Anti- Aging – A Young Specialism with an Ancient Tradition
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The ancients searched for the fabled Fountain of Youth, and have desired to drink of the Elixir of Life, but no alchemist has created a potion that guarantees eternal youth. The source of the Fountain of Youth has been traditionally located in the Middle East or India, but the modern Fountain of Youth is to be found in Thailand and its international hospitals and cosmetic, medicine clinics. Here Spice! explains.
When the first grey hairs appear, highlighting or lowlighting will knock a few years off your age; crows’ feet and facial wrinkles can be smoothed over with Botox or laser treatments that last a few months. A facelift will give a more permanent youthful look, and teeth can be whitened or capped or veneered to cover up the signs of aging. There seems to be nothing that can’t be renovated or shored-up, and all of these treatments are available in Thailand’s hospitals at a fraction of the cost in the West.
In fact, anti-aging is a new medical discipline and its practitioners believe that it can be used to prevent or slow down the onset of the aging process and the development of degenerative diseases.
Anti-aging professionals use a team approach to promote wellness and delay the ravages of time. The anti-aging team will comprise of a nutritionist, a sports therapist, a pharmacologist, an anti-aging specialist physician, and a team of laboratory technicians, all of whom work together to assess your current health status and develop an individual programme to help you reach an optimum level of well being and health.
In many ways the initial consultation is just like a conventional medical—a personal and family health history is taken and your blood pressure is measured; you will be queried about your diet and nutrition, and blood samples will be taken to determine your nutrient profile. Balance, coordination, flexibility, reaction times, and muscle strength are also measured. The aim of all of these tests is to determine your biological age which may be different from your chronological age.
Once the tests have been analyzed, the biological age is calculated and compared to the actual age. The purpose is to achieve a lowering of the biological age.
An important indicator of health is how the body’s cells function at a biochemical level. Their optimum functional status can be achieved by keeping substances known as ‘free radicals’ at a healthy level in the blood.
What then are free radicals? They are the natural by-products of food digestion; most are eliminated as waste, but some remain in the body where they can adversely affect cell performance. It is now possible to measure the level of free radicals in the blood, and the amount of damage that they are doing to a cell. When this has been assessed, it is possible to prescribe the anti-oxidants and micro-nutrients that your body needs to neutralise the free radicals.
Hormone levels are also checked at an anti-aging clinic; hormones regulate many body functions, unfortunately their production declines with age, and when this happens, your bodily functions decline as well. There are many signs of hormone deficiency such as lost vitality, reduced fitness levels, constant tiredness, and weight gain; all signs of aging.
The traditional response of the medical profession is that these are just ordinary signs of aging, and they should be lived with. However, the anti-aging “wellness” therapy eliminates the symptoms by tackling the cause. The deficient hormones and micro-nutrients are customised and tailor-made to your body’s needs, then packed into capsules or made into tablets to augment the missing elements. This approach is preferable to buying off-the-shelf vitamins as these are made in bulk intended for the man in the street, and are not manufactured to individual requirements.
The benefits of this individualised approach are an increase in vitality, energy levels, and an increased resistance to certain common and seasonal viral infections.
Anti-aging may be a new medical discipline but it is one that is increasingly popular, and when combined with regular exercise, will make you look and feel on top of the world.