Evaluation Of Factors Influencing Aging

The speed and characteristics of aging depends on many factors. By data of World Health Organization the longevity (the health and stability of a person) depends proportionally on the following factors: 50% on lifestyle, 20% on heredity (genetics), 20% on external environment, and 10% on healthcare system.




1. Heredity (Genetics - 20%)

a. Genetically inherited factors cause an estimated 2000 different diseases and defects, including some forms of blindness and deafness, mental deficiencies, haemophilia, and metabolic imbalance. According to Galton, "Heredity generally predisposes to diseases, but does not make the diseases unavoidable." The knowledge of predisposal to diseases is what allows us to lower the risk of their development. The evaluation of genetic predisposal to various diseases is performed through genetic blood analysis.


2. Environment (20%) - the pathogenic influence of environment

a. Biological influence - infectious agents (viruses, fungi, bacteria, and parasites). Because people live in societies, they constantly risk catching viruses, fungi, bacteria, or parasites from the fellow human beings around them. Today, many scientists agree that these very viruses, fungi, bacteria, and parasites are the causes of many diseases. Their presence in our body lowers protective functions of the immune system thereby making the person more vulnerable to the harmful influence of toxins, heavy metals, and many diseases. Common symptoms include chronic fatigue, insomnia, bad memory, mood swings, muscle and joint pain. Presence of infections agents in the body is determined through blood analysis.


b. Chemical influence - toxins (xenobiotics, heavy metals, allergens). Currently, a great attention is paid to the toxicity level in the body caused by heavy metals, high concentration of which is characteristic to rural areas. Modern methods of diagnostics allow us to define the degree of toxicity by determining the concentration of heavy metals in the blood.


c. Ecological influence - (air, water, location, electromagnetic radiation). While we cannot choose the heredity but can only control it, we can chose the place to live in ourselves. Analysis of ecological environment lets us correct the place where we reside. In the regions with polluted air, death rate is much higher than in the places with clean air. Even if there is no opportunity to live in the mountains, a person can certainly evaluate a potential construction sight or location of a house for the presence of landfills of radioactive waste. Reduction of influence of electromagnetic radiation is also possible. The degree of electromagnetic contamination is determined through use of a special device.


3. Lifestyle (50%) - distinguished doctors of the Renaissance era already insisted that no one pill, elixir, or tincture could replace the active way of living. Lifestyle, a complex concept itself, that includes the way of living, satisfaction of general spiritual and physical needs, the attitude towards the health, emotional condition and so on, we will examine through analysis of seven components of lifestyle (the seven "S"), which make a great contribution to maintaining the activity peak. Lifestyle is evaluated through analysis of the results of this poll.


a. Sense - the understanding of a reason of stay young and healthy. When a person sets engaging and exciting goals for the future s/he finds new strengths to keep living. The loss of meaning of the life is one of the main causes of depression, which is a leading reason of premature aging.


b. Sport - Many studies demonstrated that physical training prevents loss of muscle and bone mass, supports the life tonus and provides energy. According to the research of doctor Richard Hoshchind, regular, even if not intensive training, can reverse the aging process and rejuvenate men by 5 years and women by 4 years. Aerobics itself can rejuvenate a heart by 10 years. Even moderate physical training rejuvenates body by 10%.


c. Smile - expresses the attitude towards life. Emotional spirit affects internal well-being through a definite neurohormonal mechanisms. From the point of view of advantage for cardiovascular system, 20 seconds of healthy laughter are as useful as 5 minutes spent running on treadmill. One minute of laughter, resulting from pleasant memories, is equal to 45 minutes of meditation.


d. Sex - according to a research by American scientists, regular sex restores the vital systems functions. Conversely, the decrease in sexual activity can negatively influence life expectancy. During 5-year observation of 128 married men, Swedish scientists found that early termination of sexual life correlates with higher death rates.


e. Sleep - The scientists have calculated that a person sleeps about 22 years during its lifetime. A high quality sleep is an indispensable condition of normal functioning of a body, with a necessary duration of sleep of at least 7 to 8 hours. Systematically insufficient, low quality sleep causes dysfunctions of central nervous system, decrease in working capacity, increase in fatigue, and irritability. According to the results of an international research, one fifth of the world population suffers from insomnia. One of the main probable reasons of insomnia is the decrease in melatonin output in the body with the aging.


f. Supper - the diet and nutrients. Nutrition intake determines the energy, biological and immune functions of the body. The diet must be balanced in structure of nutritional components: fats, proteins, carbohydrates, mineral substances, vitamins and water. The absence or insufficiency of any of them causes disruption of bodily functions. With age, the body begins to decreases the metabolism, the ability to process nutritional substances, and begins to store more volume of fat tissue than muscles. Thus, one of the indicators of aging is the ratio between muscle mass and fat. Individual diet and knowledge of the principals of healthy diet can help to solve these problems.


g. Support - family and friends. The scientific research shows that happy family atmosphere, love, care and friendship significantly influences the state of health and well-being of a person.


4. Healthcare System and medical activity (10%) - the state of healthcare system within a government and certain activity of population towards their health. This includes: the level of medical proficiency, the attitude toward individual health, the frequency of checkup visits to a doctor, behavior during any sickness and its treatment, the degree of fulfillment of the doctor's recommendations and directions, and the ability to overcome bad habits.