Реферат: Aging And Lifestyle Essay Research Paper Aging
Aging And Lifestyle Essay, Research Paper
Aging and lifestyle 1
Abstract
Lifestyle is an important predictor of “ How well a person ages “. Important factors such as eating right and exercising regularly are major components of a healthy lifestyle that play an important role on how long a person can live. The focus of this research is to explain the relationship between aging and the food you eat, how often you exercise , and your mental state . Finally it will focus on different ways of maintaining a decent lifestyle in order to live longer and happier.
Aging and lifestyle 2
Many people within the U.S are in their 70s and 80s chronologically but have the physically fit bodies of people in their 30s or 40s. Why? Because they have chosen to modify their diets to include more nutritious food and their lifestyles to include more exercise (strength training and aerobics). The components of healthy lifestyle include many things. A few of these examples are eating right , exercising regularly and keeping your mind calm and content.
One might think that some of these youthful seniors have some secret for staying young or that they are gifted genetically. Actually, in many cases, they live a consistently healthy lifestyle, eating highly nutritious foods and working out vigorously several days a week. Does this mean that you can stay in great physical and mental shape longer if you follow their example? According to recent studies, it looks like the answer is astoundingly “yes.” For example: Many diseases, including cancer and hypertension, appear to be related to the weakening of the immune system as a result of aging. Many nutrients, including vitamin A, beta-carotene and vitamins C and E, have anti-cancer effects (Shils, M., and Young, V. Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease).
Antioxidants continue to prove themselves as anti-aging nutrients. In one study, 45 elderly subjects took an antioxidant formulation of beta-carotene, vitamins C and E, selenium and zinc for one year. At regular intervals, the researchers checked something called “lipid peroxides” in all of the subjects. These are products from the oxidation of fats and are good indicators of the level of oxidation taking place in the body. Oxidation is the corrosion of cellular membranes that is thought to be responsible for aging.
Before the study began, the elderly subjects had high levels of lipid peroxidation. After being on the antioxidant formula for three months, the subjects were compared with a control group of healthy young adults. The results showed that the level of lipid peroxidation in the elderly group fell to levels lower that that of the control group and remained there for the rest of the study (Source Colgan, M. “Nutrition and Fitness News: Antiozidant Cocktail Slows Aging.”). You can see why it’s so important to take an all-purpose vitamin supplement.
Diets rich in potassium appear to have a protective effect against hypertension, the major cause of strokes, according to research. Potassium has also been shown to reduce the blood pressures of hypertensive patients. The reasons for this are unclear, yet may be associated with potassium’s involvement in physiological systems that regulate blood pressure (. Rammohan, M., and Juan, D. “Effects of a Low-Calorie, Low-Protein Diet on Nutritional Parameters, and Routine Values in Non obese Young and Elderly Subjects.”). Foods such as potatoes are high in potassium. To be on the nutritionally safe side, take a mineral supplement daily.
Essential fatty acids (EFAs) also seem to reduce blood pressure. In a study of healthy people in Italy, Finland and the United States, researchers found more hypertensives among Finns that among the other populations. The dietary difference was that the Finns ate more saturated fats and less polyunsaturated fats than the others, whose diets were high in linoleic acid (a polyunsaturate). When a group of Finns (aged 40 to 50) consumed
a low-fat diet high in polyunsaturated fats and low in saturated fats, their blood pressure dropped significantly (. Simmons, J. “Is the Sand of Time Sugar?” Longevity
(June 1990). Evening Primrose Oil is an excellent source of EFAs. Besides EFAs, foods believed to have blood pressure lowering properties include vegetables, legumes, fish and whole grains.
The ability of the cells in your body to synthesize new protein is critical for bolstering immunity and warding off infection. This is one of the many reasons why ample protein is so vitally needed for good health. You can become protein-deficient very quickly. The effect of a nine-day low-protein diet was studied in six young and six elderly (average age 72) healthy subjects. At the end of the study period, nitrogen balance and levels of certain blood components were measured. In both groups, nitrogen balance decreased (nitrogen balance indicates whether you are losing or gaining lean mass). Most significant was the reduced level of transferrin in the blood. Transferrin shuttles iron to sites of need in the body. Studies have shown that when transferrin levels fall, possibly due to a protein deficiency, the immune system is weakened.
Simons J. in his book emphasized that “deterioration in nutritional status resulting from [a low-calorie, low-protein diet] can increase vulnerability to both infection and chronic disease, especially in the elderly, who are often on multiple medications and who have diminished protein reserve(. Rammohan, M., and Juan, D. “Effects of a Low-Calorie, Low-Protein Diet on Nutritional Parameters, and Routine Values in Non obese Young and Elderly Subjects.”). The Lean Bodies Program emphasizes ample amounts of protein. Don’t shortchange yourself on this vital “anti-aging” food.
Sugar converts easily to body fat, but did you know that it may speed up the aging process? Research suggests that sugar rushes into the bloodstream as glucose, which starts a reaction that causes proteins in cell membranes to “cross-link.” Cross-linking is thought to be responsible for hardening of the arteries, skin wrinkling and cataracts (source 4). Anyone following the Lean Bodies Program is already eating a very low-sugar diet — and thus doing their bodies a world of good. Many people over age 50 have glucose intolerance, which can turn into type II diabetes. Research shows that a diet high in fiber can help control diabetes and maybe even prevent it. This is because of fiber’s ability to keep glucose from entering the bloodstream too fast (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Human Nutrition Research Center. “A Guide to Dietary Fiber and Health.” Prevention (November 1987)). Moderate exercise helps regulate glucose too.
An active lifestyle enhances functional capacity in later years. That is the finding of a study of older men and women who underwent exercise testing during the 1985 World Masters Games in Toronto. When the subjects were tested on cycle ergometers, their aerobic power was above average, when compared to non-athletes of the same age, and matched that of sedentary 25-year-olds (Kavanaugh, T., and Shephard, R. “Can Regular Sports Participation Slow the Aging Process? Data on Masters Athletes.” The Physician and Sportsmedicine (June 1990)). Exercise, including weight training and aerobics, can improve quality of life among the elderly. In an six-month study of 56 men and women (age 70 to 79), researchers compared the effect of weight training or a walk/jog to the effects of no exercise. The exercisers improved their strength and cardiovascular fitness dramatically. Studies of older people who take up weight training are shedding new light on the importance of building strength and lean mass in this population. There is no question that weight training programs can help older people stay active longer and live more independent lives (Work, J. “Strength Training: A Bridge to Independence for the Elderly.”). It improves cardiovascular fitness, may help slow the bone loss that occurs with osteoporosis, helps lower blood sugar in people with diabetes, and helps control cholesterol. In addition, exercise promotes weight loss, muscle strength, and a general feeling of well-being. As the body works, it requires more oxygen and the heart beats faster. Exercise increases the body’s ability to use oxygen, which enables a person to exercise more without feeling tired. Exercise must reach a certain level to provide this benefit. The target heart rate can be a guide to reaching a level of exercise that provides cardiovascular fitness. However, this guide should be used cautiously late in life, when silent heart disease may exist. Some forms of exercise strengthen the back muscles making them less prone to injury and strain. Other types of exercise help prevent bone loss by strengthening the bones and keeping them from becoming brittle. To provide bone strength, weight-bearing exercises are best. For instance, walking and lifting weights are forms of exercise that are weight bearing, whereas swimming and cycling, although they are good forms of cardiovascular conditioning, are much less likely to prevent bone loss.
Studies suggest that lack of exercise contributes to frailness and weakness in elderly people. It is now well known that the quality of life into golden years may be positively influenced by exercise, according to a major study of 16,936 Harvard alumni. In the study, researchers found that those alumni who lived an active lifestyle, with regular exercise, lived up to two years longer than those who were sedentary (Work, J. “Strength Training: A Bridge to Independence for the Elderly.”). It is difficult to predict how a person will age because everyone have their own biochemical individuality.
It is clear that many elements of nutrition and fitness are within one’s control. Those elements can enhance your quality of life. Naturally, the earlier you start on a healthy lifestyle the better your health may be in later years. But it is never too late to start.
As far as science is concerned, the methods for extending our life span will be found in genetic engineering and we have not yet discovered the secrets. It helps to be born into a family where people have a long life span. Since people rarely die of old age, it would, of course, pay to keep ourselves free from disease, poisonous substances, and risk of fatal accident. As far as human wisdom and anecdotal evidence is concerned, there are many suggestions were made by clinical nutritionists Cliff Sheats, some of which may have validity:
? Drink alcohol in moderation. Heavy drinking can cut down a lifespan by years. Do not use street drugs.
? Stop smoking. Smoking two packs a day cuts seven years from the normal life span.
? Eat nutritiously. Don’t eat too much sugar, fat, and highly processed foods. Eat a low-fat diet consisting of high fiber, fresh vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. The famous Framingham Heart Study concluded “When we eat a diet sparse in meats, fats, and sugar, we do a lot better.”
? Exercise, exercise and exercise. The one word that most life-extending experts agree upon is exercise, and they all recommend walking.
Until the 1930s, exercise was a way of life for most Americans. We had to walk everywhere, maintain large vegetable gardens, chop wood, and keep house without appliances. These activities maintained most older people at an acceptable level of fitness. By the mid-1950s, the American lifestyle had become so sedentary that heart disease was epidemic. Physiologists have found that genuine fitness could be produced only by aerobic-type exercise. Those safe for older people include: walking, swimming, bicycling, and any type of rhythmic exercise performed at a moderate pace.
Maintain your weight at the normal level. Based on the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company’s height-weight charts, 33% of American women and 45% of American men are currently overweight. Research confirms that almost every healthy long-lived person has been lean and wiry and few have been overweight. Diets that lose weight only to gain it again are not considered healthy. The way to lose weight is to exercise and gradually cut out fats, sugars, and too much food. In other words, “change your lifestyle.”
? Get a good night’s sleep. If you can’t sleep, find methods to relax, increase your exercise time, and get involved in interesting activities–not television.
? Ignore your chronological age. Age is not the number of birthdays that have passed. It is an attitude, an awareness, a feeling. The ability to have the self-image of a younger person is characteristic of most long-livers. Youthfulness is focused on activity. So keep active and maintain a youthful attitude. Remember, “You’re only as old as you feel.”
? Learn to relax. Here are some suggestions:
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