Keys to living longer and better

The aging process is universal for all living things and cannot be reversed, at least for now. However, here are some tips to make the aging period as comfortable as possible.

• The "antiaging medicine" tries to convince that the aging process is pathological, reversible and that a kind of "eternal youth" can be achieved.
• No “anti-aging” therapy has ever really reversed the aging process or increased longevity, although in experimental animals these changes appear to have existed.
• Exercising, following a balanced diet or avoiding unhealthy habits are the only effective measures that will help maintain health.

The passing of the years affects everyone

The process of aging is universal for all living things and cannot be reversed, at least for now. Despite what some would have us believe, it is not a disease in itself but it is the normal process of the passing of the years, just as the development process at puberty is not a disease.

The changes that occur in our body over the years affect all the organs and tissues of the body, both those that are "seen from the outside" and those that are hidden inside. These are normal changes, a consequence of the passing of the years, but they are more intense if during youth and adulthood a healthy and balanced lifestyle has not been led: all those unhealthy habits maintained during our lives may have an impact on the future, and the consequences of those harmful habits carried out over the years may accumulate their consequences and make our old age a less comfortable period than it could have been.

Healthy aging vs antiaging medicine

The so-called "antiaging medicine" (a controversial concept that implies a position "against old age") tries to convince that the aging process is pathological, reversible and that a kind of "eternal youth" can be achieved.

It is a controversial concept that encourages some professionals and their patients to interpret scientific data (often lacking in reliability), giving the hope that it is possible to increase the quantity and quality of life through certain unproven actions. always innovative, exclusive, original or even folkloric and often financially onerous for the patient.

Scientific-based international health institutions tend to prefer the concept of “healthy aging”, Which implies the scientific study and knowledge of what are the measures that can be taken to reach old age with greater health, and which are basically those that are collected in the box.

Celebrate years with health

Preventive Medicine, Geriatrics and Gerontology aim to know the normal mechanisms involved in aging and educate all people in health so that they follow a healthy lifestyle, through the only measures that have been shown to be effective in maintaining health :

• Carrying out of moderate intensity.
• , rich and varied, with enough water intake.
• Avoid unhealthy habits (especially the excessive ingestion of saturated fats, refined sugars, alcohol and other substances and completely abandon the habit of smoking), periodic health checks to promote early diagnosis and correct and effective treatment of diseases that may appear.
• Maintenance of a satisfactory family and / or social life and adequate.

These measures, although known and constantly disseminated, are far from being followed by some people who tend to prefer, believe and submit to unproven actions and follow a more “easy” or “fashionable” lifestyle, even at the risk of losing. the economy and health.

Healthy lifestyle habits have, in addition to the virtue of being the only effective and scientifically proven, the condition of being universal, economical and that can be followed by almost everyone; although, yes, sometimes they require some effort.

Antioxidants and hormone therapy

Numerous antioxidant molecules, such as , carotenoids, acetyl-cysteine ​​or selenium within the so-called "anti-aging antioxidant therapy".

From time to time, new “miraculous” molecules, elements or compounds appear. Ozone (O3) therapy, an unstable “superoxidant” substance, has even been proposed as antiaging therapy, as an example of the contradictions in this field.

Although its effects on health have been studied for more than fifty years, no study has been able to demonstrate the influence of antioxidants on the aging process or on life expectancy.

Especially noteworthy is the slight increase in mortality in some studies among people who took high doses of vitamin E as.

Although the blood levels of many hormones decline physiologically with age, it has not been possible to prove that this decline is pathological or causes any pathology. And much less is it proven than at supplement with hormones (analogous or so-called "bioidentical") reverse the changes produced by age, reduce pathologies or increase longevity.

The hormones most implicated and used as “anti-aging drugs” have been testosterone and dehydroepiandosterone (DHEA), estrogens, progestogens, growth hormone and vitamin D. These hormones appear to be able to modify the muscle and fat composition of the body and of bone mineral density, but the influence of these facts, even though they are true, has not been correlated with changes in the aging process or with life expectancy.

The data on the presumed benefits of hormonal supplementation are debatable, and even in some cases they have also been detrimental to health, increasing cardiovascular mortality and some types of cancer.

In theory, interventions called “antiaging” (“anti-aging”) could modify the biochemical and molecular mechanisms that cause normal changes and the signs of the passing of years in our body, or even reduce the propensity to suffer from certain diseases of old age . However, no scientific evidence has been found that this is so: no "anti-aging" therapy has ever really reversed the aging process nor has longevity increased, although in experimental animals these changes appear to have existed.

Therefore, whether we like it or not, the only measures that have been shown to be effective in reducing the impact of diseases in old age are to follow the well-known guidelines of healthy lifestyle and nutrition: maintaining the right weight, doing physical exercise , eat a rich and varied diet, avoid smoking or drinking alcohol, maintain satisfactory social relationships and control diseases that may appear from the earliest diagnosis.

Only with these measures, which are economically affordable for almost everyone in our environment, will we maintain a better state of physical, psychological and social health until the end of life.

Through these correct life habits we can reduce the influence of the changes that time produces in our body, increase life expectancy and, what is more important, the years we live we will enjoy a better state of physical health, psychological and social.