Coz Being Ageless Is Priceless

Archive for May, 2010

Move Your Body

Marine of the United States Marine Corps runs ...

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All these years, we are led to believe that we need to spend hours at the gym to improve our cardiovascular health or improve our body composition (less fat, more muscles). Well, it’s not actually the amount of time that you spend at the gym that improves your overall health. I, for one, would listen to my body and spend 30 minutes max at the gym. Intuitively, I felt that this was healthier for me. So, when one of my clients told me about a book by Dr. Al Sears called the PACE Revolution, I knew I was on to something. Dr. Sears explains how doing vigorous exercise for short periods followed by rest improves cardiovascular health, body composition as well as improve objective parameters such as pulmonary function tests, which is one of the best predictors of longevity. We no longer need to be guilty about not spending an hour or more of long, boring, repetitive exercises. Enjoy training again!

Vitamin D

Okay, vitamin D has been so much in the news lately. And for good reason! However, we’re not just seeing a deficiency in vitamin D but also deficiencies in B vitamins as well, minerals (like magnesium and potassium), essential fatty acids and antioxidants like glutathione. What could be the reason behind these deficiencies? Besides our depleted soils, the refining of our food causes these problems. And then, there’s a small but significant fraction of the population who have malabsorption issues. As far as vitamin D is concerned, it’s our lack of exposure to the sun’s rays that’s causing this deficiency. We normally don’t see it in people living in the tropics but as the use of sun block (that are petroleum-based) gets marketed heavily (and people there use skin whitening agents!), we will see more deficiency states in those areas. Vitamin D, besides being good for your teeth and bones is an immune modulator. Research shows that is can actually protect against certain forms of cancer! To see if you have optimal levels, have your levels checked (OH-vitamin D) pronto!

Resveratrol what?

Wine grapes.

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That’s a tongue twister! What is resveratrol anyway? Well, let’s just say that  if there’s any one supplement I would recommend, this is it! Intake of this nutrient mimics the effects on healthy aging seen in caloric restriction studies. That’s the benefits of longevity “without having to starve yourself to death”. Resveratrol, for those of you who are not familiar with it, is a very powerful antioxidant. It’s produced by some plants to protect themselves against the elements (strong rays of the sun and fungal infections). It is abundant in red wine (since it’s primarily found in grape skins) and is primarily the reason behind the French paradox. I would recommend taking it in a pill form if possible. For those wine lovers, red wine is what I would recommend, always in moderation of course. I myself can’t do it. I react weirdly to wine or any form of alcohol.

Sleeping Beauty

Main pathway in growth regulation by the endoc...

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Funny title, huh? Sleep is something we often take for granted until we lose it. A few times in the past (esp. during internship and residency), I’ve had poor quality sleep and boy, it really affected me. I was useless the following day and oftentimes, I became bitchy towards others. Yep, blame it on lack of sleep! Anyway, sleep’s main goal is to help us regenerate. That’s a time when anabolic and healing hormones are secreted by our endocrine glands. These hormones include melatonin, prolactin and growth hormone. If you wanna age better than your counterparts, get some sleep or else……