My “Cliffnotes” on EASY Mindset and anti-Aging techniques 🤩
Wow, I love how many of you had questions and comments about my recent newsletters on Aging and Mindset.
Many of you said,
“Doc, I am ready to hit the road running and make the commitment to my “self” and my “family” by doing what is necessary to KEEP a great Mindset, and slow my body from AGING! What can I do, NOW?”
“I observed myself and family over the holidays, and recognize that I need to make changes immediately before I turn into my Dad, my Mom, etc.”
“I need some tangible steps to start improving my Mindset, NOW!”
OK, I get you and hear you….
As promised, today I’ll simplify and clarify what I’m doing now; personally and with our patients, to slow down Aging and nurture Mindset to stay upbeat, positive, and on point.
Again, thank you for taking the time to digest the information I share in these newsletters; and I very much appreciate your feedback.
Before we take another look at these two powerful subjects, please make sure that you read the first two newsletters on ”Top Breakthroughs in Aging Research” and “How to rule your Mindset”, so that you can follow along and understand these additional tips , Here.
OK, let’s dive into more details on the most important and essential part of your healing journey, MINDSET; and how to minimize AGING with best practices you can implement, NOW!
MINDSET
As we’ve discussed, if you have a broken mindset you can’t even begin your health journey!
We need to know how to spot negative thoughts, stop them – and change them to more positive ones.
There are different kinds of negative “thinking traps”, such as: Catastrophizing (predicting a negative outcome), Magnification/minimization (focus on the negative, playing down the positive), Black and White thinking (thinking all-or-nothing), Should’s and Must’s (setting unreasonable expectations), and Emotional Reasoning (letting feelings run wild versus thinking adjectively).
I gave you an exercise a few weeks ago to help you recognize which type of “thinking trap(s)” you gravitate towards. I asked you to keep a one-day list of all your negative thoughts. And, for every negative thought, write at least one positive thought. Once you do this exercise, your mind will remember it. This will become part of your thinking process. Whenever you think of a negative thought, you can choose to counter it with a positive one.
Shifting perspective sounds easy. But it’s not.
It takes practice.
It’s important for you to know, that YOU are not the problem; it is your past upbringing and environment that got you to where you are at this specific place in life. Don’t give up! You can better yourself and change your Mindset for the better, IF you feel you want and need to!
Changing mindset is a continual process. You’ve just had a lack of exposure to a better state of being OR you’ve become complacent and lazy in your thinking habits.
HABITS and VALUES can be improved.
I incorporate many tools to keep my mind thinking healthy, positive thoughts…. Surrounding yourself with people, books, conversations, places, feelings, are helpful.
I continually read self-help books, listen to podcasts, find ways to be in the presence of people I admire, talk to others about how they stay positive, etc.
Another trick I suggest incorporating into your daily routine, is to train your brain to wake up every morning happy, ready to serve and grateful for each moment. But, THE most important tip I can give you, is this…..
When you wake up in the morning, don’t even think about picking up your phone. Start your day with a positive passage (verse, paragraph, or thought) and meditate (think about, ponder, journal, envision or reflect) on that idea.
So often, people tend to grab their phones first and hop on social media, email or news, which is a major downfall to staying centered, grateful and focused on your intentions for the day. Don’t let this be you!
”Gratefulness turns into happiness and positive thinking.”
Here’s another Challenge for you -
What is your VERY FIRST thought in the morning when you wake up in the morning? Is it, wow, I’m happy to be alive, and I’m looking forward to a great day ahead?
If not, try this tool borrowed from John Foley, Blue Angels pilot, public speaker, and all-around inspiring human being:
Step 1 -
When you go to bed, think of what you have to be grateful for in the past 24 hours. If it was a rotten day, think of something positive in your past that you can feel good, feeling grateful about.
Step 2 -
Next, think of what you have to be thankful for in this very moment, while you are quietly resting your body in bed.
Step 3 -
Finally, think about what you have to look forward to tomorrow. How will you bless other people? What will you accomplish that you’ve been working on? Who will you get to spend time with? You get the point…
You can listen to a short 4-min video on John describing his technique, here.
Filling your mind with past, present and future positive, grateful thoughts as you fall asleep will help you wake up the next morning, more often than not, with a positive outlook for your day, by changing your brain’s Neuroplasticity. Remember my newsletter on Neuroplasticity? If not, you can read it, here.
Another helpful action that I practice is Reflection -
What are you learning along the way? If there have been successes, celebrate them in your mind and heart. If there have been challenges or disappointments, what are the lessons you’ve learned that you won’t have to go through again? There is always a silver-lining that comes with a problem; find it.
Double down on what’s going WELL, not just mistakes!
Tune into your heart. You’ve got to really want something to have the drive to “do the do” everyday. You’ll screw up, everyone does, but inch your way to achieving a positive Mindset.
Once you recognize negative thoughts, you can manage them better. You can challenge them – and replace them with healthier, more positive ones.
AGING
Biological age is of greater importance than chronological age because it is the primary risk factor for the majority of chronic illnesses that we’re all susceptible to, ranging from most forms of cancer, to dementia, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, glaucoma and so on. Your biological age is involved in your overall energy levels, cognition, ability to perform physical activities, and how you physically look.
But perhaps what makes biological age most important – and empowering – is that we all have the ability to favorably change it via lifestyle alterations, including diet, supplements and prescriptions, activity, recovery, environment, psychology & relationships.
How to Lower Biological Age:
To reverse biological age, we have two categories of interventions:
General
Personalized
It’s important to combine both for the best effects.
General interventions are the well-known ways to improve health. Things like sleeping enough, movement, light exposure, eating clean, whole foods, time-restricted eating, drinking natural water, living in a pristine environment, etc. Together, these form the pillars of a healthy lifestyle. Each has myriad benefits.
Personalized interventions, on the other hand, tailor recommendations to you. Things that might not work well for others, but conform to your unique biological data.
Some of the most promising biological age-reversing techniques we focus on in our office, include:
Regular movement
Clean diet
Quality sleep
Light exposure
Peptides (Thymosin Alpha-1)
Growth Hormone
Mitochondrial support
NAD+ therapy (NMN and NR supplements)
Exosomes & PRP
Young Plasma Apheresis
Stem Cell therapies
Senolytic procedures
Reversing Biological Age starts with Quantification:
One of the biggest questions in health and wellness is…
Are restrictive lifestyle habits actually making a difference?
Testing quantifies your current state and establishes your baseline.
Blood labs can offer helpful clues for pinpointing specific issues like excess iron or blood glucose, high LDL cholesterol, systemic inflammation or liver or kidney stress. Epigenetic tests provide a holistic view of your overall health, disease and mortality risk, and how you are aging compared to the average person of your chronological age.
Once we know where your health markers are, we can test different interventions (supplements, drugs, protocols, and therapies) to see if they help or hurt your health-span.
Large-scale aging studies can take 40+ years, and then yield only mildly useful insights. Broadly applicable insights, but perhaps not suited to your unique physiology.
You may waste decades making sacrifices in “the name of health”… and to your detriment. Conversely, biological age testing gives you near real-time feedback.
Scientists have now identified biomarkers (chemical changes) in an individual’s DNA that correspond with aging. These changes can help predict how well you’re going to age, how long you’re going to live, and even if you’re at increased risk for chronic disease.
Biological age testing holds tremendous promise:
This field is the foundation of personalized medicine.
Not all technologies are equal. Some cost more than they’re worth. Others lack accuracy.
More than 90% of our longevity in terms of life span and health span - the healthy years of life - is determined by our environment, not genetics.
What you eat, what you drink, how well you sleep, and the quality of your relationships all have a real impact. If we see room for improvement in your biological age, think of it as a chance to reevaluate your choices. That is especially true for people whose biological age is much older than their chronological age. On the other hand, a lower biological age could serve as validation and reinforcement of your current practices.
One of the biggest positive changes to reduce deterioration is doing more physical activity. Even as little as 20 minutes of exercise a day (walking counts!) can dramatically improve your health.
4 Ways You Can Work to Put Time on Your Side
Spend 20 minutes outside. Stress can impact all aspects of life, including cellular health. Research suggests that spending time in nature each day can lower stress hormones by over 20% per hour. Whether you stroll in the park or sit in your backyard, you’ll get the benefits of a daily “nature pill.”
Turn down the temp at night. Over one-third of us aren’t getting enough shut-eye, and the effects go beyond feeling tired - a study found that just one night of sleep deprivation could negatively impact biological aging. Aim to snooze for seven to eight hours a night by keeping your bedroom in the mid- to high-60s. Cooler temps can help you doze off and sleep soundly.
Pencil in a brisk walk. Moving for 30 minutes daily may help you shave nearly a decade off your biological age. One study found that highly active adults had a nine-year aging advantage over people who were sedentary and a seven-year one over those who were moderately active.
Eat fish twice a week. A Mediterranean diet, rich in omega-3’s, has been linked to lower aging rates. Not a fan of seafood? Focus on limiting sodium, saturated fat, and added sugar and go heavy on lean meats, eggs, as well as fruits and veggies. You can also get plant-based omega-3s from walnuts, chia seeds, and flaxseeds.
We use a DNA analytics to understand which procedures, supplements, and tools will work best for the patient. Armed with this knowledge, we customize an approach to reversing biological age and save money by avoiding the things that won’t work for the patient’s biology.
This is today’s biological medicine!
I recommend waiting twelve months between testing - no more and no less - not just because of the time it takes to move the needle for biological age results, but for the effects of seasonality on lifestyle.
Our lifestyles change significantly across the span of the year, whether we’re conscious of it or not. Stress, caloric intake, types of foods, alcohol consumption, sun exposure and vitamin D levels, exercise, sleep patterns and circadian rhythms, stress, vacations and more, all differ according to the time of year. For example, many, if not all, of these factors will change for you if you compare your lifestyle during the week preceding the New Year, compared to mid-Summer.
In an effort to reduce confounding factors that can impact your score, I recommend that we take test on the same day, week and month as your previous test.
If you are interested in getting baseline blood and epigenetic testing completed to see how your body is aging and the REAL things you can do to improve your Healthspan, please let the front desk know and we will get you scheduled.
THE BOTTOM LINE
It is you who decides to be successful in life. Success is not a matter of luck or fortune. If you make a choice to do something and put in the right effort, it will be yours. Believe in yourself and keep moving ahead.
I hope today’s newsletter has helped outline in more detail how your MINDSET (attitude) and Lifestyle environment can determine your Healthspan - the healthy years of life.
Your mindset is of upmost importance to begin your health journey, and can facilitate a happy, long life.
Whenever you think of a negative thought, counter it with a positive one.
Make it a habit. Give yourself the one day challenge I outlined to balance your thoughts.
The aim is to make this habit part of your subconscious. Once it has become part of your thinking process, you will shift your perspective, and improve your health.
Your thoughts are the roots of your destiny. Your next action results from your next thought. You owe it to yourself to improve the quality of your thoughts.
“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habit. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny AND your HEALTH.”
More than 90% of our longevity in terms of life span and health span - the healthy years of life - is determined by our environment, not genetics.
What you eat, what you drink, how well you sleep, and the quality of your relationships all have a real impact. To improve your longevity and health span, you can focus on (4) things:
Spend 20 minutes outside and lower stress hormones
Aim to sleep 7-8 hours a night by keeping your bedroom in the mid- to high-60s
Get 20 minutes of exercise a day, walking counts!
Eat fish twice a week, limit sodium, saturated fat, and added sugar and go heavy on lean meats, eggs, as well as fruits and veggies.
Testing quantifies your current state and establishes your baseline.
Blood labs can offer helpful clues for pinpointing specific issues like excess iron or blood glucose, high LDL cholesterol, systemic inflammation or liver or kidney stress. Epigenetic tests provide a holistic view of your overall health, disease and mortality risk, and how you are aging compared to the average person of your chronological age.
Once we know where your health markers are, we can test different interventions (supplements, drugs, protocols, and therapies) to see if they help or hurt your health-span.
If you are interested in getting baseline blood and epigenetic testing completed to see how your body is aging and the REAL things you can do to improve your Healthspan, please let the front desk know and we will get you scheduled.
We are bring tools such as these to you, our patients, by using proven cutting-edge therapies to extend the health-span, life-span and years of health for everyone!
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