Does Inflammation speed up Aging?
Many patients comment how they are watching their parents age, and wonder what they can do to change, or even slow down the aging process that they are witnessing. My answer: Reduce Inflammation!
Research shows that when inflammation becomes chronic and lasts too long, it causes damage in your body's cells and tissues. This can lead to health challenges that often grow more serious the older you get, and can even speed up the aging process. A detailed scientific article on the subject can be read here, but I’ll boil it down in (7) quick and easy to read recommendations for you today. No matter your age, these tips are disarmingly simple!
Before I do, I’m hoping last week’s Strategies to making BIG changes, and how to keep a healthy MINDSET to strengthen your Habits, was helpful. If you missed it, you can use this link, here.
So for today, I’d like you to think about this…..
Did you know that the aging process itself is related to inflammation?
What is INFLAMM-AGING?
Inflammaging is the new term for chronic, low-grade inflammation that characterizes what we refer to as aging.
Any kind of systemic inflammation is going to affect EVERY system in the body.
Inflammation may manifest more in one particular anatomical area, but it affects the entire body.
Inflammation is tied in with arthritis and memory loss. Diabetes, high insulin levels, high glucose levels, disruption of the gut microbiome are all part of the inflammatory process.
We may feel healthy, but if this inflammation is raging inside of us, then we have a problem.
So what is the best way to control inflammation while we can? First, we need to identify the triggers and causes of inflammation, and then help the body’s natural immune balance reset by providing the right conditions for it to thrive.
Everyone is treating the downstream effects of inflammation, instead of addressing the cause: multiple problems that are really linked together by inflammation.
How do you live an Anti-inflammatory lifestyle?
Once you figure out the causes of inflammation and get rid of it, how do we live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle?
Here are my suggested lifestyle hacks to maintaining youth and a healthy body:
Eat a whole food, high fiber, low sugar diet which is inherently anti-inflammaory. If you don’t know where to start, check out my cookbook “Eat Like your LIFE Depends on it” at the office or using this LINK.
Eat healthy fats from olive oil, nuts, avocados and omega 3 fats from small fish like sardines, herring and wild salmon.
Exercise. We’ve reviewed this before in previous newsletters, basically 30 mins a day of moving your body (mixing up aerobic, stretching and weight work) is best.
Learn to actively relax to engage your vagus nerve, the powerful nerve that relaxes your whole body and lowers inflammation (by doing yoga, meditation, deep breathing, chiropractic adjustment, massage).
If you have food allergies, find out what they are and stop eating them. This is a big deal…. We can test for allergies and sensitivities in our office, just ask.
Take probiotics (“good bacteria”) daily to help your digestion to improve the healthy bacteria in your gut which reduces inflammation. See our front desk for suggestions…
Take a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement which helps reduce inflammation.
Cutting Edge Inflammation Therapy
It might be easy to automatically jump to a fantasy of never aging at all, but if we take time to set our actual standards for aging, we’re more likely to reach them.
For example, I want to be able to hike and ski with my family decades from now; I want to stay sharp and physically able long past the age of 100. Does this sound like a fantasy to you?
While we have seen clear evidence in certain health and lifestyle choices to help us age well, we’re starting to learn even more about the biological mechanisms that we can harness to work in our favor.
Sirtuins are a great example of the emerging knowledge that can help us age optimally. These are proteins that can prevent disease and even reverse the signs of aging. Sirtuins can be activated by certain compounds like NAD+.
The right sirtuin activating compounds can improve organ function, physical endurance, resistance to disease, and overall longevity. Sirtuins are also addressing diseases like cancer, neurodegeneration, and insulin resistance.
Since 2016, our office has been using NAD+ as a powerful IV therapy to control inflammation. This pro-circulatory therapy balances the white blood cell levels for individuals dealing with inflammatory issues, brain fog, boosting metabolism, combating fatigue, and more recently, long-COVID.
Please reach out to our office if you have questions about NAD+ therapy, and whether it might be of benefit for you or someone in your family.
The Bottom Line
Everyone who has had a sore throat, rash, hives, or a sprained ankle knows about inflammation. These are normal appropriate responses of our defense system to infection or trauma. We need inflammation to survive.
The trouble occurs when that defense system runs out of control creating common conditions such as allergies, rheumatoid arthritis or asthma. But, few people know that hidden inflammation is at the root of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, dementia, bowel diseases, skin conditions and AGING.
The best ways to control inflammation are:
Eat a whole food, high fiber, low sugar diet
Eat healthy fats
Exercise
Learn to actively relax
Find out if you have any food allergies
take probiotics daily
take a multivitamin
Chronic inflammation, which often has subtle signs and symptoms, may go undetected for decades.
What a lot of people don’t know is that chronic inflammation is a causative and major contributing factor to not just many, but MOST chronic and degenerative diseases.
When inflammation can’t be controlled through lifestyle changes, NAD+ IV therapy is an option worth considering. This powerful pro-circulatory therapy balances the white blood cell levels for individuals dealing with inflammatory issues, brain fog, boosting metabolism, combating fatigue, and more recently, long-COVID.
I hope today’s newsletter has helped you see how inflammation affects the whole body. From chronic illnesses to aging, inflammation self perpetuates, and affects the whole body.
Please reach out to our office if you need help with inflammation issues, or have questions about NAD+ therapy.
And, don’t forget the (5) Essentials we talk about at Ferguson Life Health Centers…
Mindset
Nerve Supply
Nutrition
Exercise
Minimizing Toxins
There are NO LIMITS of what you can create, you are POWERFUL and there is nothing that you can not have or achieve! Believe in your power, believe in yourself and let go of what no longer serves you! ♡ Design your life, Create your reality…
This is life changing!
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