Anti-Aging

Understanding Aging: People have been searching for the fountain of youth or answers to the aging process for essentially as long as humans have existed.

Most experts agree that aging is a complex combination of factors that are specific to the individual, including genetic make-up, as well as external factors like exposure to environmental agents. The aging process can be characterized by a failure of repair and maintenance of tissues and organs with increasing age, which overlaps with the accumulation of age related diseases like heart disease, stroke and cancers with the passage of time.

Science has recently made some major advances in understanding these complex processes involved in aging. Again, these involve many things like genetics, cellular processes, inflammation and more.

Prevalence: The number of people 65 and older in America numbered 46.2 million in 2014 (the latest year for which data is available). This represented 14.5% of the US population. Unfortunately, increasing longevity does not necessarily correlate with health. As of 2012, about half of all adults, or 117 million people had one or more chronic health conditions and one in four adults had two or more chronic health conditions. Additionally, seven of the top ten causes of death in 2010 were chronic diseases (heart disease and cancer together account for nearly 48% of all deaths).

In light of these statistics, any discussion about healthy aging must include prevention and treatment of chronic disease.

Symptoms of Aging: Some common symptoms of aging include: decrease in energy, changes in sleep patterns, decreased memory, skin and hair changes like wrinkles, brown spots on skin, loss of skin elasticity, changes in hair color, loss of vision and hearing, decreased bowel function, decrease in libido, incontinence and frequent urination, abdominal obesity and joint changes including stiffness and arthritis.

As the aging process continues, many people will develop degenerative diseases of aging like: Alzheimer’s, stroke, heart attack, cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, Parkinson’s, arthritis, cataracts and glaucoma.

Root Cause Healing (Preventing Premature Aging): Unfortunately, many anti-aging practices focus on making us look better on the outside. This may include facelifts, hair transplants, liposuction, and even some medicinal therapies. In order to truly achieve healthy aging, we must focus on the root causes of aging. Generally, this will include the following:

• Healthy Digestion	• Balanced Immune System
• Controlling Inflammation	• Oxidative Stress

At Vitopia Health, our programs are dedicated to helping you understand aging and complex disease processes, providing you with the necessary tools and knowledge to identify and treat the underlying cause. Following this approach encourages prevention and/or reversal of chronic disease.

Please check out our in-depth articles on preventing and healing chronic diseases utilizing a Functional Medicine approach. We also encourage you to subscribe to our distribution list so you can receive the most current scientific information on healthy aging and prevention of chronic disease.

Sources:
1) Longevitypanel.co.uk/What is aging, Can we delay it?
2) cdc.gov/chronicdisease/
3) longevity.ca/signsandsymptomsofhealthyaging