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153 written by Dr. Frank Lipman in Healthy Aging
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Mar 4, 2024 · Healthy AgingUnlocking Longevity: Delving into the 12 Hallmarks of Aging (Part 1)
Most of us were raised to think about aging as this mysterious thing that just happens to us. But over the past decade or so, scientists have made great strides in figuring out what’s going in our bodies at a cellular and even molecular level to explain the differences between a 30-year-old and a 70-year-old and why it is the older we get, the more vulnerable we become to the dreaded “diseases of aging.” The good news is that science is now showing us that you have more control over how well and quickly you age than you may realize.
Feb 26, 2024 · Healthy Aging6 Ways Cold Exposure Makes You Younger, Happier and Healthier!
More than just a change of scenery, stepping outside in winter and exposing yourself to cold can help slow your aging roll and extend your ‘healthspan’ (aka, the life in your years), so take advantage now – before it warms up! Think of winter’s chill as your youth-preserving secret weapon – and here’s how and why I encourage you to harness that chilling power all season long.
Feb 19, 2024 · Healthy Aging5 Ways Stress Ages You All Over – and How to Fight Back
It’s no secret that too much stress is bad for your health. However, what is new is that integrative physicians like me appreciate that health is best understood as the ability to withstand the age-related decline in function in every part and system of the body, starting as early as our thirties. And stress? Cutting-edge research is now starting to pinpoint ways that stress turbocharges this aging process – so its up to you to start fighting back a.s.a.p.!
Jan 22, 2024 · Healthy Aging6 Ways Your Biological Age Matters More than the Number of Candles on Your Cake
When we think about age, we should be thinking of it in terms of two numbers: your actual chronological age and what researchers and some forward-thinking clinicians are now calling “biological” age, which captures the differences in how our bodies change over time. The good news? Medical science is in the first stages of being able to measure the biological processes that underlie aging, and clinicians – myself included – who embrace “longevity medicine” and can use that information to tailor therapies and target lifestyle upgrades to slow that process down.
Jan 15, 2024 · Healthy Aging7 Thoughts on How AKG Can Make Aging Better – and Slower
Pharmaceutical drugs. They are, for better or worse, just about everywhere these days, and while they have their place, they’re also wildly over-prescribed – blunt instruments that can sometimes create more problems than they solve. That’s why I’m always curious about promising alternatives and excited by the growing research into natural compounds – and one candidate that may be able to keep health moving in a positive direction is something called ‘alpha-ketoglutarate’ or ‘AKG – which can help the body restore itself when it begins to run down.
Oct 9, 2023 · Healthy AgingAnti-Aging with Spermidine – and How It Can Save Your Brain, Heart, and Youth
Sometimes I come across cutting edge information about health therapies that just excites me, and ‘spermidine’ is a case in point. If your first response is: “what the heck is that?” you’ve got plenty of company, even though it was first discovered by the inventor of the microscope, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, way back in 1678. But only recently have scientists come to appreciate that this compound plays a valuable role in all sorts of key physiological processes and anti-aging, which, no matter your years, is a fascinating proposition.
Sep 18, 2023 · Healthy Aging13 Ways Peptides Make Vibrant Health Happen
Safe to say, just about all of us want to remain as vital as possible for as long as possible. To help our bodies do that, our cells, organs and systems need to work in concert, to ‘talk’ to each other to keep everything running smoothly. Helping to keep that communication moving along are peptides, natural signaling agents which go to work inside in our cells and have a host of positive effects on our physiology. In short, they help make good health things happen throughout the body and it’s a big reason why I’m such a fan of putting peptides to work with a number of my patients.
Sep 11, 2023 · Healthy Aging6 Things to Know About the “Miracle” Drug Ozempic And Its Weight-loss Cousins
Ozempic and a handful of similar drugs have been grabbing countless headlines these days, marketed as ‘miracle drugs’ to millions of people who are struggling with weight problems, not to mention diabetes, which these drugs were originally designed to treat. But are these drugs right for you?
Aug 21, 2023 · Healthy AgingMy 7 Point To-Do List for Aging Well – and Slowly!
One of the most frequent questions I get from my patients is: “How do I slow down aging?” I get it. Nobody wants to look, and more importantly, feel like they’re getting old. And by “getting old,” they mean losing the spark and sparkle and wrinkle-free skin they may have taken for granted in their twenties and thirties. What I tell them is, if you follow some basic rules of slowing down aging, you’ll help take care of the wrinkles on the outside of you at the same time you’re addressing the wrinkles on the inside – dysfunctions in the way your metabolism, cardiovascular system, immune system and your brain work, in other words the big things that can reduce both the quality and the quantity of your years on the planet.
Jul 31, 2023 · Healthy Aging5 Health-Enhancing and Life-Lengthening Benefits of Grandparenting
Parenting. As any mother or father can tell you, it’s not easy. Rewarding, for sure, often joyous, but it’s still a job that can sometimes feel overwhelmingly challenging. (Remember the terrible two’s? The teen years?) But, when all those years of parenting give rise to the next generation and you become a grandparent, delight becomes the default. As a very proud grandfather, it is pure joy to watch my young grandson grow physically, mentally, emotionally is a thing of beauty. And, seeing how much he loves having Janice and me spend time with him, fills us with love and gratitude as we nurture this very special, life-long relationship.
May 8, 2023 · Healthy Aging7 Ways Positive Relationships Support a Healthy Brain, Heart and Life!
While we have finally emerged from the social darkness that came with the pandemic, a lot of us are still working on finding our footing again. It’s not unusual for patients to tell me they don’t go out as much anymore, or don’t see friends and relatives as much as they used to before COVID changed the ground rules. While these slightly untethered feelings are fairly normal, and may be with us for a while, it’s extremely important that we work on rekindling relationships and retraining ourselves to cultivate new ones. Why? Because social interaction is one of the keys to health and longevity.
Apr 17, 2023 · Healthy AgingWhether you have Insulin Resistance, Metabolic Syndrome, or Pre-Diabetes, You Can Stop Diabetes Before it Gets its Hooks in You
The food we eat to keep our metabolism running and us alive can, if we’re not careful, poison us. If we’re consuming too many carbs and not burning them off, glucose (sugar) builds up in the bloodstream which in turn drives up the hormone insulin required to get it out of the blood and into our cells for fuel. Unchecked, that sends us down the path of “insulin resistance” -- the pancreas can’t make enough insulin to do the job because the cells on the receiving end are becoming progressively less sensitive to it. Worst-case scenario: type 2 diabetes – but you don’t have to go there.
Feb 6, 2023 · Healthy Aging7 Thoughts on Why Everyone Should Explore Wearable Health Tracking Devices
OK, so let’s say you’ve resolved to improve your health this year but got disheartened when the mirror and the numbers on the scale didn’t appear to reflect the effort you’ve been putting in. How to stay motivated regardless? Wearable health tracking devices provide a great boost. Not only do they show you the stuff below the surface, that you literally cannot see, but they provide both doctor and patient with a clearer picture of what’s going on with your physiology before the real ills can get a toehold – that is, if you start monitoring early enough. Wearable health trackers can be literally life-changing, not to mention potentially life-saving – and it’s why I’m encouraging my patients to start using them – and you should too!
Jan 30, 2023 · Healthy Aging5 Foods To Get Rid Of For Better Brain Health
The classic bad-for-your-brain foods are the kinds I’ve talked a lot about a lot over the years – they’re the ones that inflame the body, and drive up risk for numerous chronic health conditions like obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes, etc. But what we often forget is that this stuff is bad for your head too – pro-inflammatory foods are simply awful for brain health in the near term – think brain fog, anxiety, depression – and long-term, increased risk of developing – Alzheimer’s, dementia, neurological disease., etc. Simply put: you need to kick them now to save your brain.
Jan 23, 2023 · Healthy AgingIs Melatonin The New Anti-Aging Hormone?
Melatonin is becoming a hot corner of the anti-aging research world. A lot of folks are taking a second or third look at melatonin, including me.
Dec 12, 2022 · Healthy Aging7 Ways to Save Your Bones and Keep them Healthy
Bones are the scaffolding that holds us up and when they’re lashed together by connective tissue in joints, they allow us to move. When everything is working the way it should, they’re pretty easy to take for granted, that is until you take a tumble and fracture your wrist or your hip. That’s when many women discover that their bones are precariously thin, or worse, dangerously fragile. But, as I tell my patients, the time to wake up to the reality of thinning bone is now, before there’s a calamity and when there’s still time to slow down the loss of bone tissue.
Nov 21, 2022 · Healthy Aging7 Life Saving Reasons to Walk More, and 10 Ways To Do It
Walking. For most of us, it’s easy to do and hey, we do it every day but doing enough of it may be an entirely different question. Chances are, if you’re a traditional, car-driving, office-working person, you’re probably not walking nearly as much as your body would like you to.
Nov 14, 2022 · Healthy AgingWhy I am Such a Big Fan of CoQ10
We’ve all heard the expression, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Well, guess what, that’s not always true. Here’s one of my favorite counter-examples from the health world: CoQ10 supplementation. CoQ10 is a vitamin-like compound found in every cell in your body, essential for powering it up. Fortunately, our bodies make it. Not so fortunately, our bodies don’t not make quite enough of it to power us through our whole lives as vigorously as we’d wish. And that’s where CoQ10 supplements come in.
Nov 4, 2022 · Healthy Aging10 Essentials of Aging Well
Functional-medicine pioneer Frank Lipman, MD, offers simple strategies to improve how we age.
Oct 24, 2022 · Healthy Aging10 Reasons Why You’ve Got Brain Fog and 10 Ways to Clear It
Got brain fog? You’re not alone. Though it’s not a medical term per se, it is an extremely common affliction. Trouble is, there are a number of less-than-stellar habits that contribute to it and can make you feel like you’re ‘losing your edge,’ or, in more extreme cases, your mind. No matter how significant the fog is or isn’t, it’s still unnerving when it’s your brain that’s not functioning as seamlessly as you’ve come to expect. So, the question is, what’s triggering your brain fog? And, what can you do to lift it and think clearly again?
Sep 26, 2022 · Healthy Aging8 Ways to Get Low Testosterone Back up to Speed
If you’ve ever been bombarded by those TV ads nattering on about “Low T” or websites that offer supplemental testosterone prescriptions like they were candy, you might be tempted to think the whole business built around the world of low testosterone is a scam. But it’s not. The problem of not having enough is very real – even if the solution they’re pushing, for most men, is rarely the right one. What guys don’t hear on the TV ads is that when you take control of your lifestyle, you can bring back your testosterone levels to a more youthful and healthy place.
Sep 12, 2022 · Healthy Aging15 Safe, Simple, Low-Tech Bio-Hacks That Work
Over the last few years you may have heard a lot of talk about ‘bio-hacking.’ And while it may sound a bit Brave New World, in practice, bio-hacking is really about applying smart, health-enhancing strategies to help us create the best, healthiest versions of ourselves possible. So, how to bio-hack your way to better health? I have a few ideas for you.
Aug 29, 2022 · Healthy AgingThe Negative Health Impact of Social Isolation – and 4 Essential Ways to Reconnect
A lack of social connection, does a number on physical health. Studies show that higher levels of loneliness, as well as the poor quality and quantity of social relationships, are associated with shorter lifespans. Add to that a higher risk for heart disease, chronic inflammation, cancer and cognitive decline, and even an increased susceptibly to viral infection, and the physical downsides associated with loneliness are considerable. So, if over the past few years, you’ve retreated somewhat from family, friends and colleagues and you haven’t quite found your way back, I urge you to make the effort to turn the volume back up on those relationships.
Aug 8, 2022 · Healthy Aging5 Ways Boosting Metabolic Flexibility Helps Keep Blood Sugar And Weight In Check
Eating three carb-heavy meals a day with carb-y snacks in-between is one way to virtually ensure that your body will be metabolically inflexible – which the opposite of what you want your body to do. As a result of those way-too-plentiful carbs, our bodies get less and less good at tapping into fat and burning it for energy, so much so that when we burn through our body’s carb stores – and it doesn’t take very long— it doesn’t readily switch to fat. We become literally weak with hunger. It's as if your backup generator doesn’t kick on when the power goes out.