Have you ever wondered if there are things you could be doing in your life that could help you age better now? If you have, the short answer is yes. Holding on to your youth may not be as impossible to achieve as you think. We understand a lot more about aging now than ever before, and biohacking for longevity is not just for the rich and famous. In this blog, I will be discussing five main concepts of longevity and aging to help you understand how you can age well. With Functional Medicine, you can enjoy healthy aging with biohacking and make changes that can improve your vitality.
The Power of Adaptation: Optimizing Oxidative Stress for Longevity
The first of these concepts is hormesis. Hormesis is an adaptive response of cells to stress. This response can be triggered by light stressors such as exercise, intermittent fasting, or cold exposure. This can trigger powerful cellular pathways that support overall health. However, if stressors are too excessive, that same stress can be detrimental. An example of this is the balance of anti-oxidants and oxygen in the body. Maintaining good balance between anti-oxidants and oxygen is crucial to healthy aging. Taking large amounts of anti-oxidants can actually be harmful to your health. Sometimes more is not better. It is important to have a degree of oxidation in the body to trigger small amounts of stress. Ideally, if the balance between anti-oxidants and oxygen is optimized, our bodies will age better. In fact, one of the primary goals of Functional Medicine is to promote healthy aging with biohacking by encouraging hormesis.
Functional medicine improves vitality & Healthy aging with biohacking: Combatting Zombie Cells
Another contributor to aging is known as senescence. Senescence occurs when cells get older and stop dividing but do not die. These cells are called “zombie cells”. When senescence occurs, cells lose strength and vitality. Functional medicine biohacking can be very helpful in reversing this. In our clinic, we examine vitamin and mineral deficiencies and the liver cells’ ability to remove toxins from the body through special detoxification pathways. We use targeted nutrients, some of which come in the form of injectable therapies, which are far more absorbable by the body than IV forms of these nutrients. Glutathione, known as the master anti-oxidant, and NAD+ an extremely important nutrient for energy production in cells, both help to restore cellular functioning in older cells, ultimately helping you to feel better as you age.
Mitochondrial Health: The Key to Slowing Down Aging
Mitophagy is another factor involved in aging and involves the mitochondria. Mitochondria are little organs inside of cells that produce the energy needed for cells to function optimally. Through the complex process of mitophagy, mitochondria commit suicide. The decrease in the number of mitochondria in cells makes cells sub-optimal in their ability to function. Mitophagy can occur when the immune system is overactive and causing oxidative stress. Too much oxidative stress can decrease the number of mitochondria in cells, ultimately causing premature aging. This is another way that Functional Medicine promotes healthy aging with biohacking. We look more closely into improving the health of the immune response to protect mitochondria and promote optimal cellular functioning.
Gut Health for Longevity: Healthy aging with biohacking
Another concept that cannot be ignored when it comes to discussions on anti-aging strategies is gut health and dysbiosis. Dysbiosis is a term that refers to an imbalance of the gut microbiome. Overgrowth of normal bacteria in the gut can become inflammatory. This bacteria is not a result of infection but from lifestyle and dietary choices. Things such as over-the-counter medications, acid-blocking medications, alcohol, stress and lack of sleep all can lead to dysbiosis. This increases inflammation as the result of immune system reactivity, and as we previously discussed, leads to the destruction of mitochondria. Functional Medicine looks to prevent this by improving gut health through testing and personalized gut health programs.
Finding Balance: Allostasis and Aging Gracefully
Finally, the role of allostasis will be examined. Allostasis is used to describe homeostasis in longevity medicine. Allostasis is the mechanism by which cellular processes fluctuate around a set point, despite continual fluctuations of conditions. The living body is constantly in flux. Cellular energy is primarily used to fight this constant battle of maintaining balance in the body. For example, uric acid is needed in the body, but in balanced amounts. If uric acid is too high, joints can be damaged through gouty arthritis. A healthy body will never reach a level of uric acid and stay there, it will constantly flux between needing to lower amounts when it is slightly high, and needing to raise the amounts when it is slightly low. The goal of the body, and of Functional Medicine, is to keep this within an optimal range. Optimal ranges are healthy ranges that promote healthy aging.
Overall, I hope you found this information both helpful and most importantly, hopeful. At South Florida Integrative Health Center, we have many tools that can make a significant difference in improving your health at the cellular level, preventing disease and helping you to age well. Testing, targeted nutritional treatments, and the expert guidance of our Functional Medicine Practitioner provide you with the biohacking tools you need to feel and be amazing.
No matter your age.