Anti-Aging Medicine Health Tips
By Julie Alvira , MD , MBA
Aging is part of human nature . We are all going to go through the process but it ’ s best to enjoy and educate ourselves on how to make aging as healthy as possible . Focusing on just looks is only looking at it from one angle . Our health , emotions , feelings about aging , and the activities we get involve in , are other aspects of the aging process as well . cells do not function the same as younger ones . Eventually , old cells die while others are programmed to die by a mechanism called apoptosis , which is triggered by several factors . According to Dr . Besdine from The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University , some factors that trigger apoptosis can be : damage from sunlight , harmful substances , and chemotherapy . Some cells can also be damaged by free radicals .
Our bodies are machines that work all the time converting food into energy . From these natural processes and the chemical reactions involved , free radicals are generated . According to Harvard University they can also be formed from the food a person eats , the air we breathe , and the sunlight ’ s action on our skin and eyes . Once these free radicals become damaged , they hunt for healthy cells and try to injure them by attacking their DNA . After this free radical damage occurs , the injured cell can cause a basis for disease . So not just one cell is damaged , many are –– like a chain reaction . Fortunately , our bodies are equipped with antioxidants that fight free radicals and cut down the chain reaction .
Other processes that contribute to aging and also affect our DNA are : oxidative stress ( damage by substances containing oxygen ) and glycation ( damage by glucose sugar ).
The aging process It ’ s not just about wrinkles ! Genetics tell us that inside our cells are chromosomes . They have a little part at their end called telomeres . Each time a cell divides , the telomeres get shorter and if they get too short , they can no longer divide and eventually die . But let ’ s not get too scientific here . What we need to know is that old
Body changes Men and women ’ s bodies undergo changes that take a toll on the appearance and health . Some of these changes are :
• Decreased bone density
• Decreased organ functions
• Decreased ability to handle stresseye sight changes
• Decreased growth hormone that leads to changes in body composition with a decrease in muscle mass and increase in body fat with subsequently decline in metabolism
• Decreased skin elasticity , which makes the skin become thinner and dryer
34 DENTON COUNTY Living Well Magazine | MARCH / APRIL 2017