Click to answer the Healthy Aging Appraisal.

Healthy Aging is a concept that can be utilized throughout one’s life span, instead of when our own mortality is staring us in the face. Andropause (male) and Menopause (female) are defined as a life passage from adulthood into “tribal” elderhood or a mastery of lifehood. This transition should not be considered as a negative thing, but as a planned experience of healthy aging that starts with birth and ends with our life passage to the next realm.

Many of our elders would be the first to say “If I had known that I would be in the shape that I am now, I would have taken better care of myself when I was younger”. It’s never too late to start, but it behooves us to start when we are young and healthy.

So where do you start? Start by assessing your goals. Where do you want to be with your health? Most of us realize that our health may never be perfect but we would like optimal health. We would like to prevent future health problems if possible. So how can we assess our risk factors?

For men most of the risk factors affecting our health stem from heart disease, prostate disease, injuries or musculoskeletal problems, and lifestyle diseases – COPD/lung problems, hypertension, obesity, digestive problems and diabetes.

For women, the risk factors for poor health include heart disease; hormone related problems, osteoporosis/bone fractures, breast/urine cancers, as well as the same lifestyle diseases as for men. Other concerns more common in women are Migraine Headaches, mental health concerns and autoimmune disease.

What are the modifiable life style issues that will significantly improve our life quality now and in the future? Number 1 on the list would be tobacco cessation, #2 would be weight issues both high and low, #3 would be lack of meaningful activity levels to support our cardiovascular, respiration and musculoskeletal systems. These are the obvious modifiable risk factors that most of us are already well aware of and are trying to reduce. But what are the less obvious ones that can cause meaningful detriment to our health?

Various toxins get into our bodies through the water we drink, the air that we breathe, the food that we eat – chemicals, heavy metals, etc. It is not a matter of do we have toxins in our bodies, as much as how much do we have of them? Lowering our toxic load through cleaning up our diet, supplementing with detoxifying nutrients, exercise, sauna therapy and I.V. therapies, can bring us back to a more optimal health. If you think that you cannot afford to do these preventive measures, think again. Do you think that the insurance companies are going to bail you out when you get sick?

Human Growth Hormone

The slow decline in appearance and function that we call aging may not be fixed in our genes or part of human destiny.  In fact, medical studies have shown that aging not only can be arrested but can actually be reversed.  What we now call aging appears to be due in large part to the drastic decline of growth hormone in the body after adulthood. 

At age 21, the normal level of circulating Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is about 10 milligrams per deciliter of blood, while at age 61 it is about 2 milligrams per deciliter - a decrease of 80%.  It is growth hormone that grows the cells, bones, muscles, and organs of young children, and it is falling levels of growth hormone after age 30 that slowly robs us of our youth.

By supplementing the levels of HGH, combined with a program of proper nutrition and other nutritional supplements, we can achieve these typical results:

The oldest continuing anti-aging experiment is hormone replacement therapy with estrogen or a combination of estrogen and progesterone in postmenopausal women.  A far smaller but growing number of men are now taking testosterone to build muscles, increase strength, and recharge their sexual batteries. 

Two other hormones, DHEA and melatonin, which also decrease with age, have been shown to have broad anti-aging and anti-disease effects on the body. 

All these hormones should be part of a healthy aging program, since hormones play a controlling role in the "aging clock".

Americans have become increasingly overweight. In fact, more than 60% of the adults are overweight and 25% are considered obese. This sets the stage for a lifetime of chronic disease. Even some of the so-called normal weight individuals have altered or unhealthy body composition, which is too much fat and not enough lean body weight (muscle).

Unhealthy body composition and excess body weight lead to obesity which is associated with the following:

Metabolic Syndrome (also known as insulin resistance or pre-diabetes) affects approximately 46% of Americans, and is characterized by high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and high insulin and glucose levels. As a general rule, a waist circumference greater than 40 inches in men or greater than 35 inches in women significantly increases the risk for Metabolic Syndrome.

Factors that lead to unhealthy body composition include excess calorie intake, lack of physical activity, lifestyle influences such as a high fat, high sugar diet, overeating, excess alcohol intake, chronic use of corticosteroids, hormone imbalance (estrogen dominance), and other metabolic factors.

To achieve a healthy body composition one must lose excess fat weight while retaining lean body weight (muscle). A program that helps retain lean body weight while losing excess fat weight has proper nutrition and supplements, exercise, and reduced caloric intake. Also, it is important to assess whether overeating comes from stress, anger, depression, self-defeating attitude, or other emotional issues that need to be addressed for long-term success.

The program at Kokopelli Health & Wellness helps to address all these issues for optimal and long-term weight management. Medical screening for Metabolic Syndrome, Hypertension, Diabetes, and Estrogen or other Hormonal Imbalances will be assessed. Lifestyle modification classes including nutritional counseling and reentry into the realm of exercise and fitness will be discussed. A non-stimulant, safe nutritional supplement that decreases appetite is available as the primary treatment modality for weight loss. Other adjunctive nutritional aides are also available.