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What Speeds Up Aging? (Part 1)
Health | May 31, 2019
We all want to stay young as long as possible. It’s a common human desire that’s existed for centuries. That elusive “fountain of youth” will always be chased in the form of exotic superfoods, biohacks, creams, serums, procedures, and newly discovered “ancient secrets”. While our gaze will never waiver from the inevitable fate of aging, what we often neglect are the things that bring it further than we want. Before questioning how to stop the hands of time, we must also identify what speeds them up. Today’s post is intended to do just that by answering, what speeds up aging? I hope you’re ready to take some notes, because, with these tips, you’ll be sure to know how you can, at the very least, keep yourself from aging prematurely. Are you ready? Then let’s get started.
AGEs
Everyone likes a good barbeque now and again. Or baking something nice and crispy in the oven. When the food is finished cooking, who can’t help but munch on those dark, roasted bits and ends? Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but those burnt pieces of food, whether it’s toast or chicken wings, contain harmful compounds known as AGEs (advanced glycation end products). They form together whenever protein or fat combines with sugar in the bloodstream in a process known as glycation. Now, AGEs form as a natural result of the aging process. There’s no escaping them on that front. But what is escapable is their presence in foods- especially whenever they’re clearly burnt. Anything that’s exposed to high-heat temperatures will contain some amount of AGEs. The problem with AGEs is that in high concentrations they can cause both oxidative stress and inflammation in the body, which are two factors that are known to cause premature aging. What’s more is that they also contribute to the development of several diseases, including Alzheimer’s, diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, liver disease, kidney disease, and yes, even cancer. [1] [2]
Luckily, our body is capable of fighting AGEs when given the right weapons. These come in the form of antioxidants, which eliminate AGEs and protect us against the aforementioned inflammation and oxidative stress. Consuming foods that are high in antioxidants like blueberriesand matcha is a great place to start. When in doubt, go for a variety of colorful whole foods! (Sorry, M&Ms don’t count! But the ones from this listdo.) When roasting, frying, or grilling foods, incorporate citrus, herbs and spices like lemon, rosemary and turmericto help neutralize the formation of AGEs.
Chronic Stress
“Again, with the stress. Zuzka, you’ve already talked about stress!” I hate to say it, but it bears repeating. Control. Your. Stress. Why else? Because when it is chronic, unmanaged, and extreme, stress can be deadly. Ever seen someone undergo intense stress and suddenly come out looking like they aged overnight? That is exactly what I am talking about. And I have the science to prove it. I came across an article from Psychology Today that covered this specific topic. [3] In it, they explained that stress due to untreated depression, anxiety, and life events like unemployment can all accelerate the aging process by shortening the strands of our DNA. To keep this from getting complicated, let’s simply say that the longer the strands are, the stronger they are. The shorter they are, the more likely we are to experience chronic disease, premature aging, and smaller lifespans. Now, remember, I am talking about an extreme end of the spectrum of stress here. (For more context, read my post on Good vs Bad Stress.) Never-ending, strong stress, whether it’s psychological (depression, anxiety, etc.), physical (viral infections, undiagnosed colitis, etc.), or personal (divorce, abusive relationships or work environments, etc.), brings about equally as strong outcomes. This is what I, and many experts believe, is the deadly form of stress. While I am not a professional, I urge you to get help in any of those circumstances. And in the meantime, finding ways to lower the burden of stress can help immensely. This can be exercise, meditation, or learning how to unwind at the end of the day.
Mastering the Sitting
Couch warriors listen up. Although we jokingly brag about binge-watching our favorite shows and boast about sitting through X-amount of traffic, our sedentary lifestyles are literally paving the way to an earlier death. Hear me out. According to research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, a sedentary lifestyle increases your risk for kidney and cardiovascular disease, obesity, cancer, and even death itself. [4] On the flipside, regular exercise had the opposite effect by helping to increase lifespan. The study then focused on participants that exercised for 150 (or more) a week and found they were likely to live 10-13 years longer compared to other participants that remained inactive. To further emphasize this point, let’s go back to our DNA. Specifically, telomeres. These are special sections located at the end of chromosomes that help to protect them from deterioration. Telomeres naturally start to shorten with age but can be affected by other factors such as inflammation, as well as (you guessed it) lack of exercise.
Case in point: The Women’s Health Initiative, a special study which lasted from 2012-2013, closely examined the habits and factors in postmenopausal women that lead to chronic disease and aging. It was shown that the women who barely exercised and remained sedentary for 10 or more hours a day were biologically “older” on a cellular level, especially in comparison to the women who were more active. According to the research, “Our study found cells age faster with a sedentary lifestyle. Chronological age does not always match biological age. We found that women who sat longer did not have shorter telomere length if they exercised for at least 30 minutes a day, the national recommended guideline. Discussions about the benefits of exercise should start when we are young, and physical activity should continue to be part of our daily lives as we get older, even at 80 years old.” [4]
What does that mean for you? Time to get up and MOVE. Simply getting into the habit of a daily walk is an excellent first step. After that, find more activities that you enjoy. Swimming, hiking, dancing, yoga, sports- all of these things keep you young and active. Add some of my short-but-sweet ZGYM workouts and you’ve got the ultimate recipe for youth, body composition, and longevity!
Alright, everyone, that’s it for Part 1 of this look into the factors that speed up aging. Tune in for Part 2 as I cover the even more of them. Until then, let me know what you think about aging and what more you’d like to see me cover on the blog!
Sources:
[1] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/advanced-glycation-end-products#section6
[2] https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1196/annals.1333.084
[3] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201404/emotional-distress-can-speed-cellular-aging
[4] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/315347.php
Private Member |
canada
Great great article!! Looking forward to part 2
Private Member |
There is a you tube channel called mixed makeup that is a dermatologist giving advice on skin care of all sorts. I found out that exfoliating can cause micro tears in the skin that can cause it to become waxy over time. With all these beauty gurus exfoliating twice a day, I definitely notice the skin looking waxy, for myself I kind of avoid exfoliating and stick to the brush to wash my face, it does enough. Also bloches on the skin can be cause just from heat. I have some of those too that I thought were freckles, interesting. Helps to know these things so we can prepare!
Private Member |
Also I’m beginning to think that the harmful effects from the sun is overblown. Not that it isn’t harmful, but that it is advertised too much and other real causes, like drying makeup products and abusive skin care routines, are intentionally being kept hush-hush. It’s worked on me, I have about 10 bottles of all sorts of sun screens on hand. Also there are a lot of fake dermatologists out there. I don’t go to any because I had a bad experience when I was a pre-teen. I just wanted to know how to care for my skin, and the dermatologist gave my super sensitive, super pale complexion cetaphil. Cetaphil is a super harsh ‘wash’ for people with acne, which I have never had! It burned my skin so bad! It must have so much alcohol in it! Also every mole or beauty mark was ‘pre-cancerous’ in her mind, because I am English she thought I’d fall for it. I think stress and not sleeping enough, which leads to neglecting self-care and overeating, along with harmful products and bad plastic surgery is the real causes of aging to look out for. Even diet I think is over rated, since everyone and their mother is selling a diet product. Also how many celebrities like Brad Pitt admit to being alcoholics for years, but they look the same as a sober person? Remember when wine was supposed to protect from cancer? It’s so dumb lol. There’s something new every day to look out for.
Private Member |
uk
And Jennifer Aniston smoking like a chimney and what a beautiful couple they were : ) For me ageing is all down to genetics. I roll my eyes over tips like don’t eat bbq foods or don’t eat sugar. People who age well do nothing special about it. If somebody tells you otherwise they sure try to sell you something : )
Private Member |
portugal
Actually, there are several twin experiments showing the effects of different lifestyles and other factores such as sun, smoking, alcohol, stress, weight etc. I agree a lot of it is down to genetics. But lifestyle makes a HUGE difference on how well we age despite anecdotal evidence suggesting otherwise (I sure know a few).
Private Member |
Yeah you know when you pay attention to real life people and experiment on yourself you begin to see that many moguls and celebrities are totally lying about nearly everything in their lives, like where they are from, how much money they have, and especially their age. Like Keith Richards. The man is like a walking cadaver and anyone else would have died a long time ago with his lifestyle. I doubt he did half the crazy stuff he claims, it was all probably made up for an image. I remember he claimed he had all his blood filtered from his body and replaced, like when they ressurected the vampires in the Kate Beckensale movie Underworld. If these people are telling the truth they are some kind of werewolf, or they are lying for attention. Once you’re informed it’s easy to spot the lies.
Private Member |
Field of nutrition has a lot of issues that need to be worked out. Information changes with new studies but when looking back and obtaining information, a lot of data is outdated, has questionable funding and unmentioned interest that can skew data by researchers, and or, quality of research is not that good. Some research findings are not strong but people sometimes jump the gun and run with information making it the new “flavor” of the day. Anything that sounds too good to be true is often just that. Nutrition related or otherwise.
Private Member |
Not to mention the people that are old today, in America we call them baby boomers and best generation, were brought up in a completely different mindset than the younger generation X and millenials. The average millenial where I live doesn’t drink much, because they know how bad alcohol is for them, and they wear sunscreen and drive safely because we are informed and generally considerate. Also many of us have health issues, like I do, type 1 diabetes. Baby boomers and best generations that I know would sit in the sun with oil on, because there was no info around about sun damage, and sunscreens sold in stores were crap. Bars near me are packed with people in their 60s! There weren’t even car safety regulations until the 1970s! Do gyms still need you to be over 16 to join? I only had videos from the library to work out to as a kid. Point of the matter is the average old person today is not educated or disciplined or interested in innovation and longevity for the most part because it wasn’t known or important back then. I can’t really listen to what an old person claims made them age because unless they were are medical professional, I don’t trust their judgement. My 70-year-old uncle got his shoulder replaced last year because he played tennis for 20 years and never warmed up or cooled down, and never stretched AT ALL. The man is wealthy and had tennis lessons, you know a coach had mentioned it! A simple google search could have led him to a solution for tennis elbow, like the egoscue method or any of the hundreds of free yoga and fitness channels on youtube. I told him about how postural therapy helps my shoulder before he got the surgery, but he ignored me. The man owns an iphone, he knows what the internet is. I suppose it just never crossed his mind and he assumed he was a victim of aging! You can’t come back from replacing shoulder!
I could go on all day about this, I’ve met plenty of older people with similar common sense stories. Hard work pays off when it comes to health!
Private Member |
We can talk to people all the want but if they don’t feel the need to change or have other motivating factors, advice can fall on deaf ears. Can’t make people change, they have to be willing to do so themselves. To each their own.
Private Member |
And also maybe there aren’t a ton of Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynold-ish older people walking around (I do know a few men in their 70s that are lively and active though,) but if a large generation that notoriously smoked, drank and neglected their health by 2019 standards is still alive well into their 80s and 90s, I think that says a lot about medical advancements! The generation before the best generation had a life expectancy of 60 years! Do we really have that much to worry about?
Private Member |
Generally speaking older generations have had their own health hazards they had to face that we don’t today. They also are in a different place in their lives where they may not be as vulnerable to certain problems that you or a much younger person may have to face. There are a lot factors that play into it. Medical improvements are great way to maintain health but we need to work on our selves and create a culture that justly allows the same liberty and opportunity for just about everyone. Also, quality of life can vary greatly. Believe it or not, for a lot of people, being in good health is a luxury! Especially for lower socioeconomic status, developing nations, those deemed to vulnerable persons, etc.
Private Member |
I totally agree! It happens everyday for people like me. I’m very grateful that I live in a state that enforces the affordable care act, because there are many in mid-west America that do not, like Kentucky. Before the aca, your health insurance ran out at age 19, unless you went to college full-time, or got a full-time job that offered insurance, and after 2008 there were no full-time job for young people, or they would cut you at a straight 39 hours a week to avoid paying health insurance. (I worked at a company that did that in 2016!) And even then, insurance companies could look at your health history and choose to drop you because they don’t feel like paying for your health care. I had to work a back-busting job just to get health insurance, and if that company wasn’t around I may not have lived, because insulin costs hundreds, sometimes even a thousand, dollars a bottle. People living in states that don’t enforce ACA die every day because they cannot buy insulin. I can’t imagine what it is like for people in 2nd or 3rd world countries. Some people get clever and go to Mexico once a year, where the exact same insulins are sold for 20 or 100 bucks, and stock up their supply like the ice age is coming. People in America with health issues will spend money to take care of it, while skimping on luxuries, all day every day because having no energy and slowly slipping away is a reality if you do not.
Private Member |
Sorry to hear that. Sounds like you have your challenges! I understand where you are coming from and have a similar situation. It’s unfortunate many cannot afford basic care with insurance companies calling the shots for patients and providers. Healthcare is complicated here. I have been reading about many Americans who can afford to travel becoming medical refugees. Many go to Canada to buy medications and get treatments.
Private Member |
Forgot to mention, GoodRx might be worth looking in to. They help lower prescription drug costs and give it out free cards at local clinics if you can get your hands on one.
Private Member |
Thank you Helyas! I have great insurance now so my insulins are paid for, but I know a lot of people that could use this information. I will look into GoorRx, thank you! What country are you from?
Private Member |
No problem. I live in the U.S.
Private Member |
I understand that barbecuing and frying should be avoided. So what about the rest ways of cooking? What is considered as high temperature? Boiling is at 100 degree Celsius, baking can be also at 170 Celsius. Is that still ok to avoid AGEs? And does the time one bakes, boils or shimmers food also matter?
Private Member |
switzerland/, france
there is a chart on bulletproof website that has the cooking type rated from good to bad, by food types.
Private Member |
myrtle beach, south carolina, united states
I can say with utter certainty that excess alcohol will age you. I wasted ten years of my life drinking. By the time I stopped, I looked 15 years older than I was. It dries your skin out and because it’s such a diuretic, it forces your body to retain water in an effort to not be dehydrated, so your face gets puffy. The good news is, once I stopped drinking and started looking after my health again, I lost a ton of weight, my skin went back to looking great and I got back to being a fairly nice-looking woman. I know wine is touted as being healthy for your heart, but I’d rather skip the alcohol and not risk sliding down that dangerous slope again.