CAN I SLOW DOWN THE AGEING PROCESS?
Many women are worried that the onset of menopause signals a sudden increase in their rate of ageing and that their looks will fade overnight.
The rate at which we age is determined by several factors. The ones you can"t control are your genetic inheritance and the age at which you pass through the menopause.
The factors over which you can exert control are exercise, diet and lifestyle, exposure to the sun"s ultra violet rays and your immune system.
1. Exercise
Exercise is vital for women in midlife as, after the menopause, the metabolic rate decreases causing a tendency to easy weight gain and in 50% of post-menopausal women there is an increase in body weight of five kilograms and in many cases much more. Ideally, at least 20 to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise should be done daily to stimulate the heart, circulation of blood and respiration. This can consist of doing aerobic exercise to music at a gym or in your own home, swimming, aqua aerobics or jogging. For those who have not done any aerobic exercise before, the process should be started gradually, starting with five minutes a day and increasing during a four-week period to thirty minutes daily. For those women with cardiovascular risk factors such as obesity, smoking, high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure or a poor family history of heart disease, a full fitness check-up including a cardiac stress test should be done by a cardiologist before aerobic exercise is undertaken. For those with arthritic joints and backache, aerobics, jogging and strenuous weight-bearing exercise may aggravate pain and damage. For those people, modified yoga, tai chi or swimming and walking are excellent as they stretch the joints gradually and keep the muscles in tone.
Many menopausal women find that aerobic exercise can be awkward because of stress incontinence. This means that when the intra-abdominal pressure is increased by exercise, straining, coughing, etc., urine is passed uncontrollably soiling the underclothes. This happens because a deficiency of the female hormones can cause the pelvic floor muscles to weaken and sag so that the bladder is insufficiently supported.
Exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles can overcome stress incontinence in 40% to 50% of cases and I recommend a small booklet called "Women"s Waterworks" written by P. Chiarelli to instruct you in these exercises.
2. The Anti-Ageing Diet
A woman in midlife need not be fanatical about diet as obsessions can cause an early death through stress or boredom. There are some basic principles that should be followed for profound and far-reaching benefits to your physical and mental wellbeing. These principles are:
i) Learn to love RAW vegetables and fruits. Ideally around 50% of the dietary intake should consist of raw foods. Raw foods are living foods and by virtue of this they will stimulate the metabolism and aid the elimination of toxic waste materials from the body. Raw foods contain certain beneficial chemicals such as Indoles, which have anti-cancer properties and are excellent in overcoming obesity, arthritis and high blood pressure. Ideally women in midlife should buy themselves a juice extracting machine with which to make raw vegetable and fruit juices on a daily basis. Juices not only supply essential minerals and vitamins, but also contain easily assimilated organic compounds such as vegetable amino acids that function similarly to some of the body secretions and hormones. Raw fruit and vegetable juices are distinct and incomparable in the rejuvenation and regeneration of the human organism.
No other source supplies so much vitamin C as fruits and vegetables, and this vitamin is entirely destroyed when the juices are subjected to heat.
Generally, half a litre of juice daily is the least that will show worthwhile results. If you can manage more, all the better, and one litre may be needed to stimulate a quicker process of detoxification and rejuvenation.
Recommended juice combinations are: A. Several of the following — apple, grapefruit, orange, strawberry, pear, pineapple, peach.
B.Several of the following — carrot, celery, tomatoe, parsley, cucumber, cabbage, spinach, beetroot, radish, dandelion, lettuce, turnip leaf juice, watercress.
C. For health cocktails add a dash of lemon, strawberry and honey.
ii) Avoid processed chemical and frozen foods and buy foods in their natural state as they contain more fibre and less calories and fat. Choose unprocessed grains, cereals, seeds, nuts, legumes and wholegrain bread instead of products made with white flour, white sugar, colourings, salt, commercial sauces and processed fats.
iii) Reduce fats, not just cholesterol, but all saturated fats. This means you
will need to avoid fatty meats such as lamb, pork and chicken with the skin, processed meats, preserved meats, fried foods, coconut, some processed margarines and full-fat dairy products. You should especially avoid fats that have turned rancid, as they generate the production of free radicals, which will increase inflammation and cancer formation.
Substitute saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats by eating foods such as grilled fish, seeds, grains, legumes, almonds, vegetables and cold-pressed vegetable and seed oils.
iv) Drink four to eight glasses of water daily. The best type of water is that passed through a water purifier which can be attached easily to your kitchen tap. Water will dilute the blood thereby reducing cholesterol and acidity and improving a sluggish circulation.
3. The Immune System
Your immune system is the defence and surveillance system that protects your cells against infections, toxins, free radicals and non-specific damage. The immune system is very complex and consists of the lymphatic system, liver, spleen, bone marrow and thymus gland. The thymus gland situated in the lower part of the neck, and behind the breast plate or sternum is the master gland of the immune system and orchestrates the other parts.
Unfortunately, the valuable thymus gland shrinks with age which leads to a general reduction in the efficiency of the immune system. As our ageing immune system weakens, we become more susceptible to degeneration and inflammation of our cells, infections, cancer and more rapid ageing. All of these things may add up eventually to shorten our life span.
Thus, you can comprehend the huge importance of a healthy immune system in the quest for youthfulness and a longer life span. The immune system acts to reduce damage and ageing of the most vulnerable parts of our cells, such as the nucleus and intra-cellular metabolic structures.
FREE RADICALS
To understand the process of ageing it is essential that you know about "free radicals". These sound like political terrorists and indeed they are dangerous, unstable electronic particles that terrorise our cells. They rush around the body damaging cell walls, genetic material, blood vessel walls, joints and intra-cellular components. When free radicals are produced in your skin, they damage collagen fibres, causing cross-linkage and degeneration of collagen resulting in wrinkling, thinning and ageing of the skin. These horrible evil free radicals cause an atomic bomb-type chain reaction in our precious cells, which keeps on generating more and more free radicals. Obviously, we all hate free radicals as they damage our cells, leading to more
rapid ageing, and all of us would like to reduce their production in our bodies.
Although free radicals are inevitable to some degree, as they are formed when we are exposed to polluted air, cigarette smoke, rancid dietary fats, some highly processed chemical foods, fluorescent lights, video display units, viruses and alcohol, there is still a great deal we can do to protect our cells against their destructive effects.
ANTIOXIDANTS
Vitamin E
One of the greatest methods existing to protect our tender tissues from free radical damage is to take vitamin E. Vitamin E has been recognised for many years for its anti-ageing effect, long before scientists understood the significance and existence of free radicals.
One word of caution, however, is that only the natural forms of vitamin E are useful and unfortunately, thousands of women are erroneously taking the synthetic form of vitamin E, which is of negligible use. The natural forms of vitamin E are called D-tocopherols. These D-tocopherols are a mixture of alpha, beta, gamma, delta, eta, epsilon and zeta and they all play a valuable role in scavenging and neutralising free radicals. Studies seem to indicate that doses between 500 to 1,000 international units a day can help to slow down the ageing process. You can also find vitamin E in fresh wheat germ and cold pressed seed oils such as soyabean, sunflower, sesame and safflower. Beta-Carotene
Another free radical protector is the nutritional substance called Beta-Carotene which is found in high concentration in certain vegetables such as carrots, silverbeet leaf and pumpkin and that is one of the reasons why raw vegetable juices are so wonderfully good for age-conscious folks. If you take too much Beta Carotene your skin may turn a slightly yellow or bronze colour as the carotene is a yellow pigment. This is harmless and is not equivalent to vitamin A overdosage and if it happens, simply reduce your intake of Beta Carotene until the bronze colour fades. It is possible to take Beta Carotene in supplement form and tablets of 6mg can safely be taken in a dose of 1 to 3 tablets daily. Beta Carotene is converted in the liver into vitamin A and this is beneficial as vitamin A is in itself a powerful free radical scavenger and so a useful anti-ageing substance. It is especially important for the strength and metabolism of the skin and mucous membranes which are particularly vulnerable to drying and infection in menopausal women. Doses of 5,000 to 10,000 international units daily are helpful in those with a normal liver function, but if you suffer with any medical disorders, check with your doctor first before taking vitamin A.
Vitamin C
The miracle anti-ageing and rejuvenating properties of vitamin C, are to the water soluble parts of your body what vitamin E is to the fatty parts. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant and free radical scavenger and is extremely important in maintaining the integrity and elasticity of collagen in your skin and bones. Vitamin C will reduce ageing of your skin and bones. The best sources of vitamin C are fresh fruits and vegetables but as an insurance policy, I recommend that all women take a supplement of the calcium ascorbate powder form of vitamin C in a dosage of lOOOmg twice daily, which is easily dissolved in raw fruit and vegetable juices. According to Dr. Judie Walton, a gerentologist at the Ageing Research Institute at Concord Hospital, vitamins E and C prolong life in experimental animals and she expects the same is true for humans. Dr. Walton says that this is logical as, if antioxidant vitamins protect our specialised cells, these cells will not need to be replenished so often from our cell banks which will last longer and life span should increase accordingly.
ANTI AGEING HORMONES
Growth Hormone
A powerful hormone involved in the ageing process is Growth Hormone which is produced by the pituitary gland. During normal ageing, growth hormone production decreases from about age 20 to very low levels in some people by age 60. This is usually accompanied by reductions in muscle mass, metabolic rate, muscle strength, exercise performance and an increase in cholesterol. Thus, normal ageing is growth hormone-related. A deficiency of growth hormone causes fatigue, increased body fat especially around the stomach, slight reduction in muscle mass, cold hands and feet, feeling cold and sometimes sexual dysfunction. Growth hormone deficiency affects men and women in equal numbers.
There is no question that people with an abnormal lack of growth hormone should receive treatment, and recently American scientists have found that a group of healthy men aged between 61 and 81 emerged with bodies almost 20 years younger after receiving injections of growth hormone. Injections of growth hormone have been shown to increase lean body tissue, muscle mass and exercise performance while reducing body fat and cholesterol.
You will be happy to know that regular exercise seems to promote the production of your own growth hormone from the pituitary gland. Simply by exercising regularly you are slowing down the ageing process by increasing your own supplies of precious growth hormone in a natural way.
The Thymus Gland
Going back to the pivotal role of the master thymus gland, exciting new research in Europe and the USA shows that injections of extracts from the thymus gland may increase the resistance of the immune system in animals and when these injections have been used in human beings they have often produced a feeling of rejuvenation in the recipients. Further research could very well reveal that taking extracts of thymus will slow down ageing of the immune system.
The Thyroid Gland
It is not uncommon for the thyroid gland to become slightly underactive at the time of the menopause and indeed women are far more prone to thyroid disease than men. The thyroid gland controls the metabolic rate and if it becomes underactive, the metabolic rate will reduce causing easy weight gain, difficulty in losing weight, dry thickened skin, dry thinning hair, constipation, sensitivity to cold and mental slowness. Your thyroid gland can be checked by a simple blood test. If it is (bund to be underactive you will be prescribed thyroid hormone which will re-establish the metabolic rate and cause a return to normal body weight and mental activity If your metabolism is a little sluggish and you seem to have trouble burning up the calories, and yet your blood test shows that your thyroid gland is functioning within normal limits, you may be able to stimulate your metabolism by taking spirulina (a nutritional supplement) and dried macrobiotic seaweed preparations. These contain the essential mineral iodine along with other essential minerals to generally stimulate the metabolism.
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