Sometimes, the aging process feels that you are on an escalator going down and there is no way to stop it. When your life begins, you are on the top floor – no aches, pains, wrinkles, nor digestive problems, and your brain is able to learn at an increasable rate. That’s unless you come into this world with some kind of karmic disease from a past life; that’s not good or bad, just more lessons for you to learn. As time passes, we start to go down the escalator of life. They say this is normal and just a part of aging. You can sit back and just wait for the rocking chair to catch you, or you can be proactive and retain your youth for a lot longer. Most people just go along following the crowd. They eat what they hear is good from the commercials on TV, go to the restaurants that everyone is going to, drink, smoke and do all the vices that the society puts on them. Before they know it, they are on a lot of medicines and have a host of health issues. After fifty, the quality of their life goes to hell.
Here is a list of things that the body does as it ages:
- Muscle mass decreases. Body Mass Index (BMI) increases.
- Fat increases as a percentage of body weight.
- Strength, energy and speed of the body decrease.
- Basal Metabolic Rate (metabolism) decreases.
- Aerobic capacity, the capacity to process oxygen, decreases. Red blood cells as a percentage of total blood volume (hematocrit) decreases.
- Body cells become resistant to insulin.
- LDL Cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol) and triglycerides increase, and HDL Cholesterol (“good” cholesterol) falls.
- Blood pressure increases.
- Bone mineral density decreases.
- Density of calcium in circulatory system increases.
- Kidney functions decrease.
- We lose neurons in our brain. This leads to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Senile Dementia.
- You get liver spots.
- Growth Hormone secretion drops.
- Testosterone in men, and estrogen and progesterone in women, drop.
- Sexual desire drops.
- Thyroid function drops.
- Melatonin (a hormone which regulates the body clock) drops.
- DHEA drops.
- Estradiol, a female hormone, increases in men.
- Cortisol, “the Death Hormone,” increases.
- Your Good enzymes drop.
- The thickness of skin decreases, resulting in more wrinkles.
- Prolactin, a female hormone, increases in the body of a male, presumably depriving him of some sexual libido.
- Water proportion in the body and skin drops. This results to dryer skin and more wrinkles.
- Hearing loss is common.
- We lose our sense of taste.
- Visual problems occur.
- Hair falls and loses its color (it becomes white).
- The thymus gland, the master of the immune system, shrinks and atrophies, thus weakening our immune system.
- Inflammation increases in our body.
- “Deep sleep” becomes more scarce and less profound.
- Digestion becomes slower and less complete.
- The retina of the eye becomes thinner, in many cases, detached.
- Night vision decreases.
- Microvessels in the eye pop, covering the retina, causing partial loss of vision, or complete blindness.
“I think Dr. Wu Dhi has a pretty good list hear of what happens when you age,” said Dr. Ronald Klatz, President of the A4M. “It’s important people know this so they can take preventative steps, change their diet, and start living the Ant-Aging Medicine lifestyle. None of us are going to live forever, but we should all want to Age Healthy, Happy, and Comfortable as we break 100 years.”
