Anti-aging strategies—Why they matter?
In today's fast-paced lifestyle that most of us lead, the focus has been on decreasing the burden of chronic disease and pursuing efforts to slow the aging process. Genetics and lifestyle do play an important role in the aging process, and lifestyle is something that is modifiable. This section will explore some of the modifiable factors that can help supplement our overall health. It is important to note that this is not a complete list but a step towards a healthier life with better quality.
Some Factors
Exercise:
We know that the health of our skeletal muscles is important for the quality of life we lead. One factor that determines this is our mobility. Mobility has a close association with long-term survival and health in the elderly population.
Decreased concentrations of NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) in the tissues were hypothesized to be associated with the aging process. Muscle NAD metabolic pathways are stimulated by regular exercise, further cementing the benefits of regular exercise training.
Exercise was also associated with decreased age-related deterioration in the brain and cognitive function.
Resistance training has been associated with anti-aging in the skin by decreasing the levels of inflammatory factors and by improving the dermal region of the skin.
Resistance training was associated with improvement in dermal structure and thickness and in skin elasticity. This sort of exercise was also associated with an increase in the expression of dermal extracellular matrix-related genes that contributed to skin health. Aging of the skin is linked to degradation of the extracellular matrix in the dermis.
Aerobic exercise also positively affected the skin via stimulation of interleukin 15, which plays a role in skin aging.
Activation of AMPK (Adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase) was also associated with anti-aging, and this happens via exercise and nutrient depletion.
An important point to note is that metformin, a very commonly prescribed medication for diabetics, has the capacity to stimulate AMPK.
Diet:
Calorie restriction is a well-known mechanism associated with decreasing the aging mechanism. Topics like intermittent fasting and time-restrictive ratings are associated with better cardiometabolic factors and can positively impact health.
Caloric restriction under the supervision of your health care provider can help decrease the burden of chronic disease processes like heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, arthritis, degenerative neurological diseases, autoimmune disease processes, obesity, and many more conditions.
Autophagy is your body's housekeeping mechanism that helps clear waste from your body—this process can be stimulated via caloric restriction. Changes in energy levels via caloric restriction are an important process that jumpstarts autophagy.
Another way we decrease the aging process is by the consumption of quality foods, particularly from the plant kingdom. These phytonutrients are rich in antioxidants that help decrease the oxidant-mediated damage of our cellular processes via various stressors we face in our day-to-day lives.
Sleep hygiene:
It is important to note that sleep is a restorative exercise for the body and mind and is a key contributor to health and well-being. This is not merely a mental restoration but a cellular restoration.
It is a well-known fact that disruptions in sleep will affect mental wellbeing by altering mood, eating habits, increasing stress levels, and fueling chronic inflammation and disease processes.
The key hallmarks of aging at a cellular level include accumulation of damaged DNA, alterations in mitochondrial energy metabolism, shortening of telomeres, and disordered protein metabolism.
These processes hinder the normal restorative and reparative processes in the body that help preserve health.
Disturbances in sleep will further fragment the reparative machinery in our body, thereby causing the accumulation of waste dead cells in our tissues that can in turn stimulate further aging and cell death.
Sleep fragmentation can increase stress levels and cause the release of glucocorticoids that will affect the mitochondrial energy systems, which can cause the release of reactive oxygen species that fuel chronic diseases. The reactive oxygen species fuel the DNA damage, telomere shortening, and thus accelerate aging.
As a physician passionate about preventative health, I wish that my readers will implement these strategies under the supervision of their health care provider and take the steps towards living long and strong!
