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News and ideas worth your attention.
Four decades of writing on living long and living well, with 1,000+ posts on functional and longevity medicine.
445 written by Dr. Frank Lipman
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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.
May 13, 2024 · Nutrition3 Reasons To Get Off the Grain Train – and 4 Flavorful Ways To Do It
We all want a generous ‘healthspan,’ that is, the time we have on this earth to live with vitality and in good health. Fortunately, there are plenty of everyday habits that can help us achieve it. Good sleep, plenty of movement, keeping stress at bay, social connection, they’re all important. But when you eat right, well, that’s money in the bank when it comes to minimizing disease risk, maintaining youthfulness and extending longevity. One way to approach upgrading your diet is with “food swaps.” Take the bad hombres --we’re looking at you processed foods, sugar, alcohol – and replace them with leaner, cleaner and yes, tastier alternatives.
May 6, 2024 · Health & Wellness7 Types of Rest You Really Need for Longevity
If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that self-care isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. And while self-care may mean different things to different people, the need for adequate rest is universal. To live well and feel well for as long as possible, it’s essential to bake rest into your daily routine, because you can’t really bank or stockpile rest; it needs to be a daily habit. Most people equate rest solely with sleep, but there's a good bit more to it. To truly thrive over the long-haul, be advised that rest is more than just sleeping soundly through the night (though that’s a good start). Fact is, rest has many faces, and there are seven types of rest you need to get to know better.
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 15, 2024 · Movement10 Ways to Avoid Injury and Keep Moving Pain-free
Movement is one of the cornerstones of a long and healthy life, not to mention one of the underrated joys of everyday life, a reliable mood-lifter. But when we challenge our bodies more intensely, to get greater health benefits or just for the fun of it, we increase the risk of injuring ourselves which obviously defeats the whole purpose. The good news here is that with some planning and observing some basic (but oh so easy to ignore) rules of the road, we can sidestep much of that risk, upping our odds of enjoying a vigorous old age, delaying frailty for as long as humanly possible.
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:
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.!
Feb 12, 2024 · Health & WellnessMeet Metformin – and It’s Anti-Aging Superpowers
By now, my readers may be aware of my interest in longevity-focused medicine, particularly in light of all of the exciting anti-aging and longevity research and promising treatments making news almost every day.
Feb 5, 2024 · Health & Wellness9 Ways to Develop an Attitude of Gratitude
Particularly these days, life is not without its challenges. We live in a time of global upheaval and chronic anxiety, and the prospect of navigating through it can seem daunting.
Jan 29, 2024 · Health & Wellness10 Tips to Banish Blood Pressure Problems Naturally
So, you go for an annual check-up and your primary care doc slaps on the blood pressure cuff and then delivers the bad news. Your blood pressure, which has been steadily ticking up for years, has now crossed the threshold, into either borderline or bona fide hypertension.
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.
Jan 8, 2024 · Movement24 Ways to Ditch Sugar in 2024 (and Beyond)
In honor of 2024, I’ve put together my 24-point list of tips for slaying the sugar monster once and for all. Here’s where to start.
Jan 1, 2024 · Health & WellnessInspiring Words of Wisdom to Guide Your New Year
Welcome to 2024!
Dec 25, 2023 · Health & WellnessTOP 10 MOST POPULAR BLOGS OF 2023
Now’s a great time to look back at 2023 and think about what you want for the New Year.
Dec 18, 2023 · Health & WellnessRediscovering Tea Tree Oil – and 8 Reasons to Stock Up
The deeper you go exploring the ins and outs of your own health, making health-enhancing tweaks becomes second nature.