is your lifestyle speeding up THE CLOCK?
The short answer: yes. But you can do something about it
How much is ageing to do with nature versus nurture? Dr Sara Gottfried, the New York Times bestselling author of Younger (published by Vermilion), says nature (genetics) loads the gun, but nurture (environment) pulls the trigger. “Only 10 per cent of disease is caused by your genes, while 90 per cent is caused by environmental factors, including the environment you create with your lifestyle choices. This gives you an incredible opportunity to change the course of disease and ageing in your body.” The goal, she says, is to upgrade that 90 per cent to affect the genetic 10 per cent.
Fast ageing is the biggest health problem Gottfried sees in her San Francisco practice and with the people she works with online. “No-one talks about it, yet most of it is modifiable with small lifestyle tweaks.” She says there are five factors that can make ageing more visible after 40, leading to “inflammaging” – the unfortunate hybrid of increasing inflammation, stiffness and rapid ageing.
THE MUSCLE FACTOR
Ageing begins in your muscles, starting with the loss of the fast-twitch fibres that allow you to perform burpees and jump squats. On average, adults lose 2.27kg of muscle every decade, which may show up as a thicker waist in your jeans or a body-fat test showing higher fat mass and lower lean-body mass. If unaddressed, your muscles usually get more doughy as they’re replaced with fat, and you’re not as strong as you used to be. Exercise is the solution, particularly high-intensity interval training (HIIT) with plyometrics, which has been shown to turn on 274 genes and tricks your brain and muscles into thinking you’re younger.
THE HORMONE FACTOR
Your hormone system is not like a fine shiraz that gets better with time. Unfortunately, your thyroid gland slows down and, with it, your metabolism, so the bathroom scale climbs a few kilos per year (or even per month). You get cold easier. You poop less often. With age, both men and women make less testosterone, leading to more fat deposits at the breasts, hips and buttocks. Women produce less oestrogen, which normally protects the hair follicles and skin. Lower levels of oestrogen and testosterone may weaken your bones and sex drive, while lower oestrogen-to-testosterone ratios may trigger hair loss and heart disease. Your cells become more sensitive to the hormone insulin, which leads to rising blood sugar in the morning. As a result, you may feel foggier and experience
stronger cravings for carbs, then notice more skin wrinkling along with an olderlooking facial appearance. The point is: the right food, sleep, exercise and support for detoxification can reverse many hormone problems linked with ageing.
THE BRAIN FACTOR
Your nerve cells lose speed and flexibility as you get older. Connections between neurons aren’t what they used to be, so finding words may become an issue. The balance shifts towards more forgetting and less remembering. Your hippocampus – the part of your brain involved in memory creation and emotional control – can shrink, especially if you have a high degree of stress. As if that wasn’t bad enough, excess stress kills brain cells by increasing production of beta-amyloid, which then forms disruptive plaques that harm synapses further, putting the brain at risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The key is to focus on keeping your brain malleable as you get older.
THE GUT FACTOR
Nothing ages you faster than autoimmune disease. About 70 per cent of your immune system lies under your gut lining, so it’s where it can get overstimulated, leading to inflammation and autoimmune conditions. Your gastrointestinal tract also contains around two kilos of microbes. Imbalanced microbes may cause you to make more enzymes such as beta-glucuronidase, which can raise bad oestrogens and lower protective oestrogens. Stress raises the corticotropinreleasing hormone, which pokes holes in your gut, leading to food intolerances, more stress and lower vagal tone, an indicator your nervous system is out of whack. Finally, stress can make you absorb nutrients poorly. But don’t get lost in the details; just know that your gut can accelerate or wind back your clock.
THE TOXIC FAT FACTOR
Toxins from the environment accumulate in your fat. Scientists call them gerontogens. They are similar to how carcinogens increase your risk of cancer, and they can work against you and cause premature ageing. Pollution, cigarette smoke, heavy metals, UV rays, chemo, contaminated drinking water, pesticides and preservatives can all conspire against you. While exposure to certain poisons is inevitable, we can attack the genetic flaws that cause you to accumulate them.