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Four decades of writing on living long and living well, with 1,000+ posts on functional and longevity medicine.
153 written by Dr. Frank Lipman in Healthy Aging
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Nov 4, 2024 · Healthy AgingIntroducing ApoB: The Essential and Inexpensive Heart Test You Must Ask for to Live Long and Well
As we get older (and we all, for the most part, do), we tend to worry most about diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s. Understandably so. But what people often forget is that heart attacks are still the biggest killers in the U.S. and in the whole industrial West. But here’s the thing. Unlike those other lethal diseases, cardiovascular disease, or atherosclerosis, shouldn’t be that difficult to prevent or combat. The fatty plaques that can develop in your arteries usually take decades to grow into life-threatening terrors. We know we can stop this progression, especially of early-stage disease, and, in some cases, even reverse it, with the right diet and physical activity and, when necessary, cholesterol-lowering drugs.
Oct 28, 2024 · Healthy AgingBeyond Big Muscles: Creatine’s Big 4 Anti-Aging Bonuses
While many athletes take creatine to boost performance, endurance and recovery, you might be wondering, what’s the benefit of taking creatine for a regular civilian like me? Well, if you’re starting to age – and face it, we all are – studies suggest that the benefits of creatine supplementation go well beyond just adding muscle. It’s got the potential to be a powerful anti-aging and longevity ally, enhancing everything from bone density to cognitive function.
Oct 14, 2024 · Healthy Aging9 Longevity and Anti-Aging Secrets of Seaweed
Often the easiest health hacks are the dietary ones, and leaning into superfoods is a delicious, no-brainer way to get our wellness and longevity compass pointing in the right direction. Chances are you’re already tucking into a number of the superfood classics a few times a week – think blueberries, spinach, avocados, etc. But you may be overlooking seaweed, one of nature’s most unassuming superfood treasures, packed with the power to enhance our healthy aging process.
Sep 23, 2024 · Healthy Aging7 Do-Right-Now, High and Low Tech Ways to Avoid Alzheimer’s and Dementia
When the brain starts to fail, the consequences are devastating, life-changing, in the worst possible way. Small wonder the mere mention of words like cognitive impairment, dementia, Alzheimer’s – whether it’s in relation to ourselves or our loved ones –strikes fear in our heart. What’s more, the rates of these debilitating neurological conditions are expected to skyrocket in the next 20 years as the population ages and life expectancies increase – we’re looking at you Gen X and younger Boomers. The good news there is a lot you can do to steer clear.
Sep 16, 2024 · Healthy AgingWant to Live Long and Well? Your Oral Microbiome Can Help
One of the most intriguing, and most important, bacterial ecosystems we have is the oral microbiome which really isn’t a single microbiome at all but rather a collection of neighboring bacterial populations, approximately 700 strains in all, that have colonized our gums, tongue, the mucous lining of our cheeks and the surface of our teeth. This is some of the most densely populated bacterial real estate in the body with its primary function being to maintain our oral health – think cavity-free teeth and pink gums resistant to infection and recession.
Sep 9, 2024 · Healthy AgingPerfect Pairing: Harnessing the Anti-Aging Power of Methylene Blue and Red Light Therapy
I am a big proponent of health-promoting therapies and two of the ones I’m now regularly using in my practice are red light therapy and methylene blue. The extraordinary benefits of combining the red and the blue, two modalities which, in different ways, both stimulate the powerplants inside our cells, the mitochondria, with the result that the body has more healing energy on tap. Each therapy enhances the other, creating a synergistic effect that I like to call, 1 plus 1 equals 3. Or, combine and conquer! Here are my thoughts on how to put them both to work for you.
Aug 26, 2024 · Healthy Aging7 Reasons Why You Need More Protein for Anti-Aging – and 6 Ways to Get Yours
Just about every day patients ask me how they can age well, or at minimum, do it better than their parents and grandparents did -- and the good news is that many of them can! As the biology of aging has evolved over the past few decades, we now know so much more about how to help our bodies age more slowly, in better health, than ever before. Granted, we’ve not quite figured out how to stop aging but there are a number of steps we can take, starting now, to get into a slower aging groove. One of the biggies is protein. While it may not seem like an obvious clock-stopper, as we age, increasing protein intake becomes especially important – and a lot of people overlook this relatively simple, longevity upgrade.
Aug 19, 2024 · Healthy AgingTwo Heart Tests You May Need — But Don’t Know About
Nothing is more essential than taking care of your heart. Heart attack risk increases significantly when underlying issues go unchecked and yet many people overlook the importance of understanding their cardiovascular system until it's too late. This is where diagnostic tests that capture images of your heart should enter the picture, revealing artery-blocking plaque before it becomes problematic. Having this kind of information now empowers you to take control of your heart health while there’s plenty of time to do something about it. In fact, most heart attacks should be preventable. Cardiac imaging tests remind us that we don’t have to let the coronary vessels deteriorate. With a little extra effort, we all can nip atherosclerosis in the bud – and that’s music to your heart’s ears!
Aug 12, 2024 · Healthy Aging7 Ways Alcohol Hurts Your Heart – and Ages You Fast
When it comes to alcohol consumption, as you might imagine, I’m really not a fan. As much as it may not seem to be a big deal – it is, after all, available everywhere – alcohol is a toxin, and it’s one that far too many people pour into their bodies multiple times a week. We use alcohol to unwind, relax, commune with others, feel more festive or enhance a nice meal. These are all understandable motivations but the trouble is, alcohol has enormous potential for dependency, more rapid aging, shortened longevity – and the exceedingly difficult-to-reverse specter of heart damage to boot.
Aug 5, 2024 · Healthy AgingThe Life-Changing Benefits of Balancing Blood Sugar — and 9 Ways To Do It
There are a million reasons not to eat sugar, to purge it from your life and not look back. No news there. What may be news to a lot of people though is all the far-reaching, systemic damage the stuff does to multiple aspects of your physiology when you’re not paying attention. In other words, that cookie isn’t just a cookie, it’s a weapon of health destruction. Turns out, the optimal functioning of so much of you – and down the road, your longevity – suffers when you bomb it with sweet stuff. With that in mind, it’s helpful to understand the profoundly positive impact that balancing your blood sugar levels has on your health – and how to stabilize those levels so you can stop trouble before it starts.
Jul 29, 2024 · Healthy AgingProtect Your Brain – and Keep It Younger Longer — With Red Light Therapy
It almost goes without saying that keeping our bodies and brains healthy for as long as possible is a worthy endeavor and anything we can do to realize that goal is a worthwhile pursuit. That’s why I encourage everyone with a brain to protect (which would be all of us) to give it some extra TLC by adding red light therapy to their healthy lifestyle playbook. Why? Because RLT’s potential to help keep brains young and robust is a brain-saving opportunity few of us can afford to miss!
Jul 8, 2024 · Healthy Aging6 Essential Ways Your Body Composition Can Keep You Younger Longer
Body composition matters, and today, our ability to precisely determine the proportion of fat, lean muscle, bone and water in the body has blossomed into a must-have tool for many of us in the wellness and longevity world. In fact, it’s now one of my favorite ways to identify a patient’s current state health and to call out what needs tending to in order to support their longevity and improve their ‘healthspans’ -- the length of time they’re able to stay vibrant and healthy.
Jul 1, 2024 · Healthy AgingYour Estrogen Levels Matter – and Here’s How to Best Support Yours – and Longevity to Boot!
For many women, until the sex hormones veer off course, and the effects are unmistakably felt, hormones aren’t something that’s top of mind. Often, it’s at the start of menopause when my patients become more aware of their down-shifting estrogen levels. For others, entering their 30s and 40s, it may be struggles with issues like fertility, PMS, mood swings, sexual dysfunction that bring hormone imbalances more prominently into the conversation. Your health depends on all of your body’s systems, including your sex hormones, functioning well together so it may be time you and your doc take a closer look.
Jun 24, 2024 · Healthy Aging10 Life-Improving Benefits of Red Light Therapy
Light therapy has been around for thousands of years, but, over the last few decades, red light therapy (or RLT) has emerged as one of the most exciting of the light therapies, and a health therapy with the power to help preserve youthfulness, both inside and out. Besides tamping down rapid-ager inflammation and promoting anti-oxidant activity – and no matter what your age, everyone needs that – red light has the ability to stimulate the mitochondria. Keeping those energy powerplants inside our cells functioning at optimal levels is essential if we’re going to stay active and vibrant ourselves.
Jun 17, 2024 · Healthy Aging5 Thoughts on Fisetin, the Anti-Aging Flavonoid
Unlike our parents and grandparents, we now have a phenomenal number of ways to help us slow the aging slide, support longevity and expand our healthspans -- the length of time we remain healthy. In other words, it’s actually an exciting time to be aging – and to be able to tap into many of the revolutionary longevity-supporting discoveries that have emerged in the past decade or so. Among the more interesting recent discoveries worth considering is one you may not be familiar with: fistein. Though it’s a natural compound that’s been around for a long time (it’s surely older than the human species), only recently has it come to light as a promising longevity candidate – and an excellent addition to your age-defying toolbox.
May 27, 2024 · Healthy AgingFinding Ikigai: Your Path to Purpose and Meaning and 10 Ways to Get Yours
For generations, countless words have been written on how best to live a good life. Often these investigations skew one of two ways, toward the mystical, emphasizing an inner search for meaning, or they go outward, as in, how to make it in the material world, witness the reams of books about achieving business success. Recently, I’ve come across a traditional Japanese precept that for me combines the best of both worlds. It’s summed up in a single word, ikigai, itself a combination of two Japanese words, "iki" meaning life and "gai" meaning worth or value. At its core, it’s about discovering what gets you out of bed in the morning, your ‘raison d’etre.
May 20, 2024 · Healthy Aging7 Thoughts on How Strong Immunity Can Help Slow Aging
Aging can bring all sorts of gifts, whether it’s wisdom and experience, new opportunities or connecting in a new way with your adult children and grandchildren. Things can get tough though with some of the physical changes that can take place in our bodies, typically, taking root in early middle age and gathering speed from there. Another change that comes with the gift of years? One of the most important ones concerns our immune system, our body’s defense against threats from the outside world and from inside us as well.
Apr 29, 2024 · Healthy Aging5 Ways Glycine Helps You Age Better – and Slower
Whether you’re in peak form or dealing with conditions that need attention, I’ve got a helpful health hack for you – and it’s called glycine. I like to think of it as the Swiss Army knife of amino acids, an under-the-radar hero that’s capable of doing your health and longevity a world of good without a lot of extra effort. Augmenting your natural supply with glycine-rich high protein foods, healthy supportive behaviors and strategic supplementation and you can easily keep your tank topped up – and help fight off many of the ills that can age you before your time.
Apr 22, 2024 · Healthy AgingThe Body, Brain and Healthspan Benefits of Anti-Aging Wonder Methylene Blue
While restoring health and sustaining wellness remains at the core of everything I do, focusing on aging well is fast becoming central to my approach. While we can’t stop aging altogether, advances in the longevity field are enabling us to put the process of slowing aging well within reach. With this in mind, I want to introduce you to a fascinating substance called methylene blue that’s showing a lot of promise when it comes to supporting a longer ‘healthspan’ (aka, a youthful life for as long as possible), and is a powerful ally in helping our bodies stand up to the health-eroders that limit human lifespans.
Apr 8, 2024 · Healthy Aging16 Ways to Turn Health Around With Bio-hacking
While many hacks are geared towards automating life’s more mundane tasks – better ways to cook, get your steps in, grow more vegetables, etc. – the kind of hacking I’m most interested in is ‘bio-hacking,’ as in, the kinds of hacks that focus on smarter strategies to improve health, wellness and, ultimately, longevity.
Apr 1, 2024 · Healthy Aging6 Ways Nitric Oxide Amps Up Immunity, Muscle Performance and Circulation
So, what is nitric oxide? It’s a gas that circulates in suspension in the blood, travelling throughout the body doing good things wherever it reaches. It helps neurons talk to each other and to the muscle cells. It helps fortify the immune system. And perhaps most importantly, it plays a critical role in ensuring that blood flows easily through the blood vessels, bringing oxygen and nutrients to every corner of the body. So how to help nitric oxide deliver an even greater load of health benefits? I have a few ideas for you.
Mar 25, 2024 · Healthy AgingUnlocking Longevity: Delving into the Final 3 Hallmarks of Aging (Part 4)
Of the hallmarks of aging discovered in the last decade or so, three of them have been added only recently. Previously they had been folded into the original 9 pre-existing hallmarks, not surprising since all the hallmarks affect each other, one way or another. But now they’ve got their own spot on the marquee, in part because they’re especially sensitive to the daily choices we make about diet, physical activity and stress. Here’s how to take charge of the additional three hallmarks believed to be responsible for making us grow old – ideally not before our time, that is, if we follow some sensible lifestyle advice.
Mar 18, 2024 · Healthy AgingUnlocking Longevity: Delving into the Next 3 Hallmarks of Aging (Part 3)
In this four-part series on what scientists call “the hallmarks of aging,” the specific biochemical processes that are happening in your body every day, every second, which, taken together, take us from our physical peak in our twenties right on through to the end of our lives. The idea, as I explained, is “know your enemy,” as in, if we can identify what’s going on in the body, we can take steps to fight back against it, whether that’s healthy lifestyle choices now or, down the line, with the help of new treatments being studied in the lab today. My advice? Get familiar with the hallmarks – and what to do about them now – so you can get ahead of the aging process.
Mar 11, 2024 · Healthy AgingUnlocking Longevity: Delving into 3 More Hallmarks of Aging (Part 2)
In last week’s post, we looked at the first three “the hallmarks of aging,” the specific bio-chemical processes that are happening in your body every day, every second, which, taken together, take us from our physical peak in our twenties right on through to the end of our lives. The idea, as I explained, is “know your enemy,” as in, if we can identify what’s going on in the body, we can take steps to fight back against it, whether that’s healthy lifestyle choices now or, down the line, with the help of new treatments being studied in the lab today. In this post, we’ll take a look at the next three hallmarks, and what you need to know about them: