THE STARK NAKED TRUTH ABOUT AGING

It may come as a shock for many to learn that the truth about aging is that regardless which skincare products you use and despite the number of anti-aging treatments you receive, you will not be able to stop the process we call aging.

Admittedly there are some new age wrinkle reducing products which may on there own offer a temporary fix, most however offer nothing more than an illusion of youth. Today’s marketplace is filled with buzzwords like Anti-Aging, Alphahydroxy Acids, Peptides, injectables like Botox, Hylaform and Artecol and TV shows like Extreme Makeover and Nip Tuck which are all part of our popular culture but really do nothing to help treat the underlying causes of aging. Most of today’s products, treatments, television programs, books and magazines are aimed at taking advantage of the market of consumers who “fear growing old” and who are “desperate to look young”.

And what a market it is going to be. It is estimated that one baby boomer turns 50 every 10 seconds and that by the year 2015 (only ten short years away) fully one half of our population will be over the age of 50. This estimate, together with advances in Gene Therapy and Stem Cell Research and the increasing rate of medical discoveries and technological innovations, means that there is a very real possibility that many of these people may live well beyond the ripe old age of 90. It is clear from the demographics of this group that this is going to be a huge market for anything “Anti-Aging” and it is equally clear that this market is about more than simply looking good. This market is about mobility, independence; it is about a highly educated group of people who want and need more than a quick fix to their aging problem, they want to slow down the aging process and they want a better quality of life.

And why not? If the reality is that nothing can stop the inevitable consequences stress, gravity and the passage of time have on our skin, that of growing old and wrinkled, than why not slow the process down while improving the quality of life. In order to slow down and more effectively manage the aging process it stands to reason that we must understand the process itself and the root causes of aging. Skincare alone is akin to window dressing the aging problem and cannot slow down the process itself. Present day research in areas of stem cell, human genome therapy, molecular biology and discoveries of new proteins have given mankind a real opportunity to affect the aging process but only if we understand the real forces that lead to aging, and in particular, pre-mature aging.

For all the benefits we receive from our lifestyle choices, from the demands for instant gratification and from demanding that all of our needs be satisfied, there is perhaps an equal and more sinister downside to the environment in which we live; the over- population of our planet, the polluting of our water, air and food sources, the increase in stress in our daily lives, and of course the inevitable consequences these have on increasing the number of diseases, on aging and ultimately on life and death. In fact, some will say that the cost of having everything we want when we want it is nothing less than our well being manifested by an acceleration of our natural aging process and a reduction in our quality of life.

Many experts begin to explain the aging process by identifying the major contributing factors to aging. For example Dr. Mark Lees, a world renowned skin care specialists, groups the contributing factors into basically two categories, Extrinsic and Intrinsic. Extrinsic aging factors include those things which come from outside the body, things like the sun, pollution and other stressors while Intrinsic factors include things like the wear and tear on the body due to the passage of time, things like expression lines and hormonal changes.

Others have defined aging as simply as a continuous process of change that begins when we are born and continues uninterrupted until we die, although genetics and the environment can have a significant impact on how each individual ages and on their quality of life. While the total truth about aging is not fully understood, it is known that under ideal circumstances most cells continuously regenerate themselves through a process known as Mitosis. Genes provide the instructions to the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) which has the capability of duplicating itself over and over passing on all of the genetic information and functions to the new cells. It is also known that over time and for a number of different reasons, genes become corrupt damaging the DNA. Cell reproduction continues but because of DNA damage cells replicate poorly and eventually loose their ability to reproduce and function. It is the cells inability to function which increases the risk of disease and accelerates the aging process.

One of the most advanced theories on aging and one of the most compelling that I have come across, is that which is put forth by Dr. Vincent Giampapa in his book Breaking the Aging Code and the work of Dr. Ronald Pero, one of the world’s leading experts on DNA repair. Their research indicates that contrary to current thinking, the body is not irreversibly programmed by a finite number of cell divisions but rather it is built for longevity and self-repair.

Growing old chronologically is a fact of life and it is something we will all experience in exactly the same way, one day at a time. Growing old biologically on the otherhand, can and will be different for each and every one of us because biological aging is co-related to how we let our environment affect us and by what we do to protect ourselves from its hazards. According to Dr. Giampapa, biological aging is directly related with the state of our DNA and our Genetics and while we cannot change what we inherit, he claims we can change or alter the state of our DNA.

What most people do not understand is that early visible signs of aging have more to do with biological aging than they have to do with chronological aging. And since biological aging is directly related to the state of our DNA, protecting our DNA from damage and assisting our body’s innate abilities to repair damaged DNA, will have the desired effect of slowing down the aging process.

Under ideal conditions, DNA copies itself over and over and with the help of certain natural repair enzymes and proteins, it repairs itself resulting in perfect reproduction. But we do not live in ideal conditions.
According to Dr. Giampapa, as people age their DNA is constantly being damaged by the environment, from things like radiation from the sun, pollution in the air we breath and in the water we drink, from poor diet lacking in essential vitamins and minerals and from physical and emotional stress. All of these factors combine to inhibit the body’s own ability to repair and replace good DNA. As copies upon copies of damaged DNA are made, each copy poorer than its predecessor, the body’s ability to control four key cellular processes is called into question and once our genes lose their ability to control these processes, cellular chaos and significant DNA damage occurs.

The four main cellular processes that we need to control according to Dr. Giampapa include Glycation, Inflammation, Oxidation and Methylation. The importance of these processes lies in the fact that they are the processes that age our cells. According to Giampapa, controlling these processes means we can break the aging code stored in our genes and hence slow down the aging process.

One of the biggest contributors to DNA damage are free radicals brought on by our external environment and in particular, the sun. The sun creates free radicals. When the oxidation process is overwhelming, DNA and subsequently cell damage occurs causing severe skin damage. Long term exposure to the sun and the cumulative effect of cell damage can result in Dermatoheliosis. This is when collagen and elastin fibrils in the dermis begin a process called cross-linking and when this occurs the collagen and elastin fibrils collapse thereby causing the skins support structure to collapse. This causes elastosis and the skin wrinkles and sags.

But the sun is not the only contributor of free radicals to the body. Smoking, alcohol, pollution and stress are all contributors. And to make matters worse, as the skin gets damaged, inflammation, a natural process by which the body tries to heal itself from injury occurs and this results in an increase in the level of cortisol, an anti-inflammatory agent.

While cortisol has life-maintaining properties, when it is constantly present in high levels, it can be highly destructive. In addition to free radicals and inflammation, stress can also lead to higher levels of cortisol. High levels of cortisol are known to result in a reduction in hormonal signaling and an increase in the breakdown of collagen, memory loss, body fluids, hyperglycemia, skin disorders and inflammation, the very thing that produced the cortisol in the first place.

And as if all these mostly uncontrollable externalities were not enough for us, we further exacerbate the aging problem by putting garbage into our bodies in the form of bad nutrition, and we fail to provide our bodies with adequate, let alone appropriate, exercise.
We should be aware that as we grow old our bodies may require more of certain things and less of others. The three most fundamental requirements as we turn 40 are less carbs, more protein, and contrary to what may be a popular myth, we need more exercise not less. Lastly, it stands to reason that as we grow old chronologically, we will also grow old biologically, even under the best conditions for aging.

Well that’s just great you may be thinking, just about everything seems to affect the aging process. Sadly, that is the stark naked truth about aging. However, now that we have a better understanding of the root causes of aging we can affect positive change to help manage some of our cellular processes which will in turn help protect our DNA from being irreversibly damaged thereby helping to slow down the aging process by optimizing our body’s natural cell renewal process and in the end improve longevity and our quality of life.

If you buy into the destructive consequences DNA damage has on the aging process as put forward by Dr. Giampapa, Dr. Ronald Pero and others, then you must buy into their 5 step anti-aging solution as outlined in their book The Anti-Aging Solution.

The first step is to reduce the amount of stress in your life. Understand what stressors give rise to your stress and deal with them. Simple breathing techniques can work wonders by helping to normalize the chemistry in your bodies. More involved mind-body meditation and relaxation techniques can help bring your internal turmoil and chemistry back into balance. Understand that when our minds and bodies are internally out of whack, this is the beginning of sometimes a lifelong chain reaction that can cause most of our symptoms later on in life and that the complications of a lifetime of stress cannot be resolved over night.

Second, nourish your body with appropriate nutrients, including fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices that can help it naturally fend off free radicals and enhance the bodies own renewal and repair processes.

Third, keep your body fit by increasing the amount of exercise you give it, especially as you grow older and your metabolism begins to slow and you feel a general increase in fatigue and loss of strength. The right types and amounts of exercise can help reduce stress and help balance your hormones.

Fourth, supplement your diet with high concentrated forms of nutrients and anti-oxidants such as vitamin C, E, grapeseed and green tea extracts. Protecting your DNA and eliminating DNA damaging free radicals will have a positive effect on slowing down your biological aging.

And finally, optimize the skins natural renewal process. Hydrate your skin by drinking 6-10 glasses of water each and every day; ALWAYS use a sun screen of at least SPF 15 to reduce DNA damage caused by the sun; increase your intake of foods with high content of essential fatty acids to help reduce inflammation; use oral/topical anti-oxidants; use oral/topical DNA repair compounds; use topical estrogen to increase collagen and hyaluronic acid levels; And of course continue with your external skin routine of proper cleansing, exfoliating and moisturizing.

As you can see, once you delve into the process of aging, or more specifically, premature aging, you can appreciate that it is about more than just skin care and looking good. In fact, proper skin care is an important but small part of the equation for slowing down the aging process. Understanding the aging process and the root causes of aging and then addressing them will do more to slow down the aging process then simply treating the visible signs of aging. In this context, skincare provides the finishing touch to executing an effective age management strategy aimed at slowing down the biological clock and preserving our health and quality of life with the enviable by-product of looking good and feeling good.

Caspar Verre MBA, CA