Anti-Aging Therapy

 

What Is Anti-Aging Therapy?

This is the practice of helping to prevent or forestall the aging process in the body. As we get older, there are certain neurotransmitters and hormones within our body that are depleted.  We can conduct tests to determine your specific neurotransmitter and hormone levels and then prescribe treatment accordingly. This also could include blood cell genome testing that tells us what you are at risk of developing. Anti-Aging Therapy also includes dermatological products which help aging skin.

What are neurotransmitters?

Neurotransmitters are chemicals that relay signals between our nerve cells. This is how cells in the brain communicate with one another, as well as with organs throughout the body. This is a complex process that requires an adequate supply of neurotransmitters for signals to be sent properly. Neurotransmitters are made in the body from amino acids. If the body does not have a sufficient supply of the right amino acids, neurotransmitter levels can become depleted and this chemical imbalance can result in many symptoms.

Neuro Science focuses on the following group of neurotransmitters: 
   • Epinephrine
   • Norepinephrine
   • Dopamine
   • Serotonin
   • PEA (phenylethylamine) 
   • Histamine
   • GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)
   • Glutamate
   • Glutamine

These neurotransmitters are required for proper brain function and sub-optimal or deficient levels can cause serious health problems.

The most frequently encountered neurotransmitter related symptoms are:

   • Depression
   • Anxiety
   • Insomnia
   • ADD/ADHD
   • Poor appetite control
   • Compulsive behaviors
   • Fibromyalgia
   • Chronic pain
   • Lowered ability to focus
   • Sleep problems

Neurotransmitter-related disorders occur when the current levels of neurotransmitters are unable to properly relay the electrical signal from one nerve cell (neuron) to the next. A neurotransmitter imbalance can result from the levels being either too high or too low.

Low neurotransmitters levels: If neurotransmitters are low, the nerves fire ineffectively or not at all. Low neurotransmitter levels can result from prolonged stress, genetic predisposition, and diets low in the amino acids from which neurotransmitters are made. Toxic substances like heavy metals, pesticides, illicit and some prescription drugs can cause permanent damage to the nerves that make neurotransmitters.

High neurotransmitters levels: If the levels of neurotransmitters are too high, the nerves may fire inappropriately. Neurotransmitters exist in a delicate balance with one another. If the levels of one neurotransmitter become too low, the balance can shift and other neurotransmitter levels can become too high.
  
Neurotransmitters are the chemical messengers that relay signals between nerve cells and are present throughout the body. Without adequate levels of neurotransmitters, signals can become disrupted or distorted. These poor signals can contribute to many symptoms and significantly reduce quality of life.

Neurotransmitter imbalances are an underlying issue in many diseases that might otherwise seem unrelated.  But all of these conditions are related because therapies that address neurotransmitter imbalances can be used effectively to treat them.

For example, let’s examine Prozac (fluoxetine), a commonly prescribed antidepressant therapy.

 

This one drug has been recommended or approved for all of the following conditions in addition to depression:

   • Alcohol Addiction
   • Anorexia Nervosa
   • Anxiety
   • Binge Eating
   • Bulimia
   • Fibromyalgia Pain
   • Headache Pain
   • Irritable Bowel Pain
   • Migraines
   • Panic Attacks
   • Premenstral Dysphoric Disorder
   • Post-Traumatic Stress disorder
   • Sexual Dysfunction
   • Smoking Cessation
   • Social Anxiety and Shyness
   • Weight Loss

The symptoms seen in the above conditions may be caused by an imbalance in neurotransmitters. Our program is designed to correct the imbalance that can eliminate the cause of the symptoms. Modern Theories of aging are generally looked at in two theoretical ways: the damage theories and programmed theories. The Damage Theories primarily looks at the damage that our cells incur over time. This looks at extrinsic aging which is the aging process compounded by externally caused factors. The Programmed Theories are primarily concerned with the genetics of how long and how efficient our cells can maintain optimum health. This looks at intrinsic aging which is aging due to the rate of passing time.

Scientists agree that one of the most significant factors contributing to aging is chronic inflammation. As we age, we tend towards a number of identifiable inflammatory diseases. Chronic inflammation damages the cells of our brains, heart, arterial walls, and other body structures. Heart disease, Alzheimer’s senility, Parkinson’s, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, prostatitis and stroke are just a few of the “diseases of aging” attributed to chronic inflammation.

Anti-aging therapy is actually a combination of different therapies used to slow and/or reverse human aging. One of the fastest growing segments of medicine today is anti-aging and longevity medicine. The methods showing scientific promise in slowing the aging process and extending the life span in mammals is caloric restriction, decreasing cellular inflammation due to free radicals, exercise and the power behind social relationships.

Anti-aging therapies can make a difference in such inflammatory diseases and aging disorders such as: depression, anger, pain, arthritis, stress, diabetes, psoriasis, excess weight, smoking, sunburn, menopause, dementia.

 

10 Tips for Anti-Aging

The Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest, most comprehensive examination of aging ever conducted. Since the 1930s, researchers have studied more than 824 men and women, following them from adolescence into old age, seeking clues to the behaviors that translate into happy and healthy longevity. The book "Aging Well", by Harvard Medical School Psychiatrist, George Vaillant has acquired the results of these studies that track the physical and emotional well-being of the 824 men and women from every social strata.

   The Harvard study found that we are better off becoming preoccupied with the following factors that turned out to be most predictive of whether we'd move successfully through middle age and into our 80s:

 

1. Avoiding cigarettes: Smoking increases dramatically the risk of cancer, hardening of the arteries, and heart disease. Not smoking is the single most important factor for staying alive!

2. Keeping a healthy weight: Half the U.S. population is overweight, 20% is obese. Obesity will stop you dead in your tracks. Maintaining a healthy wieght and eating the right foods prevents disease.

3. Wear sun screen: 15-20 minutes in the sun is essential for Vitamin D. When your in the sun for prolonged periods of time (for more than 15-20 minutes without a sunscreen, the inflammation process is heightened. Wear a sunscreen with at least 15 SPF.

4. Proper diet: Add more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to your daily menu. Most have no fat, cholesterol, or sodium -- and they're low in calories. What you do get is lots of fiber, calcium, iron, magnesium, and vitamins, which all play a part in keeping you functioning at your best.

5. Exercise regularly: After the age of 30 we tend to lose one-third of a pound of muscle per year, and our bones become weaker as well if they aren't subjected to weight-bearing exercise.

6. Develop good adjustment or coping skills: stress is apart of our daily life. It is unavoidable. The single most important point you can make about stress is that in most cases it's not what's out there that's the problem, it's how you react to it. How you react is determined by how you perceive a particular stress.

7. Maintaining strong social relationships: Aging successfully, according to Vaillant, is something like being tickled -- it's best achieved with another person. Whether your social connections are with a spouse, offspring, siblings, bridge partners, and/or fellow churchgoers, they're crucial to good health while growing older. Other studies have confirmed the health-promoting power of social connections. At the UCLA School of Medicine's geriatrics division, Teresa Seeman, PhD, evaluated adults in their 70s over a seven-year period. She found that those with satisfying social relationships remained more mentally alert over the course of the study, with less age-related mental decline than people who were more isolated. No one is certain exactly how a social network may help you stay healthy, although some research has shown that men and women who live alone tend to eat less well, which could jeopardize their physical and mental well-being. People with social connections also may have stronger disease-fighting immune systems. At RAND, a policy research "think tank" in Santa Monica, behavioral scientist Joan Tucker, PhD, says that having people in your life can make you feel loved and cared for, which can enhance your mental well-being. At the same time, a spouse or close friend can also remind you to go for walks or take your medication, which can have benefits for your physical health as well.

 

8. Reduce anxiety: We have fears and worries but when they begin to dominate our life and our behavior, and become the focal point in which everything revolves, that's anxiety. Many factors can contribute; trauma, chemical sensitivity, caffeine, heredity, drugs, alcohol, lifestyle choices. If you cannot change the situation that is the focus of anxiety, determine a way of trying to change your way of handling the problem.

9. Laugh: Humor is one of the best medicines! The most psychological predictor of aging well is learning how to cope, re-channel, diffuse, and dispense with envy, jealousy, aggression, revenge and anger.

10. Pursuing education: Curiosity and creativity help transform older people into seemingly younger ones, says Vaillant, even if their joints ache and even once their days of enjoying free access to the office copying machine are a distant memory. Individuals who are always learning something new about the world, maintaining a playful spirit, and finding younger friends as they lose older ones also are making the most of the aging process.