Life Long

Everyone at some point wonders what their lifspan will be. Will they be old, withered and gray sitting in a nursing home? Will they be an active octogenarian involved in community affairs and still driving? Will they drop dead in their 50's from a sudden heart attack. Will their life's end mimic their parent's story?
I have certainly posed these questions. I look at my parents who are vibrant and very physically active in their late 70's. My paternal predecessors all lived to their 90's and 100's. My mom's family(both sides)never seem to make it into their 80's, for one reason or another. We are very fortunate still to not have cancer as part of our family history. But both families had very similar lifstyles, diets, and habits in southern Italy. So what's the deal for me??

What do I do? I take excellent care of myself. I read the research done in the world of Anti-Aging and Longevity Medicine. I learn from the data, and try to incorporate those findings into the real-time of my life.
Many studies have been done on telomeres, their activity, and how the shortening of our telomeres impacts mortality risk and senior health.
THIS is what we need to pay attention to!!!

We are made up of Chromosomes which are made up of strands of DNA. The
Telomere is the segment of DNA that occurs at the ends of chromosomes, the CAP at the end of the chain. Telomerase is the enzyme that causes telomeres to lengthen. Our telomeres shorten and divide everyday. That is part of the aging process
Bad things happen when telomeres shorten or telomerase is lost When we no longer have telomerase, our telomeres shorten.... SOOO not good.
This is a data interpretation excerpt from the Journal of American Epidemiology. March 2011, a study on short telomeres and its link to increased mortality over a six-year period...."Data strongly suggests that erosion of telomeres is the result of an accruing burden of oxidative stress and inflammation, which is known to enhanced by exposure to infectious and inflammatory disease. The significant relationship between leukocyte telomere length and interleukin-6, a biomarker of inflammation, found here, and in an earlier study, supports this finding."

I never mean for these blogs to be scientific or difficult for anyone to understand, but it is important to know that science is the basis for what we doctors do. Functional doctors, integrative doctors, anti-aging doctors (WHATEVER!!) rely heavily on these sorts of studies, especially since our practices are considered to be out of mainstream medicine.

Ok, SOOO...now I when I talk about my anti-inflammatory diet(whole food alkaline based), and natural anti-inflammatory and immune-enhancing agents like turmeric and Vitamin D, and promote hormone replacement to help prevent inflammatory conditions like osteoporosis, arthritis, and coronary artery disease....This is what I'm really trying to do. When I go on and on about the environmental toxins that we are exposed to on a daily basis, and the efforts that we need to take to eliminate them....I am trying to SAVE our chromosomes.
Eating unprocessed foods, eliminating toxic exposures, building our immune systems to ward off infections and tumor growth are the things that we can all do to stop the aging process.
Everyday we are losing chromosomes. . So don't just be healthy some of the time. Don't just exercise sometimes. Be proactive in your march for longevity. THINK health all the time.
It's all about choices....and there is a consequence for every choice that we make in life. Determine what your outcome will be.
As for me....I'm on the long-term plan (and hopefully I won't get hit by a bus along the way).

Peace today and always,
Tina