Are You Aging Too Quickly?

A new test available.

Aging is a strange thing; it kind of just sneaks up on you. In the main you have no perception when you are younger that you will feel anything but fit and well forever. Then almost suddenly at some stage things change or perhaps you just notice things have changed. Joints ache slightly, skin loses some of its firmness, organs or systems start to grumble, visits to the doctors or hospital consultants start to appear in your diary, gravity takes hold. You just feel older. It’s not all terrible - without doubt there are benefits of getting older. Generally speaking people often have more confidence and freedom but the physical downside has in my opinion very little going for it.

I have been a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine for the last 20 years and over that time have worked with diet, herbs, acupuncture and many of the traditional oriental forms of health prevention and problem solving. Over the years I have been gaining more and more understanding of the very nature of aging, how our life, our diet or very interaction with the world will determine how that aging process will progress. We do all age at different rates and for many different reasons. There are the obvious culprits; with smoking one can see tangible changes in skin, higher rates of cancer or heart disease, etc. Times of great stress or distress seems to take its toll, our parents, partners or loved ones being ill seem to take something from us -we age. If you are in a position to have children, well I think we all know what happens there. Then there is pollution, not eating well, not drinking enough water, not enough sleep. All of these, plus more, are factors that can increase or alter the rate at which we age.

For me as a practitioner and as many of my patients say, knowing how we are aging is very tricky, because by its very nature it is in the main a very slow beast, and it sneaks up on you until it’s there. This is terrible for me as a practitioner; because how do I know what I am doing is working? With a knee you can see if it is less red or swollen, with pain you have instant feedback, with exhaustion or digestive problems you can within a short space of time see if what you are doing is making a difference. With aging I could be dead before I know if what I am doing is making any difference, and then I’d never know! All those unanswered questions.

Then there is the concept of what aging is, or means. When people talk to me about age and aging it seems to have little relevance or concern to their actual age in years but more about how they are feeling.

I read recently an interesting statistic, Our ‘lifespan’ has increased from 60 to 80 years over the last 50 years, but the average ‘healthspan’ (the number of years we remain in good health) hasn’t changed in that period. In other words, we may be living longer, but we are no healthier.

© Nicholas Haines 2006

So with aging we know it is a slow process, we know there are certain things that slow it down and that a variety of things, some within and some outside our control, that speed it up. The problem is what are they? What is right for us?

How do you know that eating those 5 fruit and vegetables a day are making any difference? How do you keep motivated with your health lifeplan? Are you just barking up the wrong tree? Are you even in the right forest?

The information we get isn’t always a great help. For example, Vitamin C, the best thing for you, is a great antioxidant, prevents the aging process, cancer, heart disease, everything. Or Vitamin C, a terrible thing which gives heart and stomach problems, so don’t take it or perhaps it’s about how much you take, but how much?

Both the medical and scientific communities agree that the culprits behind this aging or degenerative process are ‘free radicals’ and the cell damage that they cause.( For a detailed explanation of free radicals and their damage see Appendix A at the bottom of this sheet). I have recently come to quite a simple method of looking at this aging process, or degenerative diseases as a whole.

So what is this simple method?

What you can do is test, test to see how much ‘free radical’ activity there is, with a simple accurate inexpensive urine test and see how much of this process of cell damage or aging is going on. Then depending upon the results make changes, lifestyle changes, dietary changes, perhaps as in my practice give herbs or acupuncture. You could also take supplements such as anti oxidants which have the ability to mop up these ‘free radicals’. All of these strategies are aimed at slowing aging or the development of degenerative diseases. After 4 weeks you can retest if needs be and there you have it, you are either getting better with a lower level of ‘free radical’ damage and a slower degeneration and aging or you need to try harder or do something different. For the person it can be a wonderful confirmation that their health life changes have been worth it, a real boost, or an indicator that things need to change more.

Every three to four months you can retest to check that things are still on track.

The thing I really like about the system though is that it doesn’t matter what therapy you are using or which life health pattern you have chosen, the test will give an indicator as to how you are doing. Another important factor about this regime is that people, for many reasons don’t look after their health. I am the same, but with this regime you can provide objective feedback to embrace a healthy lifestyle with a constant sense of achievement and encouragement.

Although I am passionate about Chinese medicine I am not a purist. I know that certain herbs or diet suggestions can be understood or explained in many different ways. Stir frying vegetables Chinese style helps keeps all the vitamins and antioxidants intact, certain herbs or Acupuncture points help the liver to clear the toxins and rubbish we accumulate and therefore lead to potentially less of these ‘free radicals’. You however may be doing just as many good things with your health and that might perhaps suit your lifestyle or world more.

© Nicholas Haines 2006

The free radical test I use and really like is extremely simple. In the morning you test a small amount of your urine with a clear solution which will change colour within seconds. When you compare this colour with a chart provided it will indicate the levels of free radicals you have in your system. You then, with that information, are able to determine if you need to do something, or feel happy in the knowledge that you are on the right track.

Patients of mine when we start this process sometimes ring in the morning not in a panic but alarmed that they have a high reading. My view is that if the levels are high it is better to know. It’s not as though there is nothing you can do, there are hundreds of changes you can make and more importantly you can find out if they are working by re-testing.

Because I am committed to illness prevention and I believe it is important to find ways to help people to be in charge of their health and feel motivated to adopt a healthy lifestyle, I think this test is a great innovation. Unlike many medical tests it is both inexpensive and can be performed simply with you being in charge of how often you can re-check. As I said, I recommend re-testing after 4 weeks, as any more frequently may not show significant changes. Once you are on track people normally retest between 3-4 months.

The tests normally sell for £34.95 for a pack of four tests plus full instructions, which you can either use to test you a number of times over the timeframe outlined or for example undertake a family test. I think the test is tremendous value especially as you may be taking expensive antioxidants and supplements that you may not need.

To introduce you to this interesting way of looking at your health and aging, a set of four tests plus full instructions is now £28.95. (including vat and P&P)

To help you interpret the results we will also enclose a free sheet, so that depending on the results you will be able to see what type of modifications you should, or need to, make to your lifestyle. As these changes may just be dietary changes I will give an outline of the foods that are richest in antioxidants plus an overview of some of the antioxidant supplements available.

free radicals test

Click here to buy on line now.

Remember it is post free and your money back if you don’t want the test when it arrives, just send it back unused. But keep the fact sheet which tells you about aging.

Nicholas Haines 2006

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Appendix A

So what is a free radical?

The free radical theory on aging is based on the idea that our cells and the DNA, our genetic code, eventually become irreversibly damaged by the onslaught of highly-reactive chemical species called ‘free radicals’. The damage to the DNA in particular disturbs cells’ ability to divide and replicate accurately. The accuracy and rate of this cell division is one of the main determining factors in the development of cancers for example, where cells start to replicate in a rapid and disorganised way producing cancerous tumours and growths. The ability of the body or more accurately the cells to repair or replicate themselves is the very essence of aging and the development of degenerative diseases that we battle with or work towards avoiding.

In order to deal with or defend against ‘free radicals’ it is helpful to understand what they are. Chemically it is just an atom with a missing electron. In normal atoms, the electrons orbiting around the outside are in pairs. Because the ‘free radical’ has a missing (unpaired) electron, it is unstable. It however wants to become stable by replacing its missing electron. What this highly reactive molecule then does is to react or steal an electron from other molecules that it comes into contact with. The molecule whose electron is stolen then becomes unstable with a missing electron and it therefore becomes a ‘free radical’ itself and the chain reaction continues unchecked, destroying the integrity of cells along its path. This process is called ‘oxidation’. It is the process which causes metals to rust, peeled apples to go brown, fats to go rancid and within us it causes the disease, destruction and degeneration within the very cells of our bodies that lead to aging and degenerative diseases.

This process is halted by giving the ‘free radicals’ what they are trying to steal i.e. ‘electrons’, thus stopping the process in its tracks. This group of preventative compounds are known as ‘Antioxidants’.

Interestingly many of the common recommendations that we are told are good for our health are merely telling us to have more ‘Antioxidants’. Eating more fresh fruit and vegetables is giving us more of the ‘Antioxidant’ vitamins such as vitamin C , E and Beta carotene. A glass of red wine, which contains certain plant tannins or colours is acting as ‘Antioxidants’. Obviously we need to know how much we need, which ones to take and if they are in sufficient quantities to mop up our ‘free radicals’ load. The amount of ‘free radicals’ load is dependant on your lifestyle, stress, exposure to pollution, etc, all the things that we recognise are perhaps aging us too quickly.