficult to see in low light, make bright lights seem glaring, give you the idea that colors are faded, or even make you think your glasses are dirty when they aren’t.

Cataracts are more common in people who smoke, drink alcohol, are diabetic, or use steroids. Heredity may also play a part in whether or not you have cataracts. While your sight may improve with the use of stronger glasses or brighter reading lights, the most effective treatment for cataracts is surgery.

Aging can cause other problems in your nervous system like memory loss. One of the most extreme types of memory loss is Alzheimer’s. Unfortunately. Alzheimer’s has no current cure, but there are treatments that can improve the quality of a patients life and may temporarily slow down the memory loss. Most people with Alzheimer’s are sixty-five years old or older.

Aging can also lower the amount of human growth hormone or HGH that is produced in your pituitary gland. HGH is a protein that helps maintain healthy tissue. It is often released when we sleep in the first hour of deep sleep you participate in. However, older people spend less time in deep sleep and as a result have lower HGH levels. This is a problem because lower HGH levels can put you at higher risk for heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.

While there are HGH supplements, they haven’t shown any real effectiveness and have not been approved by the FDA. The best way to improve HGH levels is to sleep 7 to 9 hours each night. If you have trouble sleeping you can participate in exercise which not only releases a small amount of HGH, but also helps you sleep better.

You can also prevent aging by consuming antioxidants like vitamin A, C, and E, as well as beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, and selenium. Antioxidants prevent aging because they balance out free radicals. Free radicals are atoms that come with unpaired electrons in your body. Electrons like to travel in pairs, so they will search your body looking for a pair. It sounds harmless, but these free radicals can cause cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

Some free radicals are natural. They come from your body turning food into energy, but others come from sun exposure, smoking, air pollution, drinking, and processed foods. Antioxidants are the best way to fight these free radicals and they boost your immune system, but be care when consuming antioxidants as they can be harmful.

Aging occurs in many ways all over the body, so it makes sense that to combat it you have to fight with all of your body. To slow aging you need to avoid processed foods, sugar, smoking, and alcohol. You can also fight aging by eating nutrient-dense whole foods, exercising, getting plenty of sleep, and consulting a specialist in anti-aging. Aging affects so much more than how we look; it affects how we feel and what we are able to do. By implementing the lifestyle changes above, you can improve the quality of your life.