Extend health, not just life span
Youthful aging. Although it sounds like a contrast in terms, it actually is not. It describes an aging process in which we enjoy optimal health while retaining our youthful vitality throughout our life.
This is no pipe dream … it’s being done. Anti-aging medicine is not just on the horizon, it is one of medicine’s most exciting new frontiers. It’s actually possible to extend our health span, not just our life span.
Health span is a new term to me but it makes sense. What good is having a long life span if we’re too weak and puny to enjoy it? Who among us doesn’t want to have the vitality of our younger years and to delay the onset of degenerative diseases and the signs and symptoms of aging?
Alan Mintz was the founder of the concept of age-management medicine. He was fueled by his passion for health and wellness in pioneering this new medical specialty. Mintz is the Founder of Cenegenics Medical Institute, a medically-anchored program for age management. The anti-aging technology espoused by Cenegenics was started in 2000. At the Cenegenics Institute, patients are seen by a team of researchers and allied health-care professionals to help them achieve wellness and learn how to take control of their own aging process. This program regularly produces results of improved cognitive function, enhanced libido, increased muscle mass, decreased body fat, better skin tone, elasticity, improved cholesterol scores, a stronger immune system and healthier bones for its participants.
Well, sign me up!
Every patient who participates in the anti-aging program goes through a thorough physical exam and evaluation of their health history. Blood samples are drawn for a wide range of lab tests – usually 60 to 80 different tests.
Based on a patient’s health profile, an individualized program will be designed for their hormone optimization, nutrition, exercise and nutraceutical supplementation.
After the test results have been evaluated, doctors address the participants’ hormone levels as the first step in their anti-aging program, since diminished hormone levels are at the basis of age related findings and symptoms. For optimum health, it’s essential that hormone levels (the endocrine system) are balanced. An imbalance can often result in there being an excess of cortisol (the stress hormone.) This can trigger a whole symphony of degenerative effects, with the result being premature aging … immune dysfunction, brain cell injury, artery damage, fat gain, bone loss and blood sugar instability.
Next, a diet specifically designed for each patient, to reduce the percentage of body fat and to assure the attainment of balanced nutrition and to support health at the basic level. And, the number of vitamins, minerals and other supplements each patient takes daily can be as many as 39 pills.
Naturally there’s the “E” word … exercise plays a major part in any age-management regimen, and these anti-aging gurus expect their patients to exercise to increase their metabolic rates, lower heart disease risk, and to improve their posture through daily, specialized exercises, including weight and resistance training, cardiovascular and flexibility.
Mintz was struck down by a cerebral hemorrhage in 2007, but he predicted that, “endocrine- and risk-management are the future of medicine.” Mintz was by all measures an outstanding researcher, doctor and businessman. His impressive credentials and accomplishments are too numerous to list here, but you can learn more about him and anti-aging medicine, at www.cenegenicsfoundation.org.
As you might have guessed by now, these programs are pricey, and one has to follow up every six months with new tests and evaluations to keep them on track with their health goals. So it will be important to remember to bring money.