What's Aging You? Article of the week July 17 to 21
What an amazing week I enjoyed in Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia with my wife and two daughters. Jen and I planned a full week that included visiting the Green Gables National Park in Cavendish, P.E.I., hiking Cape Breton National Park, visiting the Alexander Graham Bell museum in Baddeck and a lot more. My kids were a little reluctant to go away (teenagers) but they were fully engaged when we started to discover some of the beauty of our east coast.
I am typing this newsletter in the plane on the way home, and the video you are watching on our screen this week was taken early on the morning of Friday July 15 when I did my morning run on the Skyline Trail just outside Cheticamp, Cape Breton. This is one of the most stunning, magnificent views I have ever experienced. As I was running I began to think about a topic for this week's article of the week and I came up with the topic of healthy aging. The reason this topic came to mind was because I had recently been reading an article published in the Journal of Molecular and Genetic Medicine about chiropractic and aging.
Most people only understand getting adjusted by a chiropractor when their back is sore. Informed people understand that getting adjusted regularly whether your back is sore or not contributes to your quality of life. The case study I was referring to was just released in June, 2017 and found that a 35 year old female school teacher who had been under chiropractic care over a span of 5 months showed a significant improvement in telomere length.
So what is a telomere? It is an indication of how you are aging. Telomeres are the tips of your DNA (called chromosomes), the genetic material located in all of your cells. As you age, your cells divide and each time they divide, your telomeres shorten. There has been an abundance of research that confirms that the rate at which you age corresponds to the length of your telomeres. In short, if you have long telomeres you will exhibit health and vitality. If your telomeres shorten prematurely you will exhibit signs of ill-health and premature aging. Therefore, it is critical to adopt lifestyle habits and behaviours that will preserve the length of your telomeres. When you think of telomeres, remember long telomeres mean long life, short telomeres equal short life!
So what causes your telomeres to shorten before their time? Smoking, alcohol, sedentary behaviour, excess stress and poor diet. Things that promote healthy telomeres include regular physical activity, a healthy diet and removing sources of chronic mental or emotional stress. The case study I am referencing here is ground-breaking in that chiropractic adjustments are now being added to the list of lifestyle habits that one can adopt to slow the aging process.
In my group Doctor's Report I often stress that my vision for your care in our office is to see you all grow old with vitality. In reality, most people get old with disease and suffer the consequences of a lifetime of poor lifestyle choices by the time they reach their senior years. Your long term commitment to your care is one critical choice you can make that will allow you to grow old with vitality and be able to do the things that you want to do in the future.
Here's to making the golden years golden!
Yours in Health,
Dr. Tim