Sunday, November 26, 2006

Sharon will live to 88

On 29th November Sharon's total cholesterol level was 4.97 mm/L. (target <5.0), Glucose (diabetes test) 4.9mm/L (target <6.0).

Sharon took the 10minute Eons.com test to see how long she could live.

Sharons' Calculator age is:

88

personal

+0.25 years

People who are optimistic about their aging fare much better. Turn your attitude around about your aging and you could add a quarter of a year to your life

lifestyle

+1.0 year

Minimizing or cutting out your caffeinated coffee consumption completely could provide you with about a year more in life expectacy

+1.0 year

If it is ok with your doctor, taking an 81 mg aspirin every day improves your heart and brain health and could help you delay or escape a heart attack or stroke. Taking an aspirin each day, perferably in the evening, could add 1 year to your life expectancy.

+0.5 years

Ultraviolet rays present in sunlight and tanning beds greatly increase your risk of skin cancer, including melanoma. They also increase wrinkles. Minimizing your sun exposure could add half a year to your life expectancy

+0.5 years

There is a clear link between the inflammation of gum disease and heart disease. Do a good job of flossing daily and you could add half a year to your life expectancy.

nutrition

+0.5 years

You are already making an effort to cut back on your carbs. Further cutting back the carbs in your diet (basically anything white and French fries) to a serving every other day could add half a year to your life expectancy

+1.0 year

Changing your daily dietary intake so that you get to and maintain a healthy weight could add 1 year to your life expectancy (though you probably will gain more years, depending on how heavy you are and this is taken into account when we calculate your body mass index)

+0.5 years

Increasing your exercise regimen (more than 30 minutes a day) to at least 4 days a week could add half a year to your life expectancy

medical

+0.5 years

Being in touch with your health care provider annually is very important for screening and preventing illness. Getting the appropriate blood tests on a regular basis could add a half a year

+0.5 years

Getting your blood pressure checked annually could add half a year to your life expectancy

PERSONAL

Gender

Being female gives you a head start in the longevity marathon. Women usually have heart attack or stroke about 10 years later than men and 85% of centenarians are women and 15% are men. After menopause (average age 51 years), this advantage seems to diminish and therefore some scientists speculate that estrogen plays a role in this advantage. Another theory holds that chronic iron deficiency (due to menstruation) gives a woman her advantage. Iron is critical to our cells' ability to produce age-accelerating free radicals that also predispose to heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's disease and cancer.

Next steps

The following actions and potential problems to be checked for are general guidelines for the general public. There may be instances where a particular recommendation does not pertain to a particular patient because of their unusual circumstances. Furthermore, in some cases something might need to be checked or examined at a younger than usually recommended age because of a familial predisposition or predisposing environmental exposure or behavior. The following is not meant to be an all-inclusive list and it is wise to have a detailed discussion with your health care provider to come up with a plan of prevention and screening that fits your particular circumstances.

  1. Each year, with your heath care provider, be sure to cover the following.
    • Medical history and physical exam
    • Tobacco use
    • Diet and exercise counseling
    • Alcohol and substance abuse
    • Sex-related concerns
    • Vision screen and hearing test
    • Depression screen
    • Osteoporosis prevention counseling and calcium and vitamin D intake
    • Self examination counseling (e.g. skin and breast exam)
    • Driver safety counseling (e.g. seat belt use, assessment of driving safety record)
  2. And, have the following checked by physical examination and/or laboratory evaluation annually:
    • Obesity screening and counseling (body mass index and waist size)
    • Blood pressure
    • Breast exam and mammogram
    • Stool for any blood (requires a special test to detect trace, invisible amounts)
    • Total blood cholesterol (and specifically HDL and LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels)
    • Electrocardiogram (ECG) if you are at increased risk for heart disease (increased risk would be the case if you have two or more of the following: a family history of heart attack, elevated cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes or smoking)
    • Pap smear for women who have a cervix (testing can be less than annual if recommended by physician)
    • Screen for sexually transmitted diseases (STD) if you are at risk. Risk factors include history of prior STD, new or multiple sex partners, inconsistent use of barrier contraceptives, use of injection drugs. STD tests may include HIV, syphilis, and gonorrhea.
  3. Be sure that the following is performed regularly at the recommended intervals:
    • Check for osteoporosis with urine test and DEXA scan. Determine the frequency of this test with your physician
    • Colorectal cancer screening
    • Flexible Sigmoidoscopy, every five years
    • Complete colon examination by colonoscopy, every 10 years (no need to perform sigmoidoscopy in the tenth year when colonoscopy also examines the sigmoid colon)
    • Tuberculin skin test (PPD) every 1-3 years depending upon your risk of being exposed to tuberculosis
    • Exercise treadmill test (ETT) if at increased risk for heart disease (for example: family history, smoker, high blood pressure, diabetes, or poor cholesterol profile) or if otherwise felt to be warranted by your health care provider
    • Screen for ovarian cancer using transvaginal ultrasound and rectovaginal pelvic exam for women who are at risk for ovarian cancer (can include (a) having a family history with at least one first-degree relative with ovarian cancer or a first-degree or second-degree relative with breast, ovarian, or colorectal cancer.
Next steps

Marital Status

Interestingly, New England Centenarian Study data suggest that marriage or having a partner in your life has different effects upon your life expectancy depending upon whether you are a man or woman. In the case of a woman, being or having been married does not provide a distinct survival advantage, at least in the ability to achieve exceptional old age. An unusual proportion of the female centenarians never married (about 15%). Perhaps personality features that lead to perseverance, independence, and assertiveness provide a survival advantage. Such women may also be particularly good at managing stress. On the other hand, nearly 100% of the male centenarians are married or were only recently widowed.

Next steps

Proximity of Family

Having reasonably frequent contact with family or friends who are like family to you can be an important feature of your ability to manage stress well and is probably a life expectancy extender. Extended family cohesiveness and frequent contact is a notable feature of centenarian families. Researchers have noted that people who do not belong to cohesive families have fewer coping resources and increased levels of social and psychological stress. Psychological stress is associated with heart disease, various cancers and increased mortality risk.

Next steps

How Do You Cope With Stress?

Excellent! Managing your stress in such a way that it doesn't eat away at you, and in your case actually acts as a motivator is tremendous. Your ability to manage stress effectively will substantially improve your life expectancy and increase the number of healthy years ahead of you.

Next steps

Sleep Habits

It is terrific that you are getting adequate and quality sleep. Adequate sleep is also a sign of good health.

Education

Those added years of education will likely increase your life expectancy for obvious reasons such as your being a more informed consumer of health care and your being more likely to partake in healthy behaviors such as not smoking and having a healthy diet. Regarding your brain health, continue to participate in cognitively challenging activities, exercising parts of your brain that haven't been used so much - new activities that are difficult (what neuropsychologist Paul Naussbaum terms .novel and complex.). Learn a new language or musical instrument; if you don't have time for these most potent activities, try crosswords, Scrabble, bridge, sculpture or painting, but when you get good at something, move on to another cognitively challenging activity. Cognitively challenging activities as an adult, have been shown to delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease and to slow its progression.

Next steps

Hours on the Job

A recent Japanese study of the relationship between work hours and heart attack risk revealed that men who worked, on average, 11 hours or more a day had twice the risk of heart attack. Interestingly though, those who worked less than 7 hours a day were also at increased risk. If you find your current workload comfortable and that you are taking advantage of your leisure time to perform healthy and enjoyable activities, good for you and keep up the good work!

Next steps

Brain Strengthening

Excellent! Your brain strengthening activities can help you delay or escape memory loss and perhaps Alzheimer's disease.

Next steps

LIFESTYLE

Smog

Ahhh. Take a deep breath of that clean fresh air! It is wonderful and life expectancy-enhancing that you live in a smog-free environment.

Coffee

You are drinking too much coffee. You may have many reasons for this degree of consumption including trouble with sleep, withdrawal headaches, the taste, and so on. Gradually replacing your coffee with tea is one method of weaning yourself off. There are effective methods for the majority of people and the effort is worthwhile in improving quality and quantity of life. Excessive coffee can be a sign of increased stress. Stress can lead to a hormonal imbalance, which can physically stress and age numerous organs. In addition, coffee predisposes the stomach to chronic inflammation of the stomach and ulcers. Such chronic inflammation leads to release of substances that raise the risk of heart disease. Tea, and especially green tea, on the other hand, has been noted for its significant antioxidant content, and tea drinkers in general appear to be healthier.

Tea

Try to give tea a chance. You may find that it grows on you. Regular tea consumption is a healthy habit that may actually be life extending. The antioxidants in tea may decrease your risk of heart disease and cancer. Tea contains a powerful class of antioxidants known as polyphenols. It is controversial whether green tea has more bioavailable polyphenols than black tea. Either way however, you can't go wrong.

Second-hand Smoke

Avoiding second hand smoke is a very important habit. Because second hand smoke is even more toxic than the filtered smoke that smokers inhale, it takes less of a 'dose' or exposure to be toxic to your lungs and your body in general. Thus, keep avoiding the secondhand smoke as you have been doing. Second hand smoke is more toxic than what the smoker gets because it is unfiltered. Such exposure is clearly a substantial cause of cancer, heart disease, asthma and other lung diseases.

Aspirin

Perhaps you cannot tolerate an aspirin a day because it hurts your stomach, you get ringing in your ears, or you have a propensity for bleeding. On the other hand, if you really don't have a reason to not take an aspirin a day, consider taking one daily. 81 mg of Aspirin per day has been noted to significantly decrease heart disease risk. This benefit may be due to the anti-blood clotting effects of aspirin. Chronic inflammation may also play a role in heart disease and therefore, aspirin's effect on inflammation may also be helpful.

Sunscreen

You are doing a poor job of protecting yourself from the sun and therefore from accelerated aging of your skin as well as from deadly skin cancers such as melanoma. But you could do better. You should regularly apply sun block, at least SPF 15 or higher when you are out in the sun. Some dermatologists recommend reapplication every two hours. You should also have a regular skin (dermatology) check-up and perform a monthly self-examination for changing, new or growing lesions of your skin. For guidance on a self-exam, see [http://www.skincheck.com/]. The association between sun exposure and accelerated skin aging are clear. The ultraviolet rays in sunlight directly damages DNA. More sun means more wrinkles sooner. It also means a higher risk of deadly skin cancer. Excessive sun exposure may also have toxic consequences for the body in general.

Flossing

You need to floss your teeth. There are benefits that go far beyond better breath, but don't underestimate the benefits of good breath! Diligent and regular flossing means keeping your teeth and very possibly reducing your risk of heart attack. Recent scientific evidence reveals that chronic gum disease leads to the release of inflammatory, toxic substances and certain bacteria into the blood stream which potentiate plaque formation in arteries and ultimately lead to heart disease. This process probably also increases the risk of stroke and accelerated aging.

Next steps

NUTRITION

Your Weight

Your calculated body mass index would indicate that you are likely a bit overweight. If you are in fact lean and this calculation is off because of your unique build and greater than expected amount of muscle, then this assumption is incorrect and you should add a few years to your calculated longevity (with our apologies!). However, if to be honest, you are a bit overweight, then you should do what you can to get down to a lean (as little fat as possible) body weight. Even being just a bit overweight significantly increases your risk for diseases that markedly impact upon your longevity, including heart trouble, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, stroke and dementia. You are almost at a good weight. As you age, you may find it more challenging to keep the weight off. You will find, if you aren't doing it already, that getting into a regular regimen of weight training to maintain or build muscle mass will be very helpful in keeping the weight off. Of course diet is also important and lowering your consumption of carbohydrates is helpful. Diet advice is covered by the questions related to carbohydrates and sweets.

Fast Food

Your answer suggests that you avoid fast food restaurants and preserved meats. You are already going a long ways towards a healthy diet. Keep it up! Fast food, generally fried foods and hamburgers, are high in calories and saturated fats. These will make you gain weight and they increase your risk for heart disease, stroke and perhaps cancer. Some studies suggest that 90% of all human cancers are environmentally induced, 30-40% of these by diet. Preserved and cured meats (bacon, sausage, lunch meats, etc.) are the largest source of nitrites in our diet. Nitrites lead to the formation in our bodies of nitrosoamines, which are important environmental oxidants and probable carcinogens. For instance, there is a suggestive association between nitrosamines and stomach cancer.

Next steps

Calcium Intake

Continue to do your best to insure that you are getting plenty of calcium from your diet and if needed, from a vitamin or calcium supplement. The recommended amounts of calcium and vitamin D are 1,500 mg calcium and 1,000 IU of vitamin D per day. Supplements vary according to their efficacy and side effects. The following is a summary:

  • Calcium Citrate, more on the expensive side, can be taken with and without food and is generally not associated with gas or bloating.
  • Calcium carbonate (like Tums) is less expensive but is more difficult to absorb and can be associated with gastrointestinal upset and is better to take with food.
  • Oyster shell, bone meal or dolomite should generally be avoided since they can be associated with toxic metals.
  • Calcium gluconate, calcium lactate, calcium phosphate and other calcium compounds generally have lower amounts of calcium and thus you have to take greater volumes of the supplement.

In addition to dairy products, calcium-fortified juices, breads and cereals are also excellent sources. On the other hand, large quantities of salty foods and meat can significantly increase the amount of calcium lost in the urine. Some foods high in calcium also contain oxalic acid, which interferes with calcium absorption. Spinach is such a food. Do know that even adequate amounts of calcium intake cannot guarantee prevention of osteoporosis. Strength training is also a very helpful measure. All women going through menopause should get their bone density checked by their doctor to check if they have osteoporosis or appear to be heading in that direction. Vitamin D is necessary for the body to absorb the calcium we get in our diets. Our skin naturally makes vitamin D in the presence of sunlight. As we get older, our skin becomes less able to manufacture vitamin D. Also, people who live in areas that get less sunlight during the winter months and/or stay indoors a lot are more likely to be vitamin D deficient. As a result, vitamin D deficiency is actually common. Besides lower calcium levels, vitamin D deficiency can cause annoying symptoms like aches and muscle weakness. Vitamin D deficiency can be avoided by taking in 1,000 IU per day of a vitamin D supplement.

Meat Intake

Good for you. A diet that minimizes meat is healthier. Less meat in the diet is conducive to less heart disease and risk for heart attack and stroke. Furthermore, there are nutritional sources of antioxidants in foods that replace meat in a person's diet especially the polyphenols present in certain vegetables and fruits and the omega-3 fatty acids in fish that help lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol thus decreasing their risk for heart attack and stroke. Weighing red meat against vegetables and fish or skinless poultry, red meat loses out when it comes to your health. The American Heart Association recommends a diet that minimizes meat in the diet and emphasizes these alternatives. Vegetarian dishes, in addition to being an alterative to meat, also have antioxidants that protect the heart and brain. Interestingly, the vascular risk associated with red meat may be related to the fact that it is the major source of iron in our diet. The iron present in vegetables, like spinach, is relatively bio-unavailable. As you will read in greater detail, under the topic of iron supplements, iron plays a critical role in our cells' ability to produce harmful free radicals that likely potentiate aging and age-related illnesses.

Dessert

You are doing much better than the average person in demonstrating restraint from eating those desserts and candy bars. By staying away from these foods that have little in the way of nutritional value and yet significantly increase propensity for obesity and therefore heart attack, stroke, cancer and diabetes, anyone will make great gains in their life expectancy and the proportion of their lives spent in good health. Most desserts and certainly candy bars are high in saturated fats and calories. Both are terrible for you predisposing for weight gain, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. By helping you become obese, they also increase your risk of various cancers.

Carbohydrate consumption:

Not only are the number of calories you eat important, but the type of calories are important as well. Grains, pastas, fruits, and starchy vegetables like potatoes are the most common carbohydrate foods. Simple carbohydrates like white bread, potatoes (especially French fries), pasta, white rice and sugar as well, cause the body to produce insulin in response to elevated levels of glucose in the blood. The insulin in turn induces the storage, instead of burning, of fat. Other foods like fats, protein, and more complex carbohydrates like whole grain foods and fiber are less prone to turn on the production of insulin. The glycemic index of food is a ranking of foods based on their immediate effect on blood glucose (blood sugar) levels and thus the production of insulin. Carbohydrate foods that breakdown quickly during digestion have the highest glycemic indexes causing blood sugar and insulin to rise fast and high. Carbohydrates that breakdown slowly, releasing glucose gradually into the blood stream, have low glycemic indexes. The lower the glycemic index, the less likely that food is going to contribute to the production of fat. There are numerous books and websites that provide the glycemic indices for foods and drinks. However the general food groups noted above are a good start in your education.

Diet and Your Weight

Cutting down on the amount you eat is one of the most important interventions you can do to have a dramatic impact on your health. For many people, eating too much is the main reason they are overweight. For others, it is more difficult than just not eating so much and a consultation with a diet expert may be warranted. Be conscientious about how much you eat. Become a calorie counter. Don't eat till you are full. Stop before you get there. There are also several helpful websites on the internet that are dedicated to helping people lose weight and then maintain a healthy weight. See: ShapeUp America!Obesity is associated with inefficient energy production and an increased production of oxygen free radicals within cells, thus leading to an increased risk of various cancers, heart disease and accelerated aging. It may also lead to diabetes.

Next steps

Iron Intake

It is probably good to continue to stay away from iron supplements and foods that are high in iron content, specifically red meat, if you can. Taking an iron supplement might potentiate your aging and risk for age-related diseases. There is growing evidence from animal and human studies that iron levels are related to aging and age-associated diseases. As a critical component of mitochondrial free radical generation, iron has been proposed by some to be a key modulator of rate of aging and susceptibility to age-related diseases. The available epidemiological evidence suggests that elevated iron levels are involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Menstrual blood loss and resultant iron deficiency might be protective against vascular disease and even contribute to the premenopausal survival advantage of women over men. Further studies are needed to determine whether there are cardiovascular benefits or risks associated with blood donation. Men may have the opportunity to be more female-like in their risk for vascular diseases by regularly donating blood, which could induce an iron deficiency. Blood donation has actually been associated with a decreased risk of atherosclerosis. The primary source of iron in our diet is red meat and this should be avoided as well.

Exercise

Good Job. You are already making a great effort at getting that exercise into your daily routine. If you can increase the frequency even one day to three times a week, the added benefits to your physical and mental health could be substantial. Don't forget to be balanced in how much aerobic exercise you do versus strength training. Both are very important. Also, if you are doing a lot of high impact workouts, gauge how much wear and tear you are putting on your weight-bearing joints so that you don't set yourself up for premature osteoarthritis. Exercise leads to more efficient energy production by your cells and less oxygen radical formation (which speeds up aging and increases your risk for heart disease, stroke and cancer). Muscle is a tremendously efficient burner of fat and maintaining muscle mass has many benefits. Therefore, strength training is important. Depending upon how much one weighs, we generally loose a third of a pound of muscle every year after age 30, which is replaced by fat. The great news is that for most people, muscle loss can be completely reversed no matter what your age, by regular strength training.

Next steps

MEDICAL

Bowel Movements

Having a bowel movement at least once every two days may be associated with decreased risk of colon cancer. Keeping gut transit time under 20 hours seems to decrease the incidence of colon cancer, probably by decreasing the contact time between the gut lining and cancer-potentiating substances in the diet. These substances influence DNA damage and repair and therefore probably also influence the rate of aging as well. Epidemiological studies in humans and animal studies suggest that increasing dietary fiber will reduce the risk of certain cancers perhaps by increasing the frequency of bowel movements. On the other hand, recent reports indicate that the association may not be as clear as once believed. In addition to increased transit time and therefore less contact between carcinogens and the bowel wall, perhaps other factors that increase transit time such as regular exercise might be the real reason for decreased cancer risk.

Self-Examination for Cancer

Excellent. Early detection of breast cancer is so critical and monthly self-examination is an important step in catching the disease early enough. Please refer to the American Cancer Society's website on breast cancer which discusses many aspects of the disease including how to detect it early with monthly self examination (they have a very clear set of instructions on how to do the exam) and other steps women need to take including an annual mammogram from age 40 on (or earlier, if you are at increased risk).

Next steps

Cholesterol Tests

Not knowing what your HDL level should be considered a risk factor for heart disease and stroke. It means you are not availing yourself of some key information to decrease your risk for these diseases. HDL cholesterol is known as the "good" cholesterol because a high level of HDL cholesterol appears to protect against heart attack. Medical experts think that HDL tends to carry cholesterol away from the arteries and back to the liver, where it is processed, dumped in the intestine and then passed from the body. Some experts believe that excess cholesterol is removed from blockages in our arteries by HDL, thus slowing the build-up. However, low HDL cholesterol levels (lower than 40 mg/dL) may result in a greater risk for heart disease and stroke. For more information about cholesterol, other risk factors and treatment, go to the American Heart Association's website.

Next steps

It is apparent you are interested in your health and future well-being because you are taking this questionnaire. Now you need to take the next steps that include diligent screening. Get your cardiovascular disease risk factors, including your LDL cholesterol level, checked. A high level (higher than 130 mg/dL) of low-density lipoprotein, or LDL cholesterol, reflects an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. That's why LDL cholesterol is often called "bad" cholesterol. When too much LDL cholesterol circulates in the blood, it can lead to the formation of plaque in the blood vessels that feed the heart and the brain. When enough of this blockage occurs, a heart attack or stroke can occur.

High blood pressure, otherwise known as hypertension is a silent killer. Unless the pressure is very, very high, you may not have any symptoms. Hypertension if caught early and before it gets to high is curable in many cases through pharmacological and non-pharmacological means. Thus, it behooves you to get your blood pressure checked. Please don't put this off.

Diabetes

Of course, it is great that you don't have diabetes. Lower your risk by losing weight if you are overweight. Get your blood sugar checked at least every three years and watch for some of the more common symptoms of diabetes including excessive and persistent thirst, voiding large amounts of urine frequently with normal amounts of fluid intake, and/or unexplained weight loss.

Heart Attack

It is great news that you have not had a heart attack. Hopefully you have been avoiding or minimizing the risk factors for heart attack (also called heart disease or coronary artery disease). Here are the typical risk factors that you can modify: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes (improve your sugar control), being overweight, lack of exercise or cigarette smoking. 90% of heart attack victims have at least one of these risk factors so you might be setting yourself up for a heart attack in the future if you have one or more of these risk factors.

Next steps

Check-Ups

Regular checkups are so important. The frequency of checkups depends on your age and what if any medical or other clinically relevant problems you might have. Generally, anyone age 40 or older should be having annual checkups. Please set up an appointment for a checkup as soon as possible. A conscientious program of screening and prevention are key to living into old age in good health.

Next steps

FAMILY

Family History of Heart Attack of Diabetes

You are lucky to not have heart attack or diabetes running in your family. Now do a good job of taking advantage of those genes and don't do things that could predispose you to the disease nonetheless, such as being obese, smoking and not exercising regularly.

Family History of Cancer

You are lucky to apparently not have cancer running in your family. Now do a good job of taking advantage of those genes and don't do things that could predispose you to cancer nonetheless, such as being obese, smoking, etc.

Family Longevity

Your family history is telling you that you should be extra diligent in entering into a program of prevention and screening with your doctor. Do what you can to prevent various age-related problems and illnesses and screen for these while you have a chance of either curing them or minimizing their impact upon you.

We use maternal age (when you last had a child) to gauge how slowly and well your reproductive system is aging, which tells us something about how the rest of you is doing. If you don't have children in the future, then perhaps the age at which you go through menopause will be a good marker, though there have been no studies thus far linking older age at menopause with exceptional longevity.

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Posted by crabsallover at Sunday, November 26, 2006 0 comments

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I could live to 92!


I took the 10minute Eons.com test to see how long i could live.

Chris Street Calculator age is:

92!

Recommendations:

lifestyle

+1.0 year

Minimizing or cutting out your caffeinated coffee consumption completely could provide you with about a year more in life expectancy

+1.0 year

If it is ok with your doctor, taking an 81 mg aspirin every day improves your heart and brain health and could help you delay or escape a heart attack or stroke. It is best to take the aspirin every day rather than your occasional habit of taking aspirin. Taking an aspirin each day, perferably in the evening, could add 1 year to your life expectancy.

+0.5 years

There is a clear link between the inflammation of gum disease and heart disease. Do a good job of flossing daily and you could add half a year to your life expectancy.

nutrition

+0.5 years

It is unclear if your current weight puts you at increased risk for heart disease or cancer. None the less, by no longer being overweight you would likely improve your overall health and could increase your life expecatancy by half a year or more.

+0.25 years

The more you can get fast foods out of your diet the better. While you are already doing a pretty good job of doing so, completely removing fast foods from your diet could add a quarter of a year to your life expectancy

+0.5 years

You are already making an effort to cut back on your carbs. Further cutting back the carbs in your diet (basically anything white and French fries) to a serving every other day could add half a year to your life expectancy

medical

+0.5 years

Increasing the frequency of your bowel movements to at least once every two days could add half a year to your life expectancy.

+1.0 year

Decreasing your bad cholesterol (called LDL cholesterol) to a normal or even lower level could increase your life expectancy by a year

+0.5 years

Decreasing your systolic blood pressure (the first of the two numbers) to 120 or even lower could add half a year to your life expectancy

+0.25 years

Getting your blood sugar checked could add a quarter of a year to your life expectancy

PERSONAL

Gender

As a man, compared to women, you likely need to be more diligent about good health habits. If they develop heart attack or stroke, men tend to do so about ten years earlier than women. The reason for how and why women have this advantage is unclear. One possibility is that women make much more estrogen than men and this hormone might be associated with some protective effect, though this has in no way been proven. Another possibility is that chronic iron deficiency (due to menstruation) gives a woman her advantage. Iron is critical to our cells' ability to produce age-accelerating free radicals that also predispose to heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's disease and cancer. Men can `menstruate` every eight weeks by donating a pint of blood at their local hospital or other blood bank center. Eight weeks is the recommended period (no pun intended) of time between donations. Donating blood has certainly not been proven to improve cardiovascular risk, though the downside, while performing a good deed, would seem to be minimal.

Next steps

The following actions and potential problems to be checked for are general guidelines for the general public. There may be instances where a particular recommendation does not pertain to a particular patient because of their unusual circumstances. Furthermore, in some cases something might need to be checked or examined at a younger than usually recommended age because of a familial predisposition or predisposing environmental exposure or behavior. The following is not meant to be an all-inclusive list and it is wise to have a detailed discussion with your health care provider to come up with a plan of prevention and screening that fits your particular circumstances.

  1. Each year, with your heath care provider, be sure to cover the following.
    • History and physical exam
    • Tobacco use
    • Diet and exercise counseling
    • Alcohol and substance abuse
    • Sex-related concerns
    • Vision screen and hearing test
    • Depression screen
    • Self examination counseling (e.g. skin)
    • Driver safety counseling (e.g. seat belt use, assessment of driving safety record)
  2. And, have the following checked by physical examination and/or laboratory evaluation annually:
    • Obesity screening and counseling (body mass index and waist size)
    • Blood pressure
    • Prostate exam (and serum prostatic specific antigen or PSA, if there is a family history of prostate cancer, being of African-American descent, consumption of a high-fat diet, or having had a vasectomy).
    • Stool for any blood (requires a special test to detect trace, invisible amounts)
    • Total blood cholesterol (and specifically HDL and LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels)
    • Electrocardiogram (ECG) if you are at increased risk for heart disease (increased risk would be the case if you have two or more of the following: a family history of heart attack, elevated cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes or smoking)
  3. Be sure that the following is performed regularly at the recommended intervals:
    • Colorectal cancer screening
    • Flexible Sigmoidoscopy, every five years
    • Complete colon examination by colonoscopy, every 10 years (no need to perform sigmoidoscopy in the tenth year when colonoscopy also examines the sigmoid colon)
    • Tuberculin skin test (PPD) every 1-3 years depending upon your risk of being exposed to tuberculosis
    • Tetanus vaccination every five years
    • Exercise treadmill test (ETT) if at increased risk for heart disease (for example: family history, smoker, high blood pressure, diabetes, or poor cholesterol profile) or if otherwise felt to be warranted by your health care provider.
Next steps

Marital Status

Congratulations, New England Centenarian Study data suggest that in the case of men, being married provides a survival advantage.

Next steps

Proximity of Family

Having reasonably frequent contact with family or friends who are like family to you can be an important feature of your ability to manage stress well and is probably a life expectancy extender. Extended family cohesiveness and frequent contact is a notable feature of centenarian families. Researchers have noted that people who do not belong to cohesive families have fewer coping resources and increased levels of social and psychological stress. Psychological stress is associated with heart disease, various cancers and increased mortality risk.

Next steps

How Do You Cope With Stress?

Excellent! Managing your stress in such a way that it doesn't eat away at you, and in your case actually acts as a motivator is tremendous. Your ability to manage stress effectively will substantially improve your life expectancy and increase the number of healthy years ahead of you.

Next steps

Sleep Habits

It is terrific that you are getting adequate and quality sleep. Adequate sleep is also a sign of good health.

Education

All those years of education will likely increase your life expectancy for obvious reasons such as your being a more informed consumer of health care and your being more likely to partake in healthy behaviors such as not smoking and having a healthy diet. Regarding your brain health, continue to participate in cognitively challenging activities, exercising parts of your brain that haven't been used so much - new activities that are difficult (what neuropsychologist Paul Naussbaum terms 'novel and complex'). Learn a new language or musical instrument; if you don't have time for these most potent activities, try crosswords, Scrabble, bridge, sculpture or painting, but when you get good at something, move on to another cognitively challenging activity. Cognitively challenging activities as an adult, have been shown to delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease and to slow its progression.

Next steps

Hours on the Job

A recent Japanese study of the relationship between work hours and heart attack risk revealed that men who worked, on average, 11 hours or more a day had twice the risk of heart attack. Interestingly though, those who worked less than 7 hours a day were also at increased risk. If you find your current workload comfortable and that you are taking advantage of your leisure time to perform healthy and enjoyable activities, good for you and keep up the good work!

Next steps

Optimism

Your optimism likely has a real impact upon your longevity! According to Dutch investigators who, over a decade, tracked 1,000 people ages 65 to 85, people who are open to opportunities and possibilities have a 55 percent lower risk of death; in doing so, you end up less stressed, happier, healthier and more long-lived.

Brain Strengthening

Excellent! Your brain strengthening activities can help you delay or escape memory loss and perhaps Alzheimer's disease.

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LIFESTYLE

Smog

Ahhh. Take a deep breath of that clean fresh air! It is wonderful and life expectancy-enhancing that you live in a smog-free environment.

Coffee

You are drinking too much coffee. You may have many reasons for this degree of consumption including trouble with sleep, withdrawal headaches, the taste, and so on. Gradually replacing your coffee with tea is one method of weaning yourself off. There are effective methods for the majority of people and the effort is worthwhile in improving quality and quantity of life. Excessive coffee can be a sign of increased stress. Stress can lead to a hormonal imbalance, which can physically stress and age numerous organs. In addition, coffee predisposes the stomach to chronic inflammation of the stomach and ulcers. Such chronic inflammation leads to release of substances that raise the risk of heart disease. Tea, and especially green tea, on the other hand, has been noted for its significant antioxidant content, and tea drinkers in general appear to be healthier.

Tea

Good job on the tea drinking! Regular tea consumption is a healthy habit that may actually be life extending. The antioxidants in tea may decrease your risk of heart disease and cancer. Tea contains a powerful class of antioxidants known as polyphenols. It is controversial whether green tea has more bioavailable polyphenols than black tea. Either way however, you can't go wrong.

Second-hand Smoke

Avoiding second hand smoke is a very important habit. Because second hand smoke is even more toxic than the filtered smoke that smokers inhale, it takes less of a 'dose' or exposure to be toxic to your lungs and your body in general. Thus, keep avoiding the secondhand smoke as you have been doing. Second hand smoke is more toxic than what the smoker gets because it is unfiltered. Such exposure is clearly a substantial cause of cancer, heart disease, asthma and other lung diseases.

Aspirin

Taking an aspirin daily has been shown to decrease the risk of heart attack by half. Try to increase your intake to daily. The benefit of an aspirin each day may be due to the anti-blood clotting effects of aspirin. Chronic inflammation may also play a role in heart disease and therefore, aspirin's effect on inflammation may also be helpful.

Sunscreen

You are doing a good job protecting yourself from the sun and therefore from accelerated aging of your skin as well as deadly skin cancers such as from melanoma. Just because you do protect yourself, this does not mean you should not have a regular skin (dermatology) check up and perform a monthly self-examination of your skin. You should also perform a monthly self-examination for changing, new or growing lesions of your skin. For guidance on a self-exam, see [http://www.skincheck.com/]. The association between sun exposure and accelerated skin aging are clear. The ultraviolet rays in sunlight directly damages DNA. More sun means more wrinkles sooner. It also means a higher risk of deadly skin cancer. Excessive sun exposure may also have toxic consequences for the body in general.

Flossing

You need to floss your teeth. There are benefits that go far beyond better breath, but don't underestimate the benefits of good breath! Diligent and regular flossing means keeping your teeth and very possibly reducing your risk of heart attack. Recent scientific evidence reveals that chronic gum disease leads to the release of inflammatory, toxic substances and certain bacteria into the blood stream which potentiate plaque formation in arteries and ultimately lead to heart disease. This process probably also increases the risk of stroke and accelerated aging.

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NUTRITION

Your Weight

Your calculated body mass index indicates that you are likely overweight. If you are in fact lean (minimal amount of fat) and this calculation is off because of your unique build and greater than expected amount of muscle, then this assumption is incorrect and you should add a few years to your calculated longevity (with our apologies!). If, to be honest, you are a bit overweight, then you should do what you can to get down to a lean (as little fat as possible) body weight. Being overweight significantly increases your risk for diseases that markedly impact upon your longevity, including heart trouble, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, stroke and dementia. As you age, you may find it more challenging to keep the weight off. You will find, if you aren't doing it already, that getting into a regular regimen of weight training to maintain or build muscle mass will be very helpful in keeping the weight off. Of course diet is also important and lowering your consumption of carbohydrates is helpful. Diet advice is covered by the feedback for the questions related to carbohydrates and sweets.

Fast Food

You are doing a relatively good job at avoiding fast foods. However, it would be good if you could cutback even more? maybe just a few times a month. Fast food, generally fried foods and hamburgers, are high in calories and saturated fats. These will make you gain weight and they increase your risk for heart disease, stroke and perhaps cancer. Another potential risk factor for cancer is preserved meats. Fast food, generally fried foods and hamburgers, are high in calories and saturated fats. These will make you gain weight and they increase your risk for heart disease, stroke and perhaps cancer. Some studies suggest that 90% of all human cancers are environmentally induced, 30-40% of these by diet. Preserved and cured meats (bacon, sausage, lunch meats, etc.) are the largest source of nitrites in our diet. Nitrites lead to the formation in our bodies of nitrosoamines, which are important environmental oxidants and probable carcinogens. For instance, there is a suggestive association between nitrosamines and stomach cancer.

Next steps

Calcium Intake

Continue to do your best to insure that you are getting plenty of calcium from your diet and if needed, from a vitamin or calcium supplement. The recommended amounts of calcium and vitamin D are 1,500 mg calcium and 1,000 IU of vitamin D per day. Supplements vary according to their efficacy and side effects. The following is a summary:

  • Calcium Citrate, more on the expensive side, can be taken with and without food and is generally not associated with gas or bloating.
  • Calcium carbonate (like Tums) is less expensive but is more difficult to absorb and can be associated with gastrointestinal upset and is better to take with food.
  • Oyster shell, bone meal or dolomite should generally be avoided since they can be associated with toxic metals.
  • Calcium gluconate, calcium lactate, calcium phosphate and other calcium compounds generally have lower amounts of calcium and thus you have to take greater volumes of the supplement.

In addition to dairy products, calcium-fortified juices, breads and cereals are also excellent sources. On the other hand, large quantities of salty foods and meat can significantly increase the amount of calcium lost in the urine. Some foods high in calcium also contain oxalic acid, which interferes with calcium absorption. Spinach is such a food. Do know that even adequate amounts of calcium intake cannot guarantee prevention of osteoporosis. Strength training is also a very helpful measure. All women going through menopause should get their bone density checked by their doctor to check if they have osteoporosis or appear to be heading in that direction. Vitamin D is necessary for the body to absorb the calcium we get in our diets. Our skin naturally makes vitamin D in the presence of sunlight. As we get older, our skin becomes less able to manufacture vitamin D. Also, people who live in areas that get less sunlight during the winter months and/or stay indoors a lot are more likely to be vitamin D deficient. As a result, vitamin D deficiency is actually common. Besides lower calcium levels, vitamin D deficiency can cause annoying symptoms like aches and muscle weakness. Vitamin D deficiency can be avoided by taking in 1,000 IU per day of a vitamin D supplement.

Meat Intake

Good for you. A diet that minimizes meat is healthier. Less meat in the diet is conducive to less heart disease and risk for heart attack and stroke. Furthermore, there are nutritional sources of antioxidants in foods that replace meat in a person's diet especially the polyphenols present in certain vegetables and fruits and the omega-3 fatty acids in fish that help lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL cholesterol thus decreasing their risk for heart attack and stroke. Weighing red meat against vegetables and fish or skinless poultry, red meat loses out when it comes to your health. The American Heart Association recommends a diet that minimizes meat in the diet and emphasizes these alternatives. Vegetarian dishes, in addition to being an alterative to meat, also have antioxidants that protect the heart and brain. Interestingly, the vascular risk associated with red meat may be related to the fact that it is the major source of iron in our diet. The iron present in vegetables, like spinach, is relatively bio-unavailable. As you will read in greater detail, under the topic of iron supplements, iron plays a critical role in our cells' ability to produce harmful free radicals that likely potentiate aging and age-related illnesses.

Dessert

Wow, such restraint! You should be proud of yourself and keep it up. Certainly, it is understandable if you have diabetes or significant heart or cerebrovascular disease (stroke and dementia) that you are staying away from sweets. By staying away from these foods that have little in the way of nutritional value and yet significantly increase propensity for obesity and therefore heart attack, stroke, cancer and diabetes, anyone will make great gains in their life expectancy and the proportion of their lives spent in good health. Most desserts and certainly candy bars are high in saturated fats and calories. Both are terrible for you predisposing for weight gain, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. By helping you become obese, they also increase your risk of various cancers.

Carbohydrate consumption:

Not only are the number of calories you eat important, but the type of calories are important as well. Grains, pastas, fruits, and starchy vegetables like potatoes are the most common carbohydrate foods. Simple carbohydrates like white bread, potatoes (especially French fries), pasta, white rice and sugar as well, cause the body to produce insulin in response to elevated levels of glucose in the blood. The insulin in turn induces the storage, instead of burning, of fat. Other foods like fats, protein, and more complex carbohydrates like whole grain foods and fiber are less prone to turn on the production of insulin. The glycemic index of food is a ranking of foods based on their immediate effect on blood glucose (blood sugar) levels and thus the production of insulin. Carbohydrate foods that breakdown quickly during digestion have the highest glycemic indexes causing blood sugar and insulin to rise fast and high. Carbohydrates that breakdown slowly, releasing glucose gradually into the blood stream, have low glycemic indexes. The lower the glycemic index, the less likely that food is going to contribute to the production of fat. There are numerous books and websites that provide the glycemic indices for foods and drinks. However the general food groups noted above are a good start in your education.

Diet and Your Weight

Good for you! You are doing better or at least aiming for a goal better than more than 60% of the country who are at least overweight. Being overweight is a significant risk factor for many age-related diseases as well as various cancers. Keep up the good work. Stay lean! Obesity is associated with inefficient energy production and an increased production of oxygen free radicals within cells, therefore leading to increased risk of various cancers, heart disease and accelerated aging. It may also lead to diabetes.

Next steps

Iron Intake

It is probably good to continue to stay away from iron supplements and foods that are high in iron content, specifically red meat, if you can. Taking an iron supplement might potentiate your aging and risk for age-related diseases. There is growing evidence from animal and human studies that iron levels are related to aging and age-associated diseases. As a critical component of mitochondrial free radical generation, iron has been proposed by some to be a key modulator of rate of aging and susceptibility to age-related diseases. The available epidemiological evidence suggests that elevated iron levels are involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Menstrual blood loss and resultant iron deficiency might be protective against vascular disease and even contribute to the premenopausal survival advantage of women over men. Further studies are needed to determine whether there are cardiovascular benefits or risks associated with blood donation. Men may have the opportunity to be more female-like in their risk for vascular diseases by regularly donating blood, which could induce an iron deficiency. Blood donation has actually been associated with a decreased risk of atherosclerosis. The primary source of iron in our diet is red meat and this should be avoided as well.

Exercise

Wow, you are being terrific about exercising. Don't forget to be balanced in how much aerobic exercise you do versus strength training. Both are very important. Also, if you are doing a lot of high impact workouts, gauge how much wear and tear you are putting on your weight-bearing joints so that you don't set yourself up for premature osteoarthritis. Exercise leads to more efficient energy production by your cells and less oxygen radical formation (which speeds up aging and increases your risk for heart disease, stroke and cancer). Muscle is a tremendously efficient burner of fat and maintaining muscle mass has many benefits. Therefore, strength training is important. Depending upon how much one weighs, we generally loose a third of a pound of muscle every year after age 30, which is replaced by fat. The great news is that for most people, muscle loss can be completely reversed no matter what your age, by regular strength training.

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MEDICAL

Bowel Movements

Having a bowel movement at least once every two days may be associated with decreased risk of colon cancer. Keeping gut transit time under 20 hours seems to decrease the incidence of colon cancer, probably by decreasing the contact time between the gut lining and cancer-potentiating substances in the diet. These substances influence DNA damage and repair and therefore probably also influence the rate of aging as well. Epidemiological studies in humans and animal studies suggest that increasing dietary fiber will reduce the risk of certain cancers perhaps by increasing the frequency of bowel movements. On the other hand, recent reports indicate that the association may not be as clear as once believed. In addition to increased transit time and therefore less contact between carcinogens and the bowel wall, perhaps other factors that increase transit time such as regular exercise might be the real reason for decreased cancer risk.

Self-Examination for Cancer

Good for you. Self-examination is critical in detecting this cancer before it is too late. Most testicular cancers occur between the ages of 15 and 40. But, this cancer can affect males of any age, including infants and elderly men. In about 90% of cases, men have a painless or an uncomfortable lump on a testicle, or they may notice testicular enlargement or swelling. Men with testicular cancer often report a sensation of heaviness or aching in the lower abdomen or scrotum. Make sure you are performing the exam correctly by visiting the American Cancer Society's Testicular Cancer Resource Center.

Next steps

Cholesterol Tests

Good job on knowing what your level is! And, congratulations on having a level that places you at lower risk for developing atherosclerosis or plaque in the arteries. HDL cholesterol is known as the "good" cholesterol because a high level of HDL cholesterol appears to protect against heart attack. Medical experts think that HDL tends to carry cholesterol away from the arteries and back to the liver, where it is processed, dumped in the intestine and then passed from the body. Some experts believe that excess cholesterol is removed from atherosclerotic plaque by HDL, thus slowing the build-up. However, low HDL cholesterol levels (lower than 40 mg/dL) may result in a greater risk for heart disease and stroke. For more information about cholesterol, other risk factors and treatment, go to the American Heart Association's website.

Next steps

Good job on knowing what your level is! That is a first important step. But then you might also know that people with a LDL level 135 or higher are at increased risk of developing plaque in the blood vessels that lead to the heart and brain, thus making them at higher risk of developing heart attack or stroke. There are a number of steps that you can take to lower your LDL level, including diet, exercise, not smoking, weight loss and certain medications. A high level (higher than 130 mg/dL) of low-density lipoprotein, or LDL cholesterol, reflects an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. That's why LDL cholesterol is often called "bad" cholesterol. When too much LDL cholesterol circulates in the blood, it can lead to the formation of plaque in the blood vessels that feed the heart and the brain. When enough of this blockage occurs, a heart attack or stroke can occur.

Blood Pressure

A systolic of 130 to 139 is borderline elevated. You and your health professional need to keep on eye on this. Try to get your pressure down with weight loss if you are overweight, a healthy diet, stress management and exercise. If your pressure continues to increase, you may need to bring it down with medication. Blood pressure results from two forces. The first force is created as your heart pumps blood into the arteries and through the circulatory system and this is the systolic pressure. The second is created as the arteries resist the blood flow and this is the diastolic pressure. A systolic blood pressure greater than 140 is considered high, meaning that the person is at increased risk for heart attack and stroke. The risk climbs thereafter in proportion to the pressure.

You have a good diastolic blood pressure. Centenarians generally have a history of a diastolic blood pressure in this range for most of their lives.

Diabetes

Like high blood pressure, a person can have diabetes for a long time and not know it, thus it is very important that children and adults are regularly screened. Get your blood sugar checked at least every three years and watch for some of the more common symptoms of diabetes including excessive and persistent thirst, voiding large amounts of urine frequently with normal amounts of fluid intake, and/or unexplained weight loss. Diabetes occurs because a person's body does not make enough insulin and/or because the cells and tissues in their body are relatively resistant to the insulin they produce (and so the insulin is less effective). As a result, diabetics can have large amounts of glucose (sugar) in their circulation. By far and away, the more common form of diabetes is Adult Onset Diabetes and this is often associated with obesity. This form is often well controlled (meaning the blood glucose level is kept normal) with weight loss, diet and/or oral medication (though sometimes injected insulin is needed). Sometimes insulin injections are necessary. The other form of diabetes is called juvenile diabetes, which more often occurs in children and requires insulin injections. Good control has been shown to decrease risk of heart and kidney disease and diabetic eye problems, all unfortunate problems associated with diabetes. Like high blood pressure, a person can have diabetes for a long time and not know it, thus it is very important that children and adults are regularly screened for it. The good news is that people are living long, productive and basically otherwise normal lives given the excellent treatments available.

Heart Attack

It is great news that you have not had a heart attack. Hopefully you have been avoiding or minimizing the risk factors for heart attack (also called heart disease or coronary artery disease). Here are the typical risk factors that you can modify: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes (improve your sugar control), being overweight, lack of exercise or cigarette smoking. 90% of heart attack victims have at least one of these risk factors so you might be setting yourself up for a heart attack in the future if you have one or more of these risk factors.

Next steps

Check-Ups

Regular checkups are so important. The frequency of checkups depends on your age and what if any medical or other clinically relevant problems you might have. Generally, anyone age 40 or older should be having annual checkups. Please set up an appointment for a checkup as soon as possible. A conscientious program of screening and prevention are key to living into old age in good health.

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FAMILY

Family History of Heart Attack or Diabetes

Heart attack and/or diabetes appear to run in your family. You should be extra diligent about screening for and minimizing risk factors that make a heart attack or stroke more likely. Modifiable risk factors for heart attack include: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes (improve sugar control), being overweight or cigarette smoking. It is very important that you work closely and regularly with your doctor in any plan to reduce your risk for heart attack or stroke. Do not simply rely upon this advice alone.

Family History of Cancer

You are lucky to apparently not have cancer running in your family. Now do a good job of taking advantage of those genes and don't do things that could predispose you to cancer nonetheless, such as being obese, smoking, etc.

Family Longevity

Getting into one's eighties is pretty good. Still, your family history is telling you that you should be extra diligent in entering into a program of prevention and screening with your doctor. Do what you can to prevent various age-related problems and illnesses and screen for these while you have a chance of either curing them or minimizing their impact upon you.

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Posted by crabsallover at Sunday, November 26, 2006 0 comments

Ageing facts from the Buck Institute

Ageing facts - Buck Institute
(more info and links)
In October 2006 the USA had a population of 300 million. In January 2006, the first of 78 million “baby boomers” began to turn 60. Currently there are 34.9 million Americans aged 65 and older, comprising 12.4% of our population. The number of those 65 or older will double to 70.3 million by 2030. The 85+ population is projected to increase from 4.6 million in 2002 to 9.6 million in 2030.
Persons reaching age 65 have an average life expectancy of an additional 18.1 years (19.4 years for females, 16 years for males).
Within a decade, an aging America will spend one of every five dollars on health care. The nation’s total health care bill is expected to tally more than $4 trillion by 2015, accounting for one fifth of gross domestic product. In 2004, $1.87 trillion was spent on health care. Public and private health care spending is expected to reach about $12,320 per capita in 2015, compared with $6,683 in 2005. Medicare spending will reach $792 billion in 2015, compared with $309 billion in 2004.
Age-Related Diseases
Even though people are living longer than ever, diseases of aging continue to affect many older men and women, seriously compromising the quality of their lives and their economic well being.
Government statistics show that more than half of all Americans over age 65 show evidence of osteoarthritis in at least one joint. More than half of Americans over age 50 have osteoporosis or low bone mass. Cancer, in nearly all of its forms, is directly linked to aging; 77% of all malignancies are diagnosed after the age of 55. An estimated 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease; one in 10 individuals over 65 and nearly half of those over 85 are affected. It costs taxpayers three times as much to treat an Alzheimer's patient as any other Medicare patient. One out of every 100 persons over the age of 60 suffers from Parkinson’s disease with 600,000 new cases being diagnosed each year. Each year about 700,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke. Stroke is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States.

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Posted by crabsallover at Sunday, November 26, 2006 0 comments

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Introduction to Healthy Aging

Is it possible to extend your lifespan and become healthier in later years by changing behavior and seeking certain types of care? ABSOLUTELY!

Aging down the Ages

The human life span has been growing dramatically. A person born in 1776 could expect to live 35 years. By the year 1900, the average life span was only 47 years. But a girl baby born today can expect to live 79 years, and a boy baby 72.

People who live to older ages have an even greater life expectancy. A woman who lives to 65 has another 18.9 years on average to live, and a woman who lives to age 85 will average another 6 years of life.

The centenarian club
The most dramatic increases have been in the number of people living to advanced old age. In 1900, only one out of every 100,000 people lived to be 100 years old; today, one out of every 8-10,000 people makes it to 100. Our population of centenarians is growing by 8% each year, as opposed to a growth rate of only 1% for the population at large. Today, there are 50,000 centenarians in the United States, but there are projected to be one million by the year 2050!

Life span predictions
Will the human life span continue to grow, until we have a country of Methusalahs? Probably not. Major increases in life expectancy in the early part of this century were due to decreases in the infant mortality rate, and advances in public health. But it has been more difficult to improve the survival rates of those with chronic diseases, which have dominated in modern times, and increases in life expectancy have been relatively flat over the past 10 years. Many aging experts project that the average human life span will not extend much beyond 85, without major breakthroughs in the biology of aging. Besides, most people's reaction to the idea of living to 100 is, "no thanks", unless they can be guaranteed that they will be vigorous, active, and mentally intact 100 year olds. The goal of "adding life to years" rather than simply "adding years to life" is what most people hope for.

Can we affect the aging process?
How realistic is it to hope that we can affect the aging process? Many people feel that life expectancy is "all in the genes", and that the aging process is little affected by our living habits. However, several scientific studies have looked at the aging processes of twins who were reared together and apart, in order to look at the contributions of genetics vs. living habits to longevity. Two famous twins' studies found that aging was less related to genetic factors than to lifestyle and health behaviors. So there is a lot of evidence that suggests that we can, indeed, affect the aging process.

Why Do We Age?

In order to understand how lifestyle and health habits can affect the aging process, it is important to try to understand why we age. No one entirely understands why we age, and there have been more than 300 theories proposed for the biological basis of aging. Many of the theories fit into two broad categories of aging theory. The first is the category of stochastic theories of aging, which basically state that age is a result of random damage to cells and organs over time. The second category of aging theories is that of programmed theories, which state that the aging and death of cells is genetically determined.

The stochastic theories of aging
The most prevalent of the stochastic theories is the free radical theory of aging. Free radical theory: This theory recognizes that metabolic reactions occurring continuously in the body produce unstable molecules called free radicals. Free radicals try to stabilize themselves by a process called oxidation, which damages elements of cells such as protein and DNA, the cells' genetic material. So oxidants, the products of this process by which free radicals become more stable, are considered to be the perpetrators of aging. The body has many natural anti-oxidant defenses eg superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, ascorbate (Vitamin C), tocopherol (Vitamin E), and carotenoid (Vitamin A). So the "anti-oxidant vitamins" are touted for their anti-aging effects because they combat free radicals.

Age spots
The "age spots" that accumulate on the bodies of many older people are made of lipofuscin, a pigment that contains numerous elements, including mercury, aluminum, iron, copper, and zinc. These elements are known to accelerate oxidative damage, so lipofuscin is correctly called the "aging pigment". Lipofuscin deposits in other, unseen parts of the body, such as the brain, are considered markers of aging.

The caloric restriction theory: Another view, associated with the free radical theory, is the theory of caloric restriction. Scientists have been able to prove in many species of animals, including rodents, fish, spiders, and water fleas, that reducing calories, while continuing to provide adequate nutrients, results in extension of the lifespan. The theory is that reducing the metabolism of calories reduces oxidative damage to cells. Experiments with primates, and with actual humans, are still underway. The extent of caloric deprivation necessary to extend lifespan in animals has been at least 40%. So a reasonable question for many people would be whether they were willing to give up 40% of their eating pleasure in the interests of a longer life!

Numerous studies have demonstrated an association between excessive weight and higher mortality, but the converse, that the thinnest people live the longest, has not been shown. This is probably because the thinnest people are sick with diseases or are undernourished.

So far, studies indicate that the lowest mortality rates are associated with a body mass index (BMI) in the 21-22 range.

Programmed theories of aging
Plenty of evidence supports the programmed theories, which tie aging to genetic programming. Scientists back in the 1960's demonstrated that cells that replicate by dividing were only able to undergo a specific number of divisions before they became old and died. More recent advances in aging research have identified the cell's "aging clock" called the telomere. A telomere is a "tail" at the end of every chromosome (a strand of DNA) that shortens every time the chromosome replicates and divides. When the telomere reaches a critical shortness, the cell can no longer divide. In 1998, scientists made headlines by introducing into cells telomerase, an enzyme that prevented the telomere from shortening with each cell division, thereby extending the lifespan of the cell. Whether or not this exciting breakthrough can eventually be applied to extending human lifespan remains to be seen.

In fact, any hope of significantly extending the average human lifespan will probably depend on further progress in understanding the human genome and its influences on programmed cell aging and death.

The hormonal theory of aging
Another theory of aging is the hormonal theory of aging. Numerous hormones, chemical substances secreted by various glands in the body, decline with aging, leading to speculation that replacement of these waning hormones may prevent the aging process. Hormones that are currently being touted as a means of combating aging include human growth hormone, DHEA, melatonin, testosterone, and estrogen. Many people, in a quest for the fountain of youth, are taking growth hormone injections and enthusiastically ingesting other hormones. But does the evidence support their enthusiasm?

The answer is ... it remains to be seen. Human growth hormone was shown in 1990, to increase muscle mass and bone density, and decrease fat in aging men. Since then, numerous studies have evaluated its efficacy in reversing aging in malnourished, frail, elderly, and critically ill persons. The results are mixed. Furthermore, it can only be given by injection, it has numerous potentially serious side effects like hypertension, heart failure, and diabetes, and it is enormously expensive. The annual price tag for weekly growth hormone injections can be as much as $15,000.

Testosterone, melatonin, DHEA, and estrogen
Similar questions remain about the long-term effectiveness of other hormones. Testosterone has definitely been shown to improve sexual performance in testosterone-deficient men. It can also help to control hot flashes and increase libido in postmenopausal women, and may increase strength in frail elderly. But its long-term effects are not known, and there is a concern about testosterone promoting the growth of prostate cancer. Melatonin has been shown to help regulate sleep, especially in jet-lagged travelers, but whether or not it can truly reverse aging and prevent cancer as promised has not been proven. Neither has DHEA, a hormone produced by the adrenal gland but also found in plants, been shown to reverse aging, or increase strength, energy, or libido, although some small studies suggest that it may help decrease depression. So the jury remains out on these highly-touted hormones.

Hormone Replacement Therapy Update

For five years, a major study called the Women's Health Initiative has been reviewing two types of hormone pills: estrogen alone, and a pill that combines estrogen and progestin. In June, 2002, study results revealed that the estrogen/progestin combination pill was resulting in more risk than benefit in the more than 16,000 women taking it. Results showed an increased risk of breast cancer, heart attacks, strokes and blood clots among women taking estrogen plus progestin. The portion of the study looking at patients taking estrogen alone is still ongoing. It is still uncertain whether the benefits of the hormone pill containing estrogen alone outweigh the risks.

The benefits of taking estrogen, in women at increased risk of osteoporosis or colon cancer, are still valid, however. It is important to discuss all choices regarding hormone replacement therapy at length with a healthcare provider before making a decision.

A Remarkable Study of Remarkable People

Researchers in Boston decided to investigate what helps people to live a long and healthy life by studying people who had successfully survived into "old old age". Drs. Thomas Perls and Margery Silver investigated 169 centenarians in the New England Centenarian Study. This remarkable group of men and women (85% female) had remained physically healthy and mentally alert well into their nineties. The personal attributes that were common to a great majority of these survivors included:

  • low levels of depression.
  • striking ability to cope with, and adapt to, stress and loss.
  • high levels of intellectual stimulation.
  • frequent use of humor as a coping mechanism.
  • high levels of social interaction and support.
  • nearly universal lack of obesity, excess alcohol, and smoking.
Can we learn from these successfully aged Bostonians? You bet! Is it possible to escape the ravages of time? To a large extent, yes. Promising approaches to extending health and active, independent function into the latest years include:
  • preventing diseases
  • reducing cellular damage
  • avoiding aging caused by disuse
  • genetic manipulation (potentially)
There are a number of ways to prevent the dysfunction that we have come to associate with aging, and to promote active, independent life, into late life and beyond! And remember, it's more in your hands than you may have thought.

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Posted by crabsallover at Sunday, November 26, 2006 0 comments

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