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It is very common–even if it is not necessary–to see that the blood pressure is increasing with age.   With medications, blood pressure usually comes down, but it may still not be as low as we would like it to be. Blood pressure medications also comes with side effects. What else can...

"The world can be a stressful place, and that is most likely not going to change anytime soon. The solution is to get to a state where we are not affected much by things that cause most people to react with anxiety. Is that possible or just wishful thinking?  ...

Increased oxidative stress has been documented in the frontal cortex in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and in patients with mild cognitive impairment (Ansari, MA 2010).  One of the emerging causative factors associated with Alzheimer’s pathology is oxidative stress. This AD-related increase in oxidative stress has been attributed to decreased levels...

"A telomere is a region of repetitive nucleotides consisting of DNA and RNA at the end of a chromosome that protects the chromosome from deterioration. Shorter telomeres are known to determine cell longevity and shorter telomeres lead to a shorter lifespan.  Telomeres can therefore give us information on how fast...

You would most likely prefer to feel happy and excited about life and ready to get going to accomplish your goals when you wake up. Do you think almost everybody feels that way? No, that is not the case, because depression is the second leading cause of disability, and it...

One of the impressive health benefits of flax seeds is the ability to decrease blood pressure (Rodriguez-Leyva D, et.al., 2013). In a double-blinded, placebo-controlled study, 30 g of flax seeds daily for 6 months reduced the systolic blood pressure of 10 mm Hg and the diastolic blood pressure with 7...

The process of atherosclerosis is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and involves deposits of fat and especially LDL cholesterol into the blood vessel wall (Salisbury D, Bronas U, 2014). These researchers state that when the LDL cholesterol gets deposited into the vascular wall it can oxidize and cause injury...

Ultraviolet light is causing oxidative stress and that is damaging to the skin. This also leads to the depletion of important cellular antioxidants, especially glutathione, which you may have guessed. Glutathione is a very effective antioxidant. Glutathione protects the liver, it’s involved in detoxification, and it also regulates the immune...

Inflammation may be the most important factor affecting how we age, but inflammation is also directly tied to free radical damage. We cannot really separate the two since we will always have increased inflammation when we have increased free radical damage. Some times it can be difficult to tell what...

Results of a large study suggests two mechanisms involved in the aging process (Zierer J, et al. 2016). The research involved 3,511 women and the results were replicated in an additional 904 participants. They found metabolites indicating increased oxidative stress due to alterations of the glutathione metabolism. This has previously...

A lot of research documents a link between chronic stress, poor health and increased risk for cardiovascular disease and decreased immune function. First I want to point out that the negative effects of stress are related to chronic stress not acute stress. As an example, exercise is causing acute stress...

Why do we age? There is no single factor responsible for why we age, but research has found several important factors affecting how fast we age. These are factors we can control to a large extent, which means that we can actually slow down the aging process. I will write...

Our cells are exposed to assaults all the time. That has a lot to do with why we age and get sick. Since that’s the case the body has ways to protect itself, otherwise we would not get very old. The most effective form of protection from free radical damage...

No one, of course, wants to develop rheumatoid arthritis. You can reduce your risk to a large extent by making a small change to your habits by avoiding this item. The reviewed research this is based upon was very large, and for that reason it is worth paying attention to....

B vitamins are important in many ways – higher vitamin B levels have been linked to a lower risk for cancer. This research examined the association between pyridoxal, a type of vitamin B 6, folate and homocysteine with 8-OHdG, a marker of oxidative DNA damage (Kuwahara K, et.al, 2013). The...

We all value our eyesight. New research shows us an easy way to help prevent macular degeneration (Merle BM, et al. 2013). 963 participants were followed for 31 months and plasma fatty acids were measured from fasting blood samples, eye examinations were also performed. High plasma omega-3 fatty acids were...

There has not been a single easy way to improve our odds of living longer, but the research reviewed here indicates that it may be an easy way to affect aging. Data from 12 original studies including 32,142 elderly participants were analyzed for 25-hydroxyvitamin D and the association of all-cause...

We all prefer to be happy, but we may not realize how much of an impact happiness may have on us. There have been numerous studies the last few years on happiness and how it affects our health. The research reviewed here looked at many studies that evaluated subjective well-being...

If we can protect our DNA we may be able to slow down aging. Slowing down the aging process appeals to most people, but the question is if it is possible with the resources we have now. The research reviewed investigated if that was possible by implementing a couple of...

Whatever your chronological age, your biological age may be more or less than that. If your chronological age is 60 years, you may biologically be only 50 if you are in good shape or it could be 70 if you are in bad shape.