Aging, a Natural process 

It is interesting that many people and even physicians see aging as a disease.  Some of the most respected medical references denote aging as the cause or risk for certain diseases.  Take for example osteoporosis and cataracts.  Both are referenced as being caused by, among other things, aging.  Differently from what most people are lead to believe, aging is not a disease, nor is it the cause of any disease.  The diseases associated with aging are not the result of aging itself, but instead the result of years of exposure to unhealthy living.  Poor diet, stress and lack of activity are the factors that have made aging look like a disease.  All three factors have a negative effect on health and are major contributors to the diseases associated with old age.

Growth hormone is a hormone that is produced by the pituitary gland (a gland in the brain).  Its main purpose is the regulation of growth.  The amount of growth hormone production is highest during puberty and slowly declines until it levels out at around age 50 to 60.  In a normal and healthy aging person, growth hormone remains somewhat steady after age 50 or 60.  Growth hormone acts on basically every part of the body, encouraging it to grow.  This fact is obviously important in kids, but it is also important

in adults.  Just like kids, adults are constantly growing, only not quite as fast.  Cells are continually dying and need to be replaced.  In a person with a poor diet, high stress and lack of activity or exercise, growth hormone steadily declines after age 50.  As a result, dying cells aren’t as readily replaced and the bones, muscles, and organs slowly become weak and more vulnerable to conditions like osteoporosis, dementia, cataracts, arthritis, hypothyroidism, constipation, and lung and heart diseases.

Lack of activity

Driving by a park you will usually see numerous children running, jumping or swinging from the monkey bars.  Typically, the adults are sitting on a park bench.  We begin to establish habits of inactivity shortly after elementary school.  Starting with high school, going into college and/or getting a job; more time is spent sitting and less time being active.  Activity is necessary for the development and maintenance of healthy muscles and bones.  As people age, they become more and more inactive.  As a result of the inactivity, muscles and bones begin to atrophy.  This atrophy creates serious obstacles to health.  Healthy muscles and bones are essential to the body.  Without them there is a decrease in the circulation and production of blood.  The muscles and bones are also an important part of our immune system.  When they are weak or atrophied, the immune system is compromised and our bodies are more susceptible to diseases. 

Osteoporosis

Diseases like osteoporosis were virtually non-existent 100 years ago because people were much more active.  There were fewer desk jobs.  Instead, people were outside hunting, farming or chopping wood.  And, televisions did not exist.  Osteoporosis is a disease of the late 20^th and early 21^st century.  It is a new disease and a direct result of our lack of activity and exercise as we age.  Activity and exercise, especially weight bearing exercise, influence bone health.

The bones are adaptable and change as our living habits change.  The bones of an astronaut are a perfect example.  After spending numerous days in space, the bones of an astronaut become soft and weak.  This condition arises because the lack of gravity places little demand on the bones.  Upon returning to earth and to full gravity, an astronaut has to be cautious for several days not to fall, as their bones are softer and more likely to break.  The opposite is true of most body builders and power lifters.  Their bone densities are markedly higher than the average person.  Weight bearing exercises encourage the production and release of growth hormone, even in older people.  The growth hormone indirectly acts upon the bones causing them to grow and strengthen.  This result is why staying active is so important to bone health.

Another important part of bone health is diet.  Long standing diets high in red meat and refined sugars act to acidify the body.  In response, the body borrows calcium from its main stores – the bones.  The calcium helps to neutralize the acid state of the body attempting to bring it back to a more balanced pH or less acidic state.  If the body were allowed to remain in an acidic state it would become more vulnerable to various infectious illnesses and chronic diseases (including cancer).  Unless the diet is changed, the bones eventually become deficient in calcium.  Without calcium, the bones grow weak and brittle. 

Supplements and foods high in calcium are usually taken to help increase the amount of calcium available to rebuild the bones.  But, these supplements are essentially useless to a person with much stress in their lives.  Excess stress causes the body to release cortisol, which is a steroid hormone that decreases the absorption of calcium.  Simply taking supplements without a change in diet or lifestyle does not correct the problem.  These supplements basically just pass through the digestive system unabsorbed and unused until stress is reduced.

Stress

The high cortisol produced from high stress not only affects bone health, but it also suppresses the immune system.  This makes people more susceptible to “infectious” and chronic diseases.  Cortisol additionally thins the skin and linings of the respiratory and digestive tract.  The skin, respiratory and digestive linings serve as a barrier to separate the body from the outside world.  Without this healthy barrier, foreign particles can get into the blood and cause problems such as allergies.  These linings also serve as organs of elimination (in fact the skin is the largest organ of elimination).  When these linings are not healthy, then waste is not being adequately eliminated from the body.  Waste build up in the body is the precursor to a plethora of disorders, including cancer.  Other affects of thinning of these linings include the appearance of premature wrinkling on the outside.  Inside, the reduced linings of the digestive tract create digestive problems (which lead to nutritional deficiencies) and predispose people to ulcers, constipation, diarrhea, food allergies, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease and colon cancer.  Compromised respiratory linings often result in allergies, asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, and lung cancer.  The list of complications and diseases created by long-term high cortisol is continuous.  Stress is a major component influencing health and aging.

Learn more about stress and cortisol in the topic on stress.

Diet

You are what you eat…you really are.  Food is the building blocks for the body.  The most appropriate diet is the one that is tailored to the needs of the individual.  It depends on the body type, blood type and goals of each person.  As a general rule, diets high in refined sugar and processed and overcooked foods build an unstable and weak foundation.  Like building a house out of straw.  These kinds of foods also acidify the body.  It was mentioned above that high acidity weakens the bones but it also weakens the body as a whole.  High acidity means low oxygen.  Low oxygen means body cells have to undergo fermentation (breakdown of sugar without the use of oxygen) to produce energy.  Fermentation produces more waste than regular metabolism. This method of processing increases waste buildup in the body.  The buildup of excess amounts of waste is yet another precursor to premature aging and diseases.  

After eating, blood sugar rises and insulin is released.  Release of insulin is a normal and necessary process.  It allows body cells to make energy.  However, excess amounts of insulin in the blood can create many problems.  The body releases an excess amount of insulin when subjected to a diet of refined sugar and a stressful lifestyle.  Elevated insulin is now considered one of the main hormones responsible for “aging”.  In other words, it is causing premature aging and the diseases associated with aging.  Elevated insulin causes premature aging and age-related diseases by suppressing the release of growth hormone.  Remember, growth hormone is one of the youth hormones, encouraging the growth of new cells, even in older people.  Growth hormone also stimulates the immune system.   Another way elevated insulin causes premature aging is by causing inflammation throughout the body.  Initially, inflammation may show up as arthritis or gastritis or some other form of …itis.  Prolonged inflammation not only results in chronic pain but it wears and tears the body down sending it into a downward spiral of rapid aging, disease, and death. 

Calorie restriction is another important aspect of health and aging.  Americans simply eat too much.  This overeating is a major contributor to the increasing incidence of age-related chronic diseases.  Animal research has long shown that reduced calorie diets extend lives and grant better health.  Recently, a major research study called CALERIE (Comprehensive Assessment of Long-term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy) began in an effort to substantiate that the claims are also true for people.

Centenarians

Centenarians are the population of people 100+ years old.  Scientists at Boston University School of Medicine started a large-scale research study called the New England Centenarian Study.  The goal of this study was to discover how centenarians are able to live past 100 years of age.  Centenarians have baffled doctors by markedly delaying and even completely escaping all of the diseases associated with old age, including heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s.   So, what do these centenarians have in common?  What are they doing that helps them live so long?

Many people believe it is just good genetics that grant longevity.  However, the New England study revealed that genetics is only a small part.  The greatest factor is lifestyle.  Centenarians usually have no history of smoking and no history of obesity.  The main contributor, according to the study, was the ability to handle stress.  Centenarians almost always have personalities that allow them to deal with stressful situations better than the average person.  Things just seem to role off their backs more easily.  For some, managing stress is just a natural trait, but for others, it has to be learned…and it can be learned.

Probably the most impressive population of centenarians is on a Japanese island called Okinawa.  Okinawa has one of the highest percentages of centenarians of any place in the world.  These people are not only living longer, but they are healthier. 

For these centenarians, it is largely due to lifestyle.  Okinawans consume up to 60% fewer calories than Japanese on the main island.  Japanese already consume far fewer calories than Americans.  Okinawans eat almost no refined sugar and consume high quantities of fiber, fresh, and raw foods.  These people remain extremely active throughout their lives, avoid alcohol and smoking and have a stress-reducing psycho-spiritual outlook.  Apparently, “moderation” is a key cultural value among Okinawans.  The treatment of illnesses is another key factor contributing to the longevity of the Okinawa centenarians.  Okinawans still maintain the use of herbs and acupuncture as their primary modalities of medicine.

Many scientists and physicians claim that the organs of the body begin to fail after age 60.  This may be the case for a typical American on a typical American diet, with limited amounts of activity, taking regular medications and overwhelmed with stress.  However, for the truly healthy individual, this simply is not true.  There is no doubt that the body begins to slow down with age, but this is a normal and healthy process.  Other than that, there are no diseases or symptoms associated with healthy aging.  Death for centenarians is not a slow degenerative process.  Most of these people enjoy their full health until the end.  It was observed in the centenarian studies that most centenarians experience rapid terminal declines.  In other words, they die quickly.  And they die old.