Hair turns gray, energy flags, fine wrinkles appear, and house keys get misplaced a little more often — these are just a few indications of growing older. Everyone ages differently; the number of signs and symptoms, their severity, when they appear, how they respond to our attempts to reduce or eliminate them—all of these factors and more should be considered when you talk about aging and how to combat it. The list of changes associated with aging is a long one, but here is a representative look.
- General decrease in energy level and a tendency to tire easily
- Decreased memory
- Decreased sex drive
- Abdominal obesity and an inability to lose weight
- Some hearing loss, especially for higher frequencies
- Development of arthritis: affects about one-third of men and one-half of women
- Loss of lean muscle tissue
- Development of insulin resistance
- Changes in bowel function
- Changes in hair color and volume
- Tendency to sleep more lightly and to experience less rapid eye movement (REM) sleep
- Reduction in muscle strength
- Reduction in bone density
- Reduction in reaction time
- Reduction in levels of antibodies (and thus ability to fight off infections)
- Reduction in levels of most hormones
There is much you can do to reduce, compensate for, or slow the progression of many of these and other physical and metabolic changes that occur with aging. One of the most important things you can do is harness the power of anti-aging nutrition, which we do in two ways on this site. One is through the convenient anti-aging nutrition counter offered in the second part of this site. The other is through a discussion of the dietary steps and other actions that complement any nutritional efforts you take in your fight against aging. Let’s look at some of these other approaches, along with a discussion of how wise food and supplement choices can help you fight aging now!
