There are few things in life that are certain and aging is one of them! If we are fortunate enough to grow to an old age we will experience the changes that occur with aging. What is happening to our bodies when we age?
This article will cover why aging occurs and things you can do to age gracefully 🙂
So let’s dive in!
AGING IS…
Aging is a complex process with many physiological changes that occur at the cellular and molecular levels. As we age, we see a gradual decline in physical function with an increase in susceptibility to disease. Kind of like an old car….wear and tear on the machine causes outward, cosmetic changes like chipped and faded paint with wear and tear also occurring to the internal structure requiring repairs.
Our bodies and minds undergo these changes over time in a slow, gradual process eventually resulting in the outward appearance of aging…What causes these visible signs of aging?
WHAT CAUSES AGING?
There are a lot of factors that go into the aging process. The main ones I focus on in my practice are detox, immune function, gut health, sleep, stress management, diet and movement. With toxins and infections being the top two things disrupting our detox processes.
Research has identified 12 hallmarks of the aging process thought to contribute to the overall decline in physiological function that characterizes aging1.
GENOMIC INSTABLITY: Your DNA is your intricate code telling your body how to function. Damage to your DNA from environmental toxins and infections causes mutations to your cells. Mutations from environmental toxins and ineffective detoxification activates the cellular stress response, leading to inflammation, senescence, and altered cellular metabolism.
Mutations in our genes affect key cellular processes like DNA repair and apoptosis leading to cellular disease and malfunction. These mutations can lead to a decline physiological function1.
TELOMERE ATTRITION: Telomeres are protective caps on the ends of chromosomes. Telomeres play a critical role in maintaining the stability of the genome and protecting DNA from damage. Telomeres are shortened with each division. As telomeres become shorter, cells become more vulnerable to DNA damage1.
Lifestyle factors such as exercise play a role in maintaining telomere length1.
EPIGENETIC ALTERATIONS: Epigenetics are things in our life we have some control of like diet, exercise, sleep, stress and environment. Epigenetic alterations are changes to the chemical modifications that occur on the DNA molecule and the DNA protein, histones1. For example, methylation, a detox pathway in the body, can be positively or negatively influenced by lifestyle factors like diet. Impaired methylation is associated with cancer, dementia and cardiovascular disease. Loss of methylation equals a loss of key cellular processes, such as stem cell function and immune system function1 contributing the aging process.
CELLULAR SENESCENCE: “Cellular senescence is a complex and multi-step process that is a natural part of the aging process. When cells undergo senescence, they enter a state of permanent growth arrest, which means they can no longer divide or replicate. This process is triggered by a variety of stresses, including oxidative stress, DNA damage, telomere shortening, and other insults2“.
Cellular senescence is thought to be a protective mechanism to prevent damaged or cancerous cells from surviving. When cells become senescent there is a release of inflammatory molecules to signal the body there is an invader. This can lead to a decline in physiological functioning.
The body is smart and will shut down some of its pathways to stop toxins and infections from hijacking the processes for their own survival. Ah, there it is again…TOXINS AND INFECTIONS! The drivers of aging and disease.
MITOCHONDRIAL DYSFUNCTION: Mitochondria are organelles found in most cells that are responsible for producing energy in the form of ATP. Our mitochondria are supposed to produce our bodyweight in ATP everyday! That’s a lot of ATP!
When our mitochondria dysfunction we don’t get adequate ATP production and we get an INCREASE in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and other cellular changes that contribute to aging and age-related diseases2.
Damage to our DNA means damage to our mitochondria. Toxins and infections (there it is again!) will damage our DNA, our cell membranes, and our mitochondria. Mitochondria are easily hurt, but easily healed…we just have to give them what they need 😉
DEREGULATED NUTRIENT SENSING: Another aspect in aging is changes in the way cells respond to nutrients such as glucose, amino acids, and fatty acids. “There are several nutrient-sensing pathways that have been implicated in aging, including the insulin/insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) pathway, the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, and the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathway. These pathways are involved in a variety of cellular processes such as metabolism, protein synthesis, and autophagy2“. As the body becomes more inflamed the way the body responds to nutrients changes and not always for the better.
LOSS OF PROTEOSTASIS: Protein synthesis and use is vital to many processes in the body from detox to neurotransmitter production. Loss of proteostasis is the inability of cells to maintain the proper folding, assembly, and degradation of proteins3. The accumulation and tangling of proteins leads to disrupted cellular functioning. The accumulation of amyloid beta and tau proteins is an example of this and occurs in conditions like alzheimers disease.
We have to be able to clean out the “debris” in our brains overnight. This usually happens during sleep. Adequate, restorative sleep is essential for the clean up of amyloid beta and tau proteins in our brains. Our immune function is important here because a dysregulated immune system from toxic and infectious overload (there it is again!) prevents our microglia (brain immune cell) from shrinking during sleep and allowing for the clean up to occur.
DISABLED MACROPHAGE: As we age our immune cells become lazy and do not respond to foreign invaders as they once did. This leads to the body not being able to repair tissues and defend itself adequately against disease and infection. Macrophages and mast cells are two very important cells in the defense of our bodies and their dysfunction can cause total immune malfunction.
Two thirds our immune system sits in our gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Good gut health is a must for long term maintenance of our immune systems. But also! Good gut health is needed for adequate detoxification from toxins and to fight off infectious invaders.
DYSBIOSIS: Dybiosis is a disruption in the composition and function of the microbiome. Dysbiosis can lead to changes in the immune system, inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction3. Damage to the intestinal lining causes something known as “leaky gut.” When our intestinal lining allows for leakage of our bugs, the toxins those bugs produce, and food particles outside of our GI tract our immune system becomes very confused. This can cause a hyper-responsive immune system, a deficient immune response, an immune self attack (autoimmune disease) and systemic inflammation. This all leads to a decline in physiological function and healing.
STEM CELL EXHAUSTION: Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that have the potential to differentiate into different cell types and regenerate tissues. Stem cells are essential for body repair and regeneration and found throughout the body in every tissue. As we age, the shear amount and function of stem cells produced in our bodies declines4. If we get to stem cell exhaustion our ability to repair and regenerate our tissues halts and this increases our susceptibility to disease.
Stem cell exhaustion can result from a combination of factors, including oxidative stress, inflammation, and telomere shortening4.
CHRONIC INFLAMMATION: Long term inflammation persists over months to years. Just like long term stress this is catabolic, or breaks down, tissues in the body. Chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS) is driven by the cell danger response (CDR). The cell danger response is activated to any trigger – injury, infection, toxin. If the CDR is never turned off, the inflammation never goes away, tissues are broken down, and repair and regeneration does not happen.
ALTERED INTERCELLULAR COMMUNICATION: The ability of cells to communicate with each other is essential for maintaining the proper functioning of biological systems, including the regulation of physiological processes, such as metabolism, growth, and immune response4. Intercellular communication occurs between chemical messengers, hormones, neurotransmitters, and cell-to-cell contact. Pathways in the body are used to facilitate this communication. These pathways are nutrient dependent. An imbalance or deficiency of nutrients can lead to disruptions in cellular communication and early aging.
HOW DO YOU AGE GRACEFULLY?
The aging process is not going to stop. It is important to accept that we are all aging. The biggest point is to make the process as painless as possible and maintain our functioning until our very last day. Simply put, we want to slow down the aging process to maintain our quality of life while looking and feeling our best :). Here are some strategies to help you age gracefully…
PRIORITIZE A HEALTHY DIET
Our nutrients is what fuels all the processes in our body. We have to be taking in a diet rich in phytonutrients (color!), clean proteins, and healthy fats. If we eat a variety of the aforementioned you are likely meeting your daily requirements of vitamins and minerals albeit your gut is up to the task of digesting and absorbing it all! Get your gut right for anti-aging!
GET AN ANTIOXIDANT BOOST
Antioxidants are the first step in the detox process. Antioxidants are found in phytonutrient rich foods full of color! Eat the rainbow! Antioxidants combat free radical formation that damages our DNA, mitochondria and stem cell production and function. Some of my favorites are curcumin, resveratrol from japanese knotweed, N-acetyl cysteine, and green tea phytosomes to name a few! These can all be found at my fullscript store 🙂
INCREASE AUTOPHAGY
Autophagy is your body’s way of cleaning up old and tired out cells that have been deprived of nutrients. These cells are broken down and the parts can be reused so your cells can work more effectively. This process prevents damaged cells from slowing down other cellular processes, rids the parts of the cells that are diseased with toxins and infections, and recycles damaged cell parts into fully functional cell parts.
You can increase autophagy at home by:
-Fasting
-Exercise
-Eating a low carb, high fat diet (keto like)
-Taking supplements that induce autophagy like resveratrol, curcumin, and sulforaphane (or eat broccoli sprouts!)
REDUCE YOUR TOXIC EXPOSURE
Toxins are a HUGE driver to cellular disease and dysfunction and the aging process as a whole. Reducing your toxic exposure by eating clean foods – organic, free range, wild caught meats, veggies, and fats. Drink clean water and use clean, cleaning solutions or make your own! Evaluate your environment for things like mold and mycotoxins which is a huge driver of mitochondrial disease. Read more about mold here
DE-STRESS
Chronic stress is destructive to our body tissues. Chronic stress breaks down our gut mucosal lining, depletes us of good bacteria in our guts, disrupts our thyroid function and hormone production, decreases our immune function, and causes poor sleep and cognitive dysfunction (brain fog!). Chronic stress is an underlying trigger keeping a lot of people stuck and accelerating the aging process. My favorite way to keep my stress levels down is through vagal nerve activation. Also, meditation, yoga, gratitude and grounding are very effective and free!
GET GOOD QUALITY, RESTORATIVE SLEEP
Sleep is essential to overall health, well-being and anti aging! As our sleep declines our anxiety increases, our stress increases and our sleep worsens. Sleep is when we recover from the stresses of the day and when the “janitors” come and clean up protein build up in the brain. If we are not sleeping this protein builds up and leads to symptoms of cognitive impairment and brain fog.
Some of my favorite tools for inducing good quality sleep:
*Turn the TV, phone, tablet off 1 hour before bed
*Make sure your room is cool and dark
*Start a routine that includes some vagal nerve work like gentle stretching, meditating, or breathing exercises
*Take an epsom salt bath before bed and throw in some lavendar essential oil
*Take a walk outside as the sun is going down to help reset your circadian rhythm
*Some supplements/botanicals that help with relaxation include: melatonin taken as the sun is going down, magnesium (L-threonate or glycinate), L theanine and amino acid glycine. There are also herbal glycerites I use like silk tree bark taken around dinner time and before bed.
GRATITUDE AND GROUNDING
There is something healing about time outside in nature that can really help to reset and refocus. Feeling the wind on your skin, the sun on your face, and the electron transfer that occurs from touching the dirt, sand or grass is an actual energy transfer from the earth. While your there, in your favorite nature spot, it is easier to find the thanks or gratitude for the things in your life. Start small with being thankful for the clothes on your back and food on plate and then get deeper with each session. It truly is a stress reliever!
MOVE YOUR BODY
Sitting is the new smoking! That’s what they say. I’d say we sit a lot more than our bodies are designed for.
Daily movement is an amazing modality to increase longevity, promote autophagy, improve sleep and circadian rhythm, build BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor), and activate your vagus nerve. Movement does not have to be intense. Even a daily walk around the block to start and build up from there!
TAKE CARE OF YOUR SKIN
Your skin health and wrinkle formation is one sign of aging that starts occurring around age 30 with a decline in collagen production. Your skin is also your biggest organ and important for detoxification so we need to take care of it!
Take care of your skin by using clean topical products like MyChelle Dermaceuticals which contain all natural ingredients with antioxidants and peptides that nourish and protect your skin, wear mineral sunscreen that is safe for you and the environment and stay hydrated.
Procedures like microneedling with PRP is a safe and effective way to increase collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid production 🙂 for natural looking anti-aging that is toxin free!
HAVE FUN!
Your mental, emotional and spiritual health sit above it all! The medical community really tries to separate our body systems but the fact is that our body’s are one system working together and your brain is not independent from the rest. It is important to know that you have a purpose, make time for the ones you love, prioritize happiness, and squeeze in some fun!
References:
- Hallmarks of aging part 1 of 4 (peptide sciences.com)
- Hallmarks of aging part 2 of 4 (peptide sciences.com)
- Hallmarks of aging part 3 of 4 (peptide sciences.com)
- Hallmarks of aging part 4 of 4 (peptide sciences.com)
