Evidence-Based Solutions to Achieve Ultimate Fitness and Wellbeing, and Reverse the Major Signs of Aging

This blog is still under construction, it will evolve as I have time to go back and edit, it was written strait-through at one sitting...

Ahieving your ultimate level of health and fitness is intricately tied into preventing degeneration and dysfunction of both the mind and body. In essence, reversing the damage done to our body through environmental stressors (poor nutrition, lack of exercise, excessive "stress", toxins, etc). So, to feel better, look better, and age better, we must make all of our body's systems work more effectively, and thus, slow, or even reverse the aging (degeneration/oxidation) process.

Reversing Aging may sound hard to believe, but understanding how the body's key control systems work will move us one step closer to achieving this goal! Many discoveries have been made in the last several years on how to turn back the "biomarkers" of aging, and studies suggest that only approximately 30% of lifespan is determines by genetics, while the majority is controlled by "environmental" factors. So much for the genetics arguement! A key take home message is that the body is an adaptive mechanism, and the bottom line for both the brain and body is... USE IT OR LOSE IT! Cognitive and physical decline happen in large part due to disuse and these environmental stressors, poor diet, stress, etc.

Improving the way you feel and think NOW, is critical, and will affect your future health and well-being. So optimizing QUALITY OF LIFE at any age, and making one's "health-span" match one's "life-span" should be a key consideration for anyone. Health-span referes to the number of years one is healthy, and able to care for oneself. Lifespan is simply how long one lives. The difference is referred to as the "disability zone". No one wants to end up disabled while still alive, but the reality is that many people live live anywhere from 5 to over 20 years in this disability zone, which is arguably worse than death itself. Is this inevitable? Read on...

Our body is a dynamic "sytem of systems", which are designed to work together to optimize health, metabolism, and efficient functioning of the body. This is crucial to understand, because nutrition, our thoughts, stress, sleep cycles, exercise and general activity, cardiovascular function, lean body mass, toxins, and other "environmental stressors" can have significant and tangible effects on our well-being.

The key systems of our body that regulate communications between systems, and can be broken into several categories at a high level, namely:

1) nervous system - The nervous system controls many body functions, and is controlled by the most complicated organ in the univers...The brain! The brain is involved in everything we do! Any thought, feeling, idea, behavoir, and autonomic control of all body systems involve the brain working effectively. Communication from the brain is regulated by neurotransmitters which regulate not only thoughts and resulting changes in brain physiology itself, but a the resulting cascade of affects into other messenger systems of the body... such as the endocrine system(via hormones), and the immune system (via cytokines). See below for more on these systems...

Tremendous new discoveries have been made in the last 5 years in the field of neuroscience, and how thoughts REALLY MATTER! These breakthrough discoveries show functional scans of brain usage (bloodflow), and how different activities affect our brains in the short, and long-term. Ultimately, our thoughts and behavoirs create patterns in brain usage (neuronets, which are thoughts, theories, ideas, understandings, etc), that cause us to become a physically "hardwired" product of our thoughts and beliefs! These neuronets can be re-wired, and expanded more significantly than once thought, since the brain has a higher degree of "plasticity" than researchers thought previously.

It is vital to understand that regulating thoughts, behavoirs, perception, and outlook all have a tremendous affect on not only the brain and resultant physiology, but all of the other aforementioned interdependent systems that regulate body function.



2) Endocrine system- "messenger molecules" that regulate appetite are being discovered constantly... keeping them in balance is key to success in regulating weight and appetite, examples include Leptin/PYY (satiety), Gherelin (Hunger), Insulin (regulates glucose in the bloodstream.

The metabolism is largely regulated by the thyroid, which is the "master thermostat" of the "metabolism". Many things can affect thyroid however, and our behavoir, lifestyle, and stress are some of the most significant. Many people think their problems with weight control stem from their "slow metabolism"... while sometimes this may be true, mainly because they have caused this slow metabolism themselves! Much research has pointed to the fact that a sluggish metabolism is caused by "dieting" or restricting calories itself! So while dieting, people often lower calorie intake to lose weight.... however, this caloric restriction, while causing short-term weight loss, slows thyroid function, metabolism, causes loss of lean-body mass (further slowing metabolism), and causes even more "rebound" weight gain! Thus the vicious cycle continues...



How can one increase metabolism and substantially and prevent much of the degeneration associated with aging? Maintaining and increasing lean body mass, i.e. muscle! With aging, inactive people will begin to lose approximately 1/3 lb. of muscle per year every year, beginning in the late 20's. Since we know that every lb. of muscle burns between 37-60 calories at rest daily, that translates to 18,000 calories less burned in one year after losing only one pound of muscle!!! That means a whole lot less "cardio" to burn off calories, and more "free" calories by increasing one's resting metabolism! Sounds like a good deal to me!



One groundbreaking study published in the spring of 2007 demonstrated that resistance training actually REVERSED the aging in muscle cells, reversed signs of sarcopenia, and reversed genetic damage to the cells, and stopped mitochondrial dysfunction (a major cause of sarcopenia).



2b- meal timing and insulin regulation - Regulating insulin is one of the most significant keys to succeeding in preventing weight gain and reducing inflammation and aging in the body! Insulin is known to be the master metabolism hormone, controlling "Glycemic Load" of food intake is key, since blood sugar response of a meal affects insulin release, and high levels of insulin in the blood stream lead to excess fat deposition and ultimately insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.

What is the best way to regulate insulin? First, lowering GL, Glycemic Load, of meals, which can be accomplished by several means. Increasing fiber intake being a huge key here, as well as for improving overall health! Numerous studies link increased fiber intake throughout the day to weight loss, satiety, well-regulated insulin, etc. Increasing protein intake lowers Glycemic load substantially as well, and affects the PYY hormone to signal satiety and decrease appetite, not to mention has key amino acids which regulate numerous hormones and chemicals in the body.

Second, eating more frequently... this helps stabilize insulin, and increases the TEF, or Thermic Effect of Food. Metabolizing food requires energy... especially protein and fibrous/complex (and unrefined) carbohydrates! Therefore eating more nutrient dense food, allows you to burn more calories through the process of digestion itself, whereas unrefined carbs and sugars require little to no digestive efforts for the body, less TEF, trigger elevated insulin levels.

Third, exercise! numerous studies show that exercise helps to prevent insulin resistance, and balances stress hormones in the body.



3) Immune system function. This is affected greatly by the other systems... Thoughts, perception, and resultant environmental stressors (listed below) have a substantial affect on the sympathetic nervous system. Stressors which stimulate the sympathetic nervous system continuously, cause the stress hormones epinephrine/norepinephrine to be released, which then causes the adrenal glands to increase cortisol levels, and thus causes an elevated Cortisol to DHEA ratio.

Altered cortisol to DHEA ratio leads to many problems in the body we do not associate with chronic stress, but in fact are linked quite tangibly.

A list of these altered processes include: Immune system activity is lowered (listing these specific immune function changes is beyond the scope of this article unless you are a Physician or Endocrinologist), adrenal system dysfunction and fatigue, decreased insulin sensitivity, decreased glucose utilization, increased blood sugar levels, increased gluconeogenesis, osteoporosis, central fat accumulation(waist/abdominal/visceral), increased salt and water retention... to name a few!

There are also many "clinical conditions" this altered hormone regulation can affect, a few of them include: chronic viral infections, allergies, fatigue, headaches, cancer, cardiovascular disease, insomnia, hypoglycemia, hunger, PMS, depression, irratable bowel, digestive problems, ADD/ADHD.



CHRONIC stressors to avoid/control: Anger/Fear, worry/anxiety, depression, guilt, overwork, Excessive exercise, sleep deprivation, light-cycle disruption, late hours, surgery, trauma/injury, whiplash/head injury, inflammation, pain, temperature extremes, toxic exposure, infections, chemicals/heavy metals, electromagnetic fields, radiation, Illness, mal-digestion, low blood sugar, poor diet, allergies, mold-pollens,



How to control stress hormones to avoid CHRONIC stress?

Nutrition: regulate caffeine/stimulants

Sleep: 7-8 hours to allow the nervous system and body to repair itself. Sleep needs to be during the night/dark hours, preferably 10:30-6:30AM... much research shows the validity of following ones "Circadian Rythms". Hormone levels fluctuate due to time of day, light, etc.

Exercise: minimum 30 minutes per day, at a moderate to vigorous level, which some studies show can work as well as anti-depressants.

Meditation: Has been shown in research to be extremely effective not only for immediate benefit, but more importantly for change the physiology of the brain/thinking permanently! That is to say, if we change how we USE our brains, the "neuronets" of usage will also change, and become "hardwired" into our physical brain physiology. "SPECT" scans have been done on novice meditators (as well as Monks who are expert meditators), which VISUALLY/TANGIBLY DEMONSTRATE the difference in usage in the part of the brain that experiences joy (i.e. "grateful" thoughts) vs. hateful thoughts... from one moment to the next. There is obviously a different pattern of usage during hateful vs. grateful, but more importantly, LASTING CHANGES take effect with these usage patterns, and these scans clearly and tangibly prove that meditating changes brain physiology on a LONG-TERM basis.

Faith/prayer: people who have faith in God, or a "higher power" have consistently and statistacally show faster healing from disease, surgery, illness, and have a more positive outlook on life overall.



The solution to long-term success? Allowing all of these systems to work together by thinking and focusing on positive thoughts, modifying timing and composition of meals, paying attention to nutrient density of foods, exercising consistently, and managing stress hormone levels throgh meditation and limiting negative stressors. All of these things will affect long-term health, wellbeing, and happiness.

The First Contribution to the Magnum Opus Blog - Evidence-based Solutions...

This blog will detail how to achieve your ultimate goals in mind-body (and body-mind!): fitness, wellness, and increasing health-span. The information is based on a wide variety of sources, and many of the most brilliant and progressive specialists I have found in each of their respective fields. Prevention is the key to a happy and healthy life... as I say in the blog: Use it or lose it! So it goes with the aging process. But aging as we know it does not have to occur as rapidly, or decrease our quality of life like it does in our modern society.

This blog uses "evidence-based" information integrating western medicine and thought, as well as alternative/integrative medicine approaches. This is important since there is SOOOO much misinformation in our world today! Scrutiny must be applied to marketing claims, dieting systems, and the numerous alternative methods of treatment. This peer-review/evidence-based approach ensures that the information presented is based on valid research and methodology.

A lack of communication and associated "compartimentalization", between health-care providers in different specialties has created a chasm between the tradional "western" medical health care system and our personal responsibilty/education to PREVENT this dis-ease. This combined with lack of activity (studies show on average Americans burn 800 less Kcal/day than in 1975), and increases in refined/process foods, is causing disastrous trends in America and other industrialized nations today.

The reactive approach of treating the sypmtom of dis-ease after it has already occurred is not the answer, prevention is the key.