Going for Healthy Aging? Or Looking Younger?

On a recent trail hike in the woods, Gail and I came across a tree that had just recently fallen.  The leaves were still green, but the entire trunk, roots and all, were flat on the ground. No other nearby trees had any sign of damage.  How could that be?  It’s likely that there was some disease or weakness deep in the tree, in the inner trunk or roots, so that the beautiful tree fell in some storm that left the others undisturbed.

In his book, Healthy Aging, Andrew Weil, MD, laments that in much of what passes for “anti-aging medicine” today is an emphasis on the appearance of youth.  Plastic surgery, Botox, skin peels, muscle building supplements are big business. Dr. Weil goes on to fill the book with actionable ideas for healthy aging and the “compression of morbidity.”  What is that? Compression of morbidity is the concept of staying healthy and active until a short time before death in old age, rather than the gradual decline over decades that is more common in the US. This concept is illustrated beautifully in another favorite book of mine, The Blue Zones, by Dan Buettner. Those “Blue Zones” are societies around the world where traditional healthy lifestyles not only lead to some of the world’s oldest people, but also where people in their 80s and 90s are active and healthy. 

Maybe we humans could use an emphasis on creating health deep in our roots and trunk, more so than investing in techniques to improve appearance.  Could it be that the glow of inner health would shine through our appearance as well?

My emphasis in these postings, as well as my practice of Integrative Medicine at AAHH, has been to give you actionable resources to create health deep in your core, health that will last into old age. The basis for this has always been the science behind nutrition, physical activity, natural medicines, healthy sleep, stress reduction and breath-work.  And now I am happy to tell you that we have a way to measure biomarkers that are associated with aging, and to provide specific guidance on how to modify the factors that are not optimal, helping you to create the deep roots of health that are associated with healthy aging.

AAHH is now the only clinical site in our area that provides the “Aging SOS” tests provided by Jinfiniti Precision Medicine. The biomarker results will be provided to you with a written overview and explanation from Jinfiniti, and I will meet with you to design a personalized plan to empower you to optimize these biomarkers.  If desired, repeat testing in a few months can assess how effective the intervention has been.

I believe this is the best example of using cutting edge biomedical research to design interventions that will create a naturally healthy core and lead to the compression of morbidity.  The science behind this is solid, and it is the brain-child of Dr. Jin-Xiong She, a professor at the Medical College of Georgia, whose research led to the founding of Jinfiniti Precision Medicine, based on the principle that prevention is the best medicine.  Their philosophy is a great fit for AAHH, since we have been teaching that since we opened in 2007!

Who should have these tests done?  Don’t wait until retirement age!  The cells in your body want support when you are young in order to keep the chronic diseases away.  So if you are between 30 and 65, consider calling the office to set up an Aging SOS consult.  You will be glad you did.

To your good health,

 

Robert Pendergrast, MD, MPH