The Hallmarks of Aging and How to Stay Young Longer

Dr. Mark Hyman, a world-renowned functional medicine practitioner, highlighted in a recent newsletter the Seven Hallmarks of Aging. (He is also coming out with a new book, Forever Young, which promises lots of hacks for keeping us healthy longer into our life.)

Hallmark 1: Disrupted Hormone and Nutrient Signaling. Our bodies are fine-tuned magnificent machines that sense levels of nutrients such as amino acids, sugars, and fatty acids, and then modify chemical reactions that trigger autophagy (cell recycling) or protein synthesis (creating new cells).

• A good way to optimize our body systems is to give them a break through fasting.

• Eating a nutrient-rich diet, low in sugar and starch, high in good fats and phytochemical-rich veggies and fruits, and high in quality protein also supports the body.

• Regular exercise helps with autophagy.

Hallmark 2: DNA Damage and Mutations. Each day our DNA takes up to 100,000 hits, accelerating aging. We have built-in repair systems that seek to repair our DNA, but they can’t repair everything. Reduce or eliminate those hits to your DNA by avoiding processed foods, environmental toxins, and UV radiation.

Hallmark 3: Telomere Shortening. Our telomeres (caps on the end of our chromosomes) shorten as we age. Each time cells replicate the caps are removed so the DNA can be read and our telomeres shorten as a result.

• The longer our telomeres, the more years of healthy DNA replication we have. The shorter our telomeres, the shorter our life.

• Lifestyle habits can shorten—eating toxic, processed sugary diet; sedentary lifestyle and lots of stress—or lengthen (whole foods, phytonutrient-rich diet, exercise, stress reduction, sleep, etc.).

Hallmark 4: Damaged Proteins. Your organs, tissues, and cells are all made from proteins, as are our hormones, peptides, immune molecules, and neurotransmitters. Proteins essentially form your information superhighway. The same lifestyle things that shorten telomeres also damage our proteins.

• The endless stream of food (starch, sugar, protein) activates mTOR, which shuts down autophagy. We never give our bodies the break they need to do the cleanup we need. Sugar and starch should be eliminated or used very occasionally.

Hallmark 5: Epigenetic Damage. Our epigenome is highly influenced by things under our control. We can practice longevity habits with good food, movement, and thoughts or we can do the opposite and suffer the consequences.

Hallmark 6: Senescent Cells. Normally cells die a programmed death called apoptosis when they are old or damaged but some cells don’t want to die. We call these Zombie cells (or senescent cells).

• We get more Zombie cells as we age but certain lifestyle factors, such as a high-starch and sugar diet, excess stress, and exposure to toxins, will accelerate the proliferation of such cells.

• Zombie cells excrete inflammatory cytokines that can damage surrounding cells and contribute to high blood pressure, diabetes, and dementia.

• One way to combat zombie cells is to practice periodic intermittent fasting, which deactivates mTOR, a requirement for autophagy (cell death), and activates SIRT1, a gene that presents Zombie cells from forming.

• Exercise also fights senescent cells. Resistance exercise forms slight tears in the muscle tissue. In response, immune cells migrate to the site, wiping away any Zombie cells.

Hallmark 7: Depleted Energy. Mitochondria, the energy factories that are found in our cells throughout our body, mutate and decline in number and function as we age, while free radicals increase in number. This leads to an overall decline in energy as we age.

• You can fight this hallmark of aging by: focusing on healthy diet full of antioxidants, healthy fats, and moderate protein;

• practicing calorie restriction through intermittent fasting or time-restricted eating, which stress the body, triggering adaptations;

• regulating your light exposure to limit blue light before bedtime;

• incorporating high-intensity interval training (HIIT) & strength training in your exercise regime;

• and using supplements, like CoQ10, Resveratrol, and L-Carnitine, which can help promote healthy mitochondria.

Hallmark 8: Poor Gut Health. Hippocrates was correct; all disease begins in the gut. Modern lifestyle and diet can damage our gut lining and destroy our beneficial bacteria.

• Damaged gut lining allows toxins, undigested food, harmful bacteria and viruses, etc. into your bloodstream, resulting in Leaky Gut, which has been associated with nearly every chronic disease.

• You can reduce your leaky gut by reducing or eliminating substances like alcohol, sugar, and gluten, that damage the gut. Gut healing foods include veggies, other foods with fiber, prebiotics and probiotics.

Hallmark 9: Stem Cell Exhaustion. Stem cells help our tissues and organs repair and renew. Throughout our tissues and bone marrow, we produce stem cells but as we age, those stem cells age as well.

• As a result, we become less able to repair and renew our cells, tissues, and organs.

• The decline in our stem cells is caused in large part by our diet, exercise, sleep, stress, environment, toxins, allergens and microbes.

• The good news is that we can help control all those things.

Hallmark 10: Inflammaging. Inflammaging is dysfunction in immune function caused by inflammation. The primary driver of inflammation ins a pro-inflammatory diet, high in sugar and starch, low in fiber, full of refined oils and nutrient and phyto-nutrient poor. Our diet also harms our microbiome, driving leaky gut.

• Manmade chemicals in our food, water, air, and household cleaning and personal care products; exposure to mercury in fish and dental filling; lead and other contaminants in the environment all contribute.

• Limiting inflammation is not hard to do if we follow an anti-inflammatory diet; practicing time-restricted eating and hormesis (getting good stress, like heat/cold therapy); exercising; reducing stress; getting good sleep; avoiding toxins; etc.

**Content provided for educational and informational purposes only. It is derived from information from Dr. Mark Hyman. It is not to be considered medical advice.**