Aging And Lifestyle Essay Research Paper Aging

Aging And Lifestyle Essay, Research Paper Aging and lifestyle 1 Abstract Lifestyle is an important predictor of “ How well a person ages “. Important factors such as eating right and exercising regularly are major components of a healthy lifestyle that play an important role on how long a person can live. The focus of this research is to explain the relationship between aging and the food you eat, how often you exercise , and your mental state . Finally it will focus on different ways of maintaining a decent lifestyle in order to live longer and happier. Aging and lifestyle 2 Many people within the U.S are in their 70s and 80s chronologically but have the physically fit bodies of people in their 30s or 40s. Why? Because they have chosen to modify their diets to include

more nutritious food and their lifestyles to include more exercise (strength training and aerobics). The components of healthy lifestyle include many things. A few of these examples are eating right , exercising regularly and keeping your mind calm and content. One might think that some of these youthful seniors have some secret for staying young or that they are gifted genetically. Actually, in many cases, they live a consistently healthy lifestyle, eating highly nutritious foods and working out vigorously several days a week. Does this mean that you can stay in great physical and mental shape longer if you follow their example? According to recent studies, it looks like the answer is astoundingly “yes.” For example: Many diseases, including cancer and hypertension, appear

to be related to the weakening of the immune system as a result of aging. Many nutrients, including vitamin A, beta-carotene and vitamins C and E, have anti-cancer effects (Shils, M., and Young, V. Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease). Antioxidants continue to prove themselves as anti-aging nutrients. In one study, 45 elderly subjects took an antioxidant formulation of beta-carotene, vitamins C and E, selenium and zinc for one year. At regular intervals, the researchers checked something called “lipid peroxides” in all of the subjects. These are products from the oxidation of fats and are good indicators of the level of oxidation taking place in the body. Oxidation is the corrosion of cellular membranes that is thought to be responsible for aging. Before the study began,

the elderly subjects had high levels of lipid peroxidation. After being on the antioxidant formula for three months, the subjects were compared with a control group of healthy young adults. The results showed that the level of lipid peroxidation in the elderly group fell to levels lower that that of the control group and remained there for the rest of the study (Source Colgan, M. “Nutrition and Fitness News: Antiozidant Cocktail Slows Aging.”). You can see why it’s so important to take an all-purpose vitamin supplement. Diets rich in potassium appear to have a protective effect against hypertension, the major cause of strokes, according to research. Potassium has also been shown to reduce the blood pressures of hypertensive patients. The reasons for this are unclear, yet

may be associated with potassium’s involvement in physiological systems that regulate blood pressure (. Rammohan, M., and Juan, D. “Effects of a Low-Calorie, Low-Protein Diet on Nutritional Parameters, and Routine Values in Non obese Young and Elderly Subjects.”). Foods such as potatoes are high in potassium. To be on the nutritionally safe side, take a mineral supplement daily. Essential fatty acids (EFAs) also seem to reduce blood pressure. In a study of healthy people in Italy, Finland and the United States, researchers found more hypertensives among Finns that among the other populations. The dietary difference was that the Finns ate more saturated fats and less polyunsaturated fats than the others, whose diets were high in linoleic acid (a polyunsaturate). When a group