Aging | NATUROPATH DALLAS

We tend to associate youth with beauty, but the truth is that beauty transcends every age. Just as a deciduous tree is stunning in all its stages–from its full leafy green in the summer to its naked skeleton during winter and everything in between–human beings are beautiful throughout their life spans.

The early years of our lives tend to be about learning and experiencing as much as we possibly can. We move through the world like sponges, absorbing the ideas of other people and the world. Like a tree in spring, we are waking up to the world. In this youthful phase of life, our physical strength, youth, and beauty help open doors and attract attention. Gradually, we begin to use the information we have gathered to form ideas and opinions of our own. As we cultivate our philosophy about life, our beauty becomes as much about what we are saying, doing, and creating as it is about our appearance. Like a tree in summer, we become full, expressive, beautiful, and productive.

When the time comes for us to let go of the creations of our middle lives, we are like a tree in autumn dropping leaves, as we release our past attachments and prepare for a new phase of growth. The children move on, and careers shift or end. The lines on our faces, the stretch marks, and the grey hairs are beautiful testaments to the fullness of our experience. In the winter of our lives, we become stripped down to our essence like a tree. We may become more radiant than ever at this stage, because our inner light shines brighter through our eyes as time passes. Beauty at this age comes from the very core of our being–our essence. This essence is a reminder that there is nothing to fear in growing older and that there is a kind of beauty that comes only after one has spent many years on earth.

From DailyOM

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15 Questions and Answers on Reversing Aging

John Ayo — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 13:38:25 +0000

While aging is inevitable, and the trips around the sun do accumulate…are there choices you can make that will help you age more gracefully and with more health and joy?!?

Article Summary:

Understand why your body ages, its purpose, and why it impacts some more than others.
Discover what lifestyle changes you can make to naturally slow the aging process.
Learn about natural remedies that slow down the aging process at a cellular level.

Question: What is Aging?

Although we’ve been conditioned to think that aging is some single “thing” that we can turn back with a magic potion, a scientific breakthrough, or a plot device in a science fiction movie, it doesn’t actually work that way. The simple fact is that aging is not the result of any one single factor, but is the cumulative result of multiple factors, including:

The aging of cells
The breakdown of telomeres, the strands of DNA at the ends of chromosomes that protect our genetic material
Protein degradation
The build-up of harmful compounds (Advanced Glycation End Products) that are formed when proteins or fats combine with sugar in the bloodstream
Excess sugar activity
Progressive systemic inflammation
Progressive dehydration
Accumulated toxic build-up in organ tissue
Reduced circulation
Reduced cellular energy production
Changes in hormone levels and hormone balance
Impeded energy flows in the body
Excessive body weight
And, of course, good old wear and tear

This list is hardly complete. We could add stress or the accumulation of free radicals in the body or the results of cumulative poor nutrition, etc. The key here is not to identify every single factor (an impossible task), but to understand that if you want to slow the aging process, you must look at more than a magic bullet approach involving one or two supplements.

Q: Is Aging Random, or Is It an Organized Process?

Click below to read the article:

From Jon Barron

The post 15 Questions and Answers on Reversing Aging first appeared on NATUROPATH DALLAS.

The Most Important Part of a Happy Retirement

John Ayo — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 20:03:35 +0000

For those of us looking to “retire” one day, this is critical information: if you don’t have your health, retirement is not going to be very pleasant. I really want to enjoy this part of my life, which is one reason I spend so much time NOW working on my health to the best of my ability. For me at least, retirement means that I can do whatever I want with no regard for money. I will most likely continue “working”, though if you are doing what you love, it really isn’t work.

We all have different goals as we plan for retirement. Many would say having enough money to live comfortably, travel, and enjoy life to its fullest is their main focus. Some would say that being able to move to a “retirement paradise” like a condo on the beach is what they’re aiming for.

However, research has shown that one factor contributes more to happiness (or misery) in retirement than financial security or warm weather: your health. Without good health, you can’t enjoy your retirement as much as you’d like, and health problems can easily become a serious drain on even a large retirement nest egg.

What retirees are saying
According to a recent survey by Merrill Lynch, 81% of retirees say that having good health is the most important part of a happy retirement. It’s considered even more important than being financially secure or being close with family and friends.

Your physical health can make or break your retirement and can even force you to retire before you’re ready. Early retirement is normally considered a sign of financial success, but health problems are the No. 1 reason for retiring early, according to 37% of those who retired before they had planned. Losing one’s job later in life came in second at 27% of early retirees, and having sufficient financial resources came in third at just 24%.

Plan to make your health a top priority after you retire
Baby boomers, who make up a majority of current retirees, are already taking a much more proactive role in their health than previous generations. Because of this, nearly 80% of this group believes they will be healthy and active at the age of 75.

For instance, 79% of Baby Boomers actively research health information on their own, as compared with just 18% of the previous generation. A lot of this can be attributed to how easily information can be found nowadays, but there are other indicators of their active role as well. For example, more than twice as many question their doctor’s orders, and nearly half view their doctors as “partners” in their healthcare, rather than irrefutable experts whose word should never be questioned.

Invest in your health now
By far the best investment you can make right now is to do everything in your power to give yourself the best chances of a long, healthy retirement.

The same Merrill Lynch survey referred to above found that healthcare expenses are the No. 1 financial worry among retirees. Healthcare costs can be unpredictable, and they can easily eat into your retirement savings. Unexpected healthcare costs are the No. 1 cause of early retirement in America.

The best thing to do is to invest in your health before you retire by developing healthy habits and taking advantage of your healthcare options. See your doctor regularly, as catching a problem (like high cholesterol) early can make all the difference in the world. Sure, medical care can be expensive, but look at it as an investment rather than a burden.

Also, learn about Medicare in advance, including the potential out-of-pocket costs for you. One scary statistic is that only 19% of current Medicare recipients feel like they have a strong understanding of what costs are covered. Understanding Medicare takes some homework on your part. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid has a good reference to get you started on this.

After all, what’s the point of saving and investing for your retirement if you won’t enjoy the fruits of your labor for decades to come?

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Why It’s a Good Thing to Live Beyond Age 75

John Ayo — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 21:11:32 +0000

Good perspective on aging and enjoying life per Scott Burns (Financial Columnist).

Many of us truly have this addiction to productivity. First you have to recognize it, then you can work on balancing it with other things.

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel made an important announcement last year. He hoped to die at 75. Born in 1957, that’s easy for him to say. His chosen death date would be in 2032. That’s a long way off, by most standards.

Personally, I view his notion with some alarm. Tomorrow is my 75th birthday.

So I’m hoping we can talk about this, preferably for a long time. Best known as one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act, Dr. Emanuel let us know his hope in an entirely lucid Atlantic Monthly article.

As he sees it, he will have accomplished most, or all, of what he hopes to do in life by age 75. His children will be married. His grandchildren will have been born. All that would remain is the long downhill trip that we call old age. He would choose to avoid it.

No, he’s not going to commit suicide. What he plans to do is less— less medical testing and care. He will embrace nature rather than fight it. He’ll do this rather than extend life through extreme measures, going through elaborate testing and by declining heart pacemakers, major surgery, etc.

For the record, I think what he plans to do, in terms of future medical care, is reasonable and admirable. I’m a lot closer to his view than to, say, Ray Kurzweil and his drive to achieve immortality through electronics.

Even so, Emanual’s view is filled with typical ageism and a prejudice in favor of youth over old age. He has a problem with productivity addiction, the notion that all of life is bounded by achievement, activity and output. Finish with that and, well, you’re done.

I know this addiction. I am still working and I’ve defined most of my life by productivity. But that’s a problem I hope to overcome. Productivity addiction is something to outgrow. It is not an agenda to require of every human being. We suffer from a lot of wrong thinking on this entire subject. Here are a few of the ways.

We’ve turned the greatest possible blessing, longer lives, into a problem.

In the last century, our life expectancies have increased more than two years for each decade. For some, expectancy has increased even more. But rather than embracing this gift and making the best of it, we’ve reduced access to lifetime income for retirees and virtually abandoned public health. We’ve failed to save both as individuals and as a nation. We’ve also allowed healthcare to become the greatest financial burden most Americans will face in their lifetimes. Surely we can get our heads around this and do better.

We’ve forgotten that life is an amazing gift.

Our unrelenting culture of self and youth leads us to focus on achievement and productivity. But life is bigger than that and humans seem to have missed the memo. Living beyond 75 may help us appreciate the gift that dwarfs anything we could ever do, the gift of life. Obsessed with what we can do, we are blinded to the awesome wonder of creation. If stepping away from work and self are what we must do to appreciate the gift of life, the burdens of old age are worthwhile.

For many, old age is a period of joy and release, not misery.

Our media-driven culture tends to emphasize the negative. That’s why we see more stories about Alzheimer’s, dementia and decrepitude than we see about happy retirees. In fact, surveys have routinely shown that old age is a period of freedom and happiness for many, while youth is often burdened with depression and anxiety. Yet there is no clue of this via print or electronic media.

The same retirement and apparent lack of productivity opens the door to generativity.

It clears the path to the unpriced generosity of care and attention that older people can devote to grandchildren and the children of others. It can afford a steady hand for younger, but troubled adults. When the need to earn is removed, a remarkable kindness can grow.

Some may be inclined dismiss the value of this time and attention as mere sentimentality. To them I can only say one thing: Just try to replace what older, non-working people do with paid services. You will quickly discover there is no way we could afford it, just as there is no way we can afford to replace even the most minimally functioning family with institutional care.

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