How to Stop Aging
Controlling Inflammation through Exercise and Diet
The link between chronic inflammation and aging has been brought to public attention by anti-aging experts Nicholas Perricone M.D. and Andrew Weil M.D. According to these experts, inflammation is an immune response that has not turned itself off.
Ironically, the same response which benefits man in the short term becomes a major threat to human lives when acute bouts of infection become chronic due to the decreasing efficiency of the immune system.
Because chronic inflammation, the kind that writer Kathleen McGowan describes as “[simmering] in the background, over years and decades,” is the underpinning of virtually all major diseases, it is directly linked to the degeneration of body and tissues associated with aging.
The good news is that the inflammatory process can be controlled through lifestyle changes like exercise and diet.
Inflammation
Diseases that are part of aging are getting a great deal of attention these days. Diseases like Alzheimer’s, diabetes, cancer, arthritis,osteoporosis, heart problems, and senile depression have all been shown to be connected with aging.
Scientists have also begun to connect the body weakness that accompanies old age (which many have considered to be a natural event in the course of one’s life) with inflammatory causes; they have located inflammatory activity as the culprit behind the breakdown of skeletal muscle, which in turn leads to the loss of lean muscle mass.
Early exposure to childhood diseases has also been targeted as a causal factor. Infections in childhood predispose the body to the inflammatory response. Diseases like measles, typhoid, malaria or whooping cough can weaken an individual’s immune profile.
Exercise
How can exercise which causes tissue damage and triggers the inflammatory response in the body reduce inflammation?
According to Sarah Cimperman ND, exercise triggers a short term inflammatory response which promotes the growth and renewal of muscle cells. In the long run, exercise reduces inflammation.
Research, which has bolstered her argument, demonstrates that men (65-75) who exercised frequently were found to have significantly lower levels of pro-inflammatory interleukin-6 and dramatically higher levels of anti-inflammatory interleukin-10. The key here is frequent engagement in exercise, like running.
Diet
Studies have shown that a low calorie diet can increase the longevity of rats because dietary restriction inhibits the inflammatory response.
Eating less reduces insulin resistance and slows dementia. Foods that are pro-inflammatory include sugar and processed foods that elevate blood sugar levels, creating an insulin release that not only increases stored body fat but causes cell damage and accelerated aging.
It is also known that fat cells trigger the inflammatory effect. The leaner the body, the less susceptible it is to the inflammatory scenario. Environmental stressors, hormonal changes, emotional and psychological stress all intensify the body’s susceptibility to inflammation.
Because inflammation is controllable through lifestyle changes, it strongly suggests that aging is not inevitable. It is actually a situation created by the body; what this means is that changes can be made in one’s lifestyle choices than can turn the tables around.
Source
- McGowan, Kathleen.”Can We Cure Aging?” The New Science of Health. Summer 2009: 5-8.
Inflammation Causes Aging, Arthritic Hands
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