Anti Aging: Through Anti Aging Medicine

The field of anti aging medicine is concerned mainly with eliminating the diseases associated with getting older.

Healthy aging is a much-preferred result over simply lengthening the life span of an individual. Although there has been some great strides in research dealing with life extension.

There is a sort of clock that limits how often a cell can divide and it is called a telomere. Every time cells divide the new generation of cells don't get a complete copy of the parent cells DNA because the telomere shortens with each division.

When the telomere gets too short the cell dies, when a sufficient number of cells reach the critical time, sickness and ultimately death occurs.

There are factors that can influence how fast this biological clock runs down. Be assured, the secret of preserving the length of our telomeres has been discovered. However, until this technology is released to the public (possibly within the next 10 years), you can do things to slow this aging process down.

Anti aging medicine has uncovered some things that you can do to preserve or maybe even slightly improve your telomere length. Not everyone ages at the same rate; some exhibit the effects of aging long before their time.

For instance, research has shown that high homocysteine levels triple the amount that the telomeres are shortened at each cell division. This is making those individuals age 3 times faster than normal.

Have your doctor check your homocysteine levels with a simple blood test. It is both easy and inexpensive to correct homosysteine levels with common nutrients. Research has shown that common nutrients like vitamin B12, folic acid, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B2 and TMG taken together, have been shown to lower dangerous homocysteine levels.

Linus Pauling was right after all when he said that vitamin C could

extend your life. Vitamin C is not only a potent antioxidant that protects your cells from free radicals it has another anti aging benefit.

Japanese researchers found that by raising the level of Vitamin C in your cells that telomere loss could be slowed down by around 62 percent. Lets face it, Linus Pauling lived to the ripe old age of 93, so he must have known what he was talking about.

It appears that the benefits start at about 500 mg of vitamin C, taken two times a day. Vitamin C doesn't exhibit the antioxidant effect until this amount is taken. Most anti aging physicians recommend 1,000 to 2,000 milligrams per day. Vitamin C won't build up in your body because it is water-soluble and any excess you just pee away.

There are other antioxidants like Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Alpha Lipoic Acid, CoQ10, Lutein, and Lycopene all may contribute to better cell health.

There are other means to increase the youth enhancing effects that have been discovered during anti aging research. These next two hormones must be monitored by blood tests by a physician skilled in anti aging therapy.

DHEA is a very important hormone, although it is available at most health food stores, it should not be taken without having your levels checked first.

The next hormone I will talk about is the big kahuna of anti aging medicine. I'm talking about HGH (human growth hormone) HGH is in plentiful supply when we are young but levels taper off to very low production as we get older.

HGH is only available through a physician and the levels must be checked regularly. HGH is only available by injection. HGH will bring back some of the characteristics you enjoyed as a much younger you. Research has shown the effects are like taking 10 to 20 years off your age.

The next one is rough and probably not for everyone. The most proven life extension method is calorie restriction. Calories are restricted to only two thirds of what it takes to maintain your current weight.

This method has extended the lives of lab animals by about a third, so this would be the equivalent of about 25 years for humans.

Although you will probably not like this for very long. The calorie-restricted diet must be followed for the rest of your life and there are several physical changes that will take effect.

You will get smaller, metabolism will slow down, the bottom will drop out of your sex hormones and sexual desire will probably be a thing of the past. This doesn't seem like something that I would like to do. Quality of life is far more important to me than just living longer.

New research has shown that another method of calorie restriction may be just the ticket. Short term fasting for 1 or 2 days every 2 weeks would be a far more realistic method for most people. HGH levels rise naturally, and this short-term calorie restriction causes youthful effects that can be seen in the genes.

This research has shown that short-term calorie restriction by fasting lengthens life.

In conclusion, here is what you can do to give yourself a better chance at healthy aging while you wait for the breakthrough life extension technology to become available.

Do strength training 3 times a week, because muscle is important to your longevity and independence. Take your antioxidants and multi-vitamins. Get plenty of sound sleep (natural HGH is released during sound sleep). Practice fasting every couple of weeks, with doctor's approval. Love a lot, laugh often and do the things that make life worth living for you.