Analyzing (and Refuting) the Major Low-Carb Claims

Low carb claim #1: it’s a new, fad diet that won’t stand the test of time.

The truth is that low carb diets are not a fad. As a matter of fact, they’ve been around in published medical texts since the 1860s, if not longer. They’re exceptionally useful for treating brain diseases like seizure disorders – but it’s only within the last couple of decades that people have discovered the weight loss benefits inherent in low-carb eating.

Low carb claim #2: these diets are hard to stick to and not sustainable over the long haul.

The unfortunate truth is that high carbohydrate, ultra-processed food is everywhere. Some people don’t have the time to cook their own meals and have to rely on processed food to get calories. Some people have an active social life and eat a lot, and there simply aren’t many healthy low-carb options in the food service industry. Furthermore, some people are literally addicted to carbohydrates the same way a drug addict is addicted to heroin. It’s tough to break the cycle – but studies show that most people who do manage to break it tend to stick to a low-carb lifestyle over any other diet.

Low carb claim #3: Your body can’t survive without eating carbs.

The truth is that you don’t need to eat carbs to live. Your body can make its own glucose from fat and protein, and the body needs very little of it to begin with – the rest of its energy needs can be easily supplanted by ketones (from either dietary or stored fat). As long as you’re reasonably metabolically healthy, your body will happily burn off its own stored fat and produce ketones for energy from that.

Low carb claim #4: you lose weight on a low-carb diet by eating fewer calories – so if counting calories works, why not just eat whatever you want?

This claim is only partially true. But Unlike with other diets, the reason you’re eating fewer calories on a low-carb diet is because you’re also experiencing more fullness at the end of your meals and getting more fiber in your diet from low-carb fruits and veggies.

Low-carb diets curb the hunger cravings which people experience when counting their calories on a high-carb diet. This insatiable hunger is the reason why most diets fail. The majority of people on a low-carb diet don’t even have to count calories because eating low-carb restores metabolic hormone response at mealtime, helping you feel fuller for longer on less food.

Low carb claim #5: you only lose water weight on a low-carb diet.

Most of it, in the beginning, is. But why is that a bad thing? Who wants to be sloshing around and feeling bloated all day just so that they don’t have to give up bread? In the long run, studies show that low-carb eaters lost more fat – especially dangerous abdominal and liver fat – and preserve substantially more muscle than people who lose weight on a higher carbohydrate diet.

Low carb claim #6: Low-carb is bad for heart health.

According to recent research, this claim is blatantly false. For starters, we have finally discovered that dietary cholesterol, which is abundant in low-carb, high-fat, and high-protein foods, doesn’t have nearly as much impact on our heart disease risk as we once thought. So there goes that theory.

But when you eat high fat and high carb together, all hell breaks loose. Triglycerides and LDL (bad) cholesterol skyrocket, along with blood pressure and inflammation. This is what’s bad for your heart – not low carb foods by themselves. It’s also worth noting that a high-carbohydrate diet is higher in plant oils and omega-6 fatty acids which have been recently linked to increased heart disease risk.

There you have it – the top 6 low carb claims addressed and – where necessary – refuted. If you’re thinking about trying a low-carb diet, you couldn’t pick a better time. Stock up on the fresh produce and healthy meats, and enjoy your new diet!

The post Low-carb Diets: All Hype, or Healthy and Helpful? appeared first on iSleepBetter.

Lifestyle Benefits of Eating Processed Food

Yes, there are benefits to eating processed food – lifestyle benefits, to be specific. We’re not about to make the claim the processed food is in any way, shape, or form healthier than a whole food diet (regardless of macronutrient intake). But since processed food is notoriously high-carb, it gets attacked a lot by the low-carb crowd.

Eating ultra-processed food over the long-term will shorten your lifespan, likely cause you to develop metabolic syndrome, and cause a whole host of other unpleasant and expensive health complications. But in the meantime, you’re spending less time in the kitchen and more time with your family, friends, or being productive at work. Isn’t this a fair exchange? Some people seem to think so.

And yes, the carbohydrates in ultra-processed food can be as addictive as heroin or alcohol – but the consequences of a “carb addiction” or not nearly as dire. And they keep us happy in the face of our stressful lives. Is it not better to be addicted to something like carbs rather than alcohol or heroin? We might go insane without something to take the edge off. So why not rely on a loaf of bread instead of a more sinister drug?

Eating a Low-Carb Diet Is Inhumane and Unethical

Eating a low-carb diet usually means that you have to up your meat and dairy intake in order to make up for the lost calories. Many people believe that eating meat is unethical because you have to kill an innocent animal in order to get your food. Not to mention the fact that most factory farms keep their animals in deplorable conditions, inject them with synthetic hormones, and feed them an unhealthy diet in order to produce cheap, tasty, high-demand meat.

So you could go vegetarian to avoid all that, but there’s still the problem of commercially farmed animal products. Dairy cows get pumped full of hormones too, and strapped to milking machines for many hours a day long after the milk they produce is necessary for their calf. Chickens are kept in small, cramped quarters indoors all day so that they’ll spit out as many eggs as possible. Not many people can look at an egg or a gallon of milk and sleep well at night knowing that innocent animals had to suffer so that food could be in the refrigerator. If you can, then that’s your business. But if you can’t, then carbs are really your only answer.

The Need for More Micronutrients

One of the biggest micronutrient deficiencies on a low-carb diet is potassium. When you start restricting your carbohydrates, you stopped eating foods like potatoes, grains, and legumes, which are high in potassium. Your cardiovascular system needs a very specific amount of potassium to maintain a healthy heart rhythm and blood pressure. And it’s hard to get adequate levels of potassium on a low-carb diet.

It’s also difficult to get B vitamins such as thiamin or folate on a low-carb diet. You need folate to prevent against birth defects and for red blood cell formation. And your body needs thiamin in order to keep your brain and your nervous system functioning optimally. Most processed foods are automatically fortified with thiamin, and folate is highly bioavailable in many whole foods that are not allowed on a low-carb diet.

Vitamin C is most easily found in citrus fruits (which are too high in sugar to be low carb-friendly). Vitamin C is important for brain function and it helps protect against oxidative stress.

Magnesium is another important mineral which helps our body synthesize protein, maintain strong bones, and even helps our DNA stay healthy. You can most readily get magnesium from beans, which are (unfortunately) not allowed on a low-carb diet.

And we could go on and on! There are dozens of vitamins and minerals you won’t get a low-carb diet that you can only get if you eat a more balanced one – these are just the major players.

So there you have it – if you needed an excuse to stick to your high-carb guns, you now have several! And you can use them to defend yourself the next time that smug co-worker, friend, or relative of yours starts raving about their low-carb diet.

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MyPlate

Remember the old Food Pyramid from the 90’s? MyPlate replaced it back in 2011. But they changed the macronutrient suggestions a bit in addition to giving the federal nutritional guideline infographic a makeover. It now suggests that 30% of the real estate on your dinner (or lunch, or breakfast…) plate should be occupied by grains, 40% by veggies, 10% by fruits, and 20% by protein. And although all of those ratios already add up to 100%, a small daily serving of dairy is also recommended. Oils and fats aren’t discussed directly; rather, they’re divided into the healthy fats that already exist in protein, nuts, and veggies, and “oils” which are not present on the MyPlate plate at all.

Pros

• People are most familiar with the federal nutritional guidelines because they’ve been around for so long and preached to so many.
• It’s also the typical diet most people eat if they’re trying to lose weight by following a “calories in, calories out” formula.

Cons

• It provides a plethora of vague, general suggestions for healthier eating but comes up short on specific recommendations such as guidance on good fats and bad fats.

DASH Diet

DASH Stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It places a strong emphasis on gradually lowering your daily sodium intake to 1,500 mg while consuming most of your calories from fruits, whole grains, veggies, lean protein, and low-fat dairy. Other food groups should be avoided or eaten in moderation.

Pros

• It was designed and promoted by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a US government organization dedicated towards research and information on cardiovascular health

Cons

• It can be pricey
• People who struggle to lose weight with MyPlate may have similar troubles with DASH
• The low sodium intake could be dangerous for people with low blood pressure

TLC Diet

The Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) diet is largely concerned with getting people’s cholesterol problems under control. This food plan revolves around a high intake of fruits and vegetables followed by cereals, breads, pasta, and lean meats. It is an extremely low fat diet, especially with regard to saturated fat.

Pros

• Comes with the US government stamp of approval as a “heart healthy” diet
• The abundance of low-fat options, lean meats, and well-stocked produce sections in most grocery stores makes shopping easy and affordable

Cons

• May also promote insulin resistance according to recent research
• It’s easy to gain weight on this diet if you don’t watch your fat intake very carefully

Mediterranean Diet

A closer look at the Mediterranean diet shows that it is actually quite similar to a MyPlate diet, with a few important differences. Olive oil is moved down the pyramid a few steps just above fruits and vegetables for its heart-healthy monounsaturated fat benefits. Just above that is a strong emphasis on fish and seafood intake for their heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Red meat and saturated fat are both strongly discouraged.

Pros

• You get to eat like an Italian everyday – it’s delicious!
• It has potentially superior heart health benefits compared to other diets

Cons

• Seafood can get expensive
• The lack of red meat may promote iron deficiencies
• The emphasis on carbohydrates may also promote insulin resistance

Low-Carb Diet

A healthy low-carb diet virtually eliminates breads, grains, legumes, and sugar-sweetened beverages from your diet. It replaces them with higher protein and higher fat intake, with less than 40 g of carbs per day coming only from fruits and/or vegetables. Ultra-processed food should be kept to a minimum or eliminated from the diet completely.

Pros

• Highly satiating
• People lose a lot of weight quickly in the beginning
• Leaves room for higher protein and dairy intake, which can help offset osteoporosis and muscle loss in older adults
• The combination of fewer carbs and more unsaturated fats is good for heart health

Cons

• The prevalence of high-carb foods outside of the home and the lack of low-carb options in social situations can make the diet difficult to stick with

And the Winner Is…

The truth is that there is no one diet that works best for everyone. Biologically, our bodies are too complex and there is too much genetic variation for that to be possible. We strongly suggest starting with the diets we’ve outlined here and seeing which one works best for you. Good luck, and happy eating!

The post The Best Diet for Older Adults (Hint: It’s Not What You Think!) appeared first on iSleepBetter.

It’s Both Safe – and Very Healthy – to Travel as You Get Older

As long as you do it the right way, traveling as you get older isn’t just safe and fun – it’s also extremely healthy! But you have to be smart about it. If you’re going to sit on a cruise ship all day drinking from the open bar and stuffing yourself at the bottomless buffet, you’re not going to be doing yourself any health and wellness favors.

If you want the healthiest a bang for your buck, you should travel to destinations which involve challenging your brain and body mentally, cognitively, and physically. You’ll also have to eat a relatively healthy diet while doing your best to avoid pathogens from the local food and water. But if you can do all that, you can enjoy your trip along with a healthy dose of mind and body benefits.

Traveling Can Keep Your Brain in Good Shape

Traveling somewhere new and having to navigate an unfamiliar landscape will challenge your brain in ways that it would never get challenged at home. Challenging your brain is important because as we age, the less we challenge ourselves cognitively, the more vulnerable we become to brain atrophy. This becomes especially perilous with regard to diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. But traveling to a foreign country where you don’t speak the language or have to find alternate methods of transportation than you’re used to is a great way to fire up your brain and keep things fresh!

Traveling Is Good for Your Heart

Most people who travel actively are doing so to see the sights. Odds are, you’ll be doing a lot of walking around from place to place. That could involve:

• Touring a museum for hours
• Shopping in a crowded marketplace
• Visiting one (or several) historical landmarks
• Going on a nature hike in a famous wildlife preserve
• Swimming, snorkeling, or scuba diving in the ocean

The list goes on and on. The point is: the more physically active you are while on vacation, the better it will be for your heart and your overall physical health. So don’t be afraid to get or stay active on your getaway!

How to Travel Safely at Any Age

If you want to travel safely as an older adult, start by talking to your doctor. They can tell you everything you need to know about updating your vaccinations, taking medications in foreign time zones, and health risks such as DVT (deep vein thrombosis). They can also give you advice on foreign pathogens and how to safely avoid them.
If you have special needs or can’t get around as easily as you used to, call ahead to the places you know you’re going to visit and ask them about their accommodations. It may be a good idea to change your hotel, flight, or certain destination points if they cannot accommodate your needs to get around.

Make sure you have a secure way to travel with your important documents. Tourists are always more vulnerable to pickpocketing and theft, especially in foreign countries. Make sure you have the number of your country’s embassy on hand if you’re traveling abroad, and talk to the staff at your hotel or wherever you’re staying. Be sure to ask them how to protect yourself from local thieves or what to do if you get robbed.

Lastly, don’t underestimate your need for travelers insurance! We’re talking about health insurance as well as insurance on your belongings such as clothing or jewelry. Depending on where you go and what you do, lost belongings could be gone for good or difficult to retrieve. Getting healthcare in a foreign country can end up being very expensive for non-citizens if they demand upfront payment or if your insurance company doesn’t cover foreign travel. If you follow all of these tips, you should have a safe, healthy, wonderful trip. Bon voyage!

The post Is it Safe to Travel as You Get Older? the Answer May Surprise You appeared first on iSleepBetter.

But it turns out that the joy of seeing them (and the relief of seeing them go home) may be more profound than you would expect. According to a recent scientific study, seniors who take care of their grandchildren will live much, much longer than seniors who don’t!

Seniors, Grandkids, and Longevity: a 20 Year Study of Health and Wellness

The study was conducted in Berlin, Germany between the years 1990 and 2009. Scientists recruited 500 senior citizens age 70 and older to participate in the study. They did a basic intake the first year, and went back in for follow-up interviews every two years thereafter. Follow-up interviews covered topics such as:

• General health status
• How they were feeling
• How much time they spent with their grandkids
• How much time they spent helping their adult children
• How much time they spent helping people they weren’t related to
• How often they kept to themselves

To make a long story short: the seniors who occasionally helped take care of their grandchildren had a 33% chance of living longer than seniors who didn’t. But that’s not the whole story. For the whole story, we’re going to have to take a deeper look at what the scientists found, and what it means for older adults with grandchildren.

The Benefits of Caring for Your Grandchildren (and Others)

Let’s say it again for anyone in the back who didn’t hear it the first time: older adults who spend time caring for their grandchildren have a 33% chance of living longer than anyone else. But there are some caveats to this. For starters, full-time grandparents had a lower life expectancy than part-time grandparents. Too much childcare can be physically and mentally taxing, whereas just the right amount can be rejuvenating and healthful. So be sure to set ground rules so that caring for your grandchildren doesn’t start doing more harm than good!

Another interesting thing the study discovered: they don’t have to be your grandkids in order to extend your life. Older adults who spent more time helping their adult children, friends, or relatives other than grandchildren also experienced a longevity and overall health boost. It turns out that caregiving in general – no matter who it’s for – helps improve health and lifespan for your body and brain.

In a way, it makes sense; caregiving gives you a purpose. And if you have a reason to live longer, regardless of significance, the body wants to respond in kind. It stimulates physiological processes in the brain and the body so that you’ll be around for as long as your loved ones need you. If you’ve been needing an excuse to see your grandchildren more, well, now you have one!

Words of Warning from the Study

For older adults without grandchildren, however, the study has some words of warning. The biggest and most ominously foreboding statement was this: 50% of participants who didn’t care for anyone but themselves died within the first 5 years of the study. So if you don’t have grandchildren, if you never see your grandchildren, and if you don’t bother with any caregiving activities other than those you do for yourself, then that might not be the healthiest thing for you (according to this study, of course).

The study also warns grandparents that spending too much time caring for a grandchild – or taking on full custody of a grandchild – can have the opposite effect of part-time care. Child care is stressful no matter what, but if you’re taking on that responsibility all by yourself – especially at an advanced age – it can take an even bigger toll on you than it would your younger self. If you feel like your adult children are relying a little too heavily upon you for help with the kids, you can use this study as an excuse to say something to them about it. Tell them to call up the babysitter and give you a break or else you may not be around for their graduation! In the end, everyone will be happier and healthier for it.

The post Fact: According to Science, Seniors With Grandkids Live Longer! appeared first on iSleepBetter.

Reasons to Retire Early

The studies on early retirement are all over the place. Some say the early retirement is good for you – others claim it can shorten your lifespan and reduce your quality of life. You have to look very carefully at the studies to determine what they’re actually saying. But the ones that say that early retirement is good for you tell a very interesting story.

People who retire early from highly stressful jobs, sedentary jobs, and shift work noticed a drastic improvement in health. This makes sense because all the things that we know will kill you – chronically increased cortisol levels from stress, lack of exercise, and poor sleep – are no longer an issue if you retire early. Changing all these factors for the better can have a significant impact on both your quality of life and your overall longevity.

Reasons to Stay in the Employment Game

Other factors you need to consider are whether or not you can afford to retire. Older adults may not be able to financially support themselves if they retire prematurely. And it isn’t just about maintaining your current lifestyle – it’s about the rising healthcare costs you will face as you get older. If you run out of savings and can no longer afford your health care expenses, it’ll definitely take a toll on your lifespan.

There’s also something to be said for jobs which do require some sort of physical activity, and jobs where you develop social bonds with your co-workers. People who retire early from physically intensive jobs often experience weight gain and develop metabolic disorders after retirement. And don’t get us started on all the data that’s come out recently about how being lonely is literally bad for your health. Retiring early from a job and spending less time with the people you bonded with at work can also cause health problems associated with loneliness or even depression.

What to Do After You Retire in Order to Feel Younger and Live Longer

To paraphrase a famous quote: if you don’t get busy living, you’ll get busy dying. The sentiment is as true for retirement as it is for anything else. So if you’re going to retire, live it up! Giving yourself purpose will not only add years to your life, but it’ll add life to your ears.

Get a Hobby

Think of one thing you’ve always wanted to do (or learn how to do). Now that you’re retired, you can go do that! This is especially good for you if that hobby requires physical activity and/or social interaction with other hobbyists. Engaging in a hobby will keep your mind sharp; a physically active hobby will keep your body healthy; and a socially active hobby will keep you from feeling lonely.

Get Physical

Exercising more after retirement is especially important if you work a very sedentary career. Your muscles and joints have likely started deteriorating from lack of movement. If you don’t want to have to deal with joint replacement surgery and the expensive medical costs that go with it, you should join a gym and get moving! You could even join a local running, cycling, hiking, or skating club near you. Group classes/activities can help you get in better shape and help you maintain an active social life at the same time.

Get Another Job

Retirement doesn’t legally prohibit you from ever working again – it just means that the career you spent most of your life earning a living from is no longer your main focus. Whether you start bagging groceries part time at your local supermarket or offering freelance consulting services for people who are still in your former industry, having any sort of job will give your body and mind a little bit more purpose in life. Plus the extra income won’t hurt going forward into your golden years!

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But metformin isn’t an erectile dysfunction medication. It does much more than that. Some experts are even calling it the fountain of youth in a pill – but how legitimate are these claims? And is it all sunshine and roses, or is there a dark side to metformin that you need to know about?

What Is Metformin?

Metformin isn’t a theoretical drug or a prohibitively expensive substance which only the wealthiest-of-the-wealthy have access to – it’s a generic, run-of-the-mill diabetes drug (type 2) which costs pennies per dose. Some doctors prescribe it as a preventative intervention in people with prediabetes symptoms. Others may wait to prescribe metformin until after they can make an official type 2 diabetes diagnosis. It is strongly recommended to combine metformin with healthier diet and lifestyle choices instead of relying on the drug to lower your blood sugar by itself.

Metformin helps treat diabetic and pre-diabetic symptoms in the following ways:

• It decreases how much glucose your liver makes on its own
• It decreases how much glucose your digestive system absorbs from the food you eat
• It increases your insulin sensitivity

Basically, metformin does the exact opposite of everything Type 2 diabetes does to your body. And since the health consequences of being a type 2 diabetic can be summed up as rapid onset premature aging, some have gone as far as to call metformin “aging – in reverse”.

Why Is Metformin Getting So Much Attention Right Now?

Metformin isn’t in the spotlight just because of what it can do. It is also the subject of a groundbreaking, brand new, FDA-approved clinical trial which specifically targets aging as a disease and will attempt to test various drugs (metformin especially) for anti-aging therapeutic potential.

This trial, known as the TAME study (short for Targeting Aging With Metformin) is the first of its kind. Until this study was green lit, the FDA had never even considered classifying aging as a legitimate disease – but now they’re starting to change their tune.

According to our current collective of medical knowledge, metformin’s anti-ageing potential stems from the fact that:

• It increases autophagy
• It has beneficial epigenetic effects (it “turns good genes on”)
• It mimics the healthful effects of exercise on a cellular level
• It helps mitochondria become more efficient at producing energy by reducing oxidative stress
• It almost sounds too good to be true. For the average person suffering from elevated blood sugar or premature aging, it could very well be the fountain of youth. But not everyone can safely take metformin. It turns out that there’s a reason that this medication is available by prescription only.

The Many Downsides of Taking Metformin

Documented Side effects of metformin in diabetes patients include:

• Nausea
• Gastric distress (gas, bloating, stomach pain, diarrhea)
• Lactic acidosis (a potentially fatal buildup of lactic acid in the blood)
• Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)
• Headaches
• Anemia
• “Faux Low” blood sugar symptoms
• Weight loss
• Loss of appetite
• Insomnia
• More frequent or more intense nightmares
• Sleepwalking

So far, we only know what metformin does in people who are either type 2 diabetic or pre-diabetic. We don’t have very much data on what metformin does in healthy individuals who don’t have problems with high blood sugar or insulin insensitivity. This lack of knowledge is what makes metformin so potentially dangerous – and why trials are necessary to clear its name.

Upon further review of the literature, it seems as though many of the side effects above are closely related to diet and exercise. The gastric distress that many people experience, for example, could be dependent on diet rather than tolerability. People who continued eating a high-carbohydrate diet while taking metformin reported some of the highest levels of GI distress. So it’s important to keep that in mind if your doctor has recently prescribed you metformin.

It seems as though metformin has a lot of potential as an anti-aging miracle drug – but its efficacy may be limited to people whose ageing problems stem from a metabolic disorder. Your perfectly healthy average Jane or Joe could suffer some really nasty side effects by taking metformin for anti-aging purposes only. Until more studies come out, it’s best to listen to your doctor’s advice and stay away from any prescription medicine unless your physician deems it to be worth the risk.

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Telomeres

You know those little plastic tips on the ends of your shoelaces? They’re not just there for looks – they’re there to keep your shoelaces from fraying and becoming useless. It turns out that the idea for that technology literally came from our genes. Telomeres are the biological equivalent of those plastic shoelace tips for our DNA. The longer and more intact they are, the younger you are, biologically speaking.

What do we mean by “biologically speaking”? Well, as it turns out, the cells in your body have no idea how old you are chronologically (i.e., the number of birthdays you’ve had). They only know the amount of times they’ve had to replicate themselves. The more damage you do to your body – in the form of unhealthy eating, lack of exercise, and bad habits like smoking and/or excessive drinking – the more frequently your cells will have to replicate to keep you alive. And the more frequently they replicate, the shorter your telomeres get.

So far, telomeres are most useful as a marker of biological aging. But future applications for this technology – especially in the realm of diagnosing disease and coming up with effective treatment methods based on biological age rather than chronological age – can have some really exciting prospects for the future of medicine.

3D Tissue Printing

Statistically speaking, more than 20 people die each day waiting for an organ transplant. With all this 3D printing technology that’s going around these days, wouldn’t it be great if you could just print out a new organ instead of waiting for a live donor? Well, that future may be here sooner than we think. As of late April 2019, UC Berkeley researchers finished construction on a device which will be able to print 3D living bone, tissue, blood vessels, and potentially entire organs on demand.

Currently, this exact same technology is being used to graft brand new skin on to burn victims in real time – and Tel Aviv University successfully printed the first 3D human heart as of mid-April 2019! Unfortunately it’s just a prototype and it’s too small to be transplanted into a human, but it’s an important first step towards the future.

Senolytics – The Zombie Killer

As the cells in your body begin to age, they start to leak more and more toxins into your blood. Most of the time, when a dying cell becomes too toxic, it goes through a process called “apoptosis” (i.e., a cellular self-destruct sequence). Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. When apoptosis fails in a dying cell, the cell becomes “senescent” and keeps spewing toxic byproducts into your bloodstream while stubbornly refusing to die. In some people, an overabundance of senescent cells causes premature aging, chronic inflammation, and may even lead to cancer.

But a new class of drugs called senolytics is here to save the day. They’re designed to specifically target these zombie cells which refuse to die and eliminate them from your system. Once these undead cells are cleared and their toxic byproducts are flushed out through the liver, the body rebounds quickly and sometimes even ages in reverse – at least, that’s what scientists have seen in mice so far. Human trials are on the way, though, and things are looking promising.

Stem Cell Therapy

Stem cell therapy is also a new – although somewhat controversial – medical practice. It involves:

1. Extracting stem cells from a person’s bone marrow (or other tissues)
2. Preparing the stem cells for reinsertion in a plasma rich solution
3. Injecting the prepared cells into damaged joints or tissues in order to promote healing

It should be noted that this technology is so new and there are so many different treatments popping up left and right that the FDA (in the US) is playing whack-a-mole sorting out the good from the bad. Most health insurance companies are reluctant to cover stem cell therapy treatment for this reason. But some people consider it a healthier, more effective alternative to surgery and joint replacement. With a little more time and dedicated research, stem cell therapies may even be able to restore vision or smell in people who are having trouble with those organs.

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Improving Your Life Span

Your life span is literally just a number. It’s the number of years you live on this Earth before your body succumbs to old age and you pass over into the great beyond. Lots of people want to be able to live as long as possible. Some even wish they could live forever!

Immortality isn’t scientifically possible (yet), but that hasn’t stopped some people from trying. There’s a Longevity Institute of some kind in almost every single first-world country. People are pouring millions and millions of dollars into research to figure out how to live longer. But is living longer the only thing we should be caring about? Or should we also be focusing on our overall health and quality of life as we age?

Improving Your Healthspan

Being alive is more than just existing; it’s about living and thriving. It’s about waking up in the morning and looking forward to the rest of your day. It’s about making memories with the people you love. It’s about leaving a legacy for yourself and those who come after you. Spending more years alive on this Earth won’t matter much if you aren’t thriving while you do it.

That’s why it’s so important to focus on improving your healthspan as well as the number of years you stay alive. The higher your quality of life, the more years you will spend independently getting around on your own two feet, enjoying a healthy emotional well-being, and staying in control of your life. Nobody wants to become that old, decrepit person in the nursing home who can’t take care of themselves or hardly remembers their own name. We want to stay healthy, youthful, and present in the moment for as long as possible. Which begs the next question: how do we accomplish that?

Exercise

Everybody hates it, but it’s one of those things in life that if you tolerate a little bit of suffering now, you’ll get a lot more happiness in your future. Exercise shouldn’t be a chore – it should be fun! If you’re not a traditional gym-goer, try and nature hike, or a bike ride, or even something adventurous like mixed martial arts. The more fun you’re having while you’re exercising, the less difficult it is to do it.

Eat Healthy

There’s so many different diets out there today that it’s hard to know what’s healthy, and what’s not. In general, the healthiest diets incorporate lots of whole foods which are nutrients which are dense and calorically adequate. Some people do well on low-carb, some people do well on high-fat, some people thrive on high protein, and others enjoy a healthy mix of all three. Here are some signs that the meal plan you’re following is a healthy one:

• You wake up feeling alert and energized in the morning
• You feel satiated at the end of a meal
• You don’t have trouble sleeping
• You don’t feel the need to snack between meals
• You don’t feel dizzy or lightheaded if you skip a meal once in awhile
• You don’t feel stressed all the time

Go ahead and play a true/false game with the list above. If you have more “false” than “true” answers, then it’s time to change your diet and find something that works better for your body!

Nurture Your Bonds With Your Loved Ones

We know this may sound “Chicken Soup for the Soul” levels of cheesy, but we’re bringing this up for more than just sentimental reasons. There’s a ton of scientific evidence that has come out on the subject of loneliness and human longevity. As it turns out, people who report experiencing severe loneliness die earlier and experience a lower quality of life than if they were a smoker, a drinker, never exercised, and ate a bad diet their whole life. So pick up the phone and give someone a call – if for no other reason than your health!

Either Get Or Get Busy Dying

Within the last 15 years, no less than half a dozen studies have been published which all say the same thing: early retirement shortens your lifespan. The more active you are, the more engaged you are with the people you love, in the more passionately you seek out purpose in life, the longer you live – and the better your years will be.

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Getting a Diagnosis from Your Doctor

There’s a simple blood test you can ask for the next time you see your doctor if you are concerned about inflammation. It’s called a CRP test because it tests for C-reactive proteins in your blood. Any CRP score above 10 means that your body could be suffering from problematic levels of inflammation. From there, you can talk to your doctor and come up with a game plan in order to bring your inflammation down.

Eating an Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Aside from your doctor’s advice or whatever medications they may prescribe, you can empower yourself to improve your own health and wellness by eating an anti-inflammatory diet. The most effective anti-inflammatory diets contain lots of fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, and high quality protein. The Mediterranean diet is an excellent example. But if you’re not Italian, here’s what a healthful anti-inflammatory diet looks like:

• 3 to 4 servings of fruit per day – the darker and more colorful, the better
• 4 to 5 servings per day of either dark leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, squashes, or root vegetables
• Beans and legumes
• Healthy fats like avocados, flax seeds, and olive oil
• Protein which is organic, grass-fed (where applicable), culture-rich (dairy), with plenty of natural fat
• Green tea is said to contain anti-inflammatory polyphenols which reduce inflammation

Exercise and Inflammation

In the short-term, it is true that exercise triggers acute inflammation. This is a normal part of how your body works. Once you strain your muscles, your body sends more blood flow to the areas which were hit hardest during your workout. It slowly rebuilds those tissues newer and stronger over the course of the next 24 to 48 hours. You may have some minor aches and pains, but if you work out the right way, it won’t be debilitating and you’ll bounce back that much stronger, ready for your next workout.
This low-level, acute inflammation from exercise also trains your body to reduce its chronic inflammation levels. Exercise from inflammation helps your body learn the difference between inflammation which is helpful and inflammation which is harmful. This down-regulates your future inflammatory responses so that your body only flips on its inflammatory response mechanisms when it’s absolutely necessary.

Inflammation and Stress

One of the biggest triggers of inflammation is a little hormone in your body called cortisol. You may have heard of cortisol referred to as the “stress hormone”. To be fair, cortisol does have some very helpful uses in the body. But too much of it is a major contributing factor for chronic inflammation.

Exercising more and eating the right diet can help lower cortisol (if elevated cortisol is contributing to your chronic inflammation). But cortisol is also triggered by emotional stress. So you’ll have to take steps in order to calm yourself down and feel less stressed out all the time!

If you’ve noticed that meditation has come back into fashion recently, it’s because of the connection between emotional stress and cortisol levels. Meditation is no longer just something crazy hippies did back in the 60s – there is now a solid medical proof that meditation physically changes the way your brain responds to stress. The better you get at meditating, the easier it will be for you to physically cope with emotional stressors and reduce your cortisol levels.

It’ll take a little time in practice, but it’s worth putting the effort in. Even something as simple and effective as taking 10 minutes out of your day to count your breathing can have a positive effect on your brain and your body. There are also plenty of free phone apps and other programs that will teach you how to meditate (or you can pay a little more for a premium service if you wish).

At the end of the day, your own personal anti-inflammatory lifestyle changes will depend on what your needs are. Between talking to your doctor, changing your diet, altering your exercise routine, and reducing your stress levels, it’s easy to find ways to reduce chronic inflammation from your life.

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