Goddesses Never Age: The Secret Prescription for Radiance, Vitality, and Well-Being (3 page)

In a sense, we have a shelf life. Structures on the tips of our chromosomes called telomeres, which are like wicks on sticks of dynamite, grow shorter when cells divide. When the wick gets small enough, cells no longer receive the instruction to replicate and their death follows. However, telomeres do not have to shorten as quickly as they do. Research shows that an enzyme called telomerase repairs them and extends them slightly, which offers promise that we have the power to actually reverse aging
by improving our ability to repair and lengthen our telomeres.
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Mindfulness meditation, exercise, and thinking differently all show promise for slowing the aging process.
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Studies by researchers such as Richard Davidson of the University of Wisconsin show that mindfulness practices rewire the brain, resulting in greater immunity
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and improved ability to manage stress and emotions.
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And a recent longitudinal study lasting eight years and following people over 50 showed that as little as an hour a week of moderate exercise can cut your risk of developing chronic disease sevenfold. “Moderate” exercising is as little as an hour a week of dancing around, washing your car, or walking. And even those who had been sedentary up until the beginning of the study had outcomes similar to those who had been exercising all along.
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So if you want vibrant new cells in your body, nourish them by making positive lifestyle choices that include maintaining a positive attitude about yourself, your well-being, and your value.

It’s cellular breakdown that produces the physical changes we associate with aging, from wrinkles to minor aches and ailments. The physical deterioration occurs in large part because of the accumulation of toxins, which results in cellular deterioration and damage along with tissue and organ breakdown. This toxic buildup’s effect on the body is exacerbated by the development of dense fascia: that is, scarring of connective tissue caused by physical, emotional, and mental stress (more on this later). And as I mentioned in the Introduction, spending too much time sitting and lying down speeds up the aging process. That’s why you need to move your body and experience the earth’s gravitational pull through walking, pushing, pulling, and moving. One reason movement is vitally important is that your fluids can more easily move toxins to organs that process them if you aren’t sitting all day long. In fact, urinary incontinence is exacerbated by prolonged sitting (as is erectile dysfunction, which is a reason why men need to move too). If the body’s toxins aren’t processed, cellular breakdown occurs.

There are toxins in our food and environment we should avoid as much as possible, but many of the toxins that contribute to the aging process are produced in our own bodies. Stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline are meant to be used
by the body in the case of an immediate threat to physical safety. They give us quick energy to run for the hills or put up the fight of our lives. When these hormones are chronically elevated in the system due to unremitting emotional and physical stress, they cause cellular inflammation, and that is the primary cause of all chronic, degenerative diseases, including cancer.

A friend of mine had a medical emergency, and I took him to the ER and stayed with him for hours while the doctors and nurses treated him and ran tests. His blood tests were all normal and, after a few long, stressful hours in the ER, he was sent home with pain medications. The next morning, I had gained three pounds. My body was retaining water as part of an inflammatory process that was trying to reduce the amount of cortisol and adrenaline in my system left over from the stress of the day before. Over time, emotional and physical stressors such as poor-quality sleep can be powerful enough to cause us to gain and retain weight, slowing our metabolism. In a sense, many women are carrying the weight of the world on their bodies by empathically taking on the emotional stress of those around them, as Colette Baron-Reid pointed out in her book
Weight Loss for People Who Feel Too Much
(Harmony, 2013)
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Oxidative stress is another process that wreaks havoc on our bodies over time. Free radicals, byproducts of metabolism within our cells, are molecules missing electrons that travel through the system to find cells from which they can scavenge electrons. They leave those cells damaged, and the damaged cells in turn go off in search of the electrons that would return them to stability. If your body doesn’t have enough antioxidants to regularly counteract free radical damage, eventually it will not be able to repair itself.

You exacerbate inflammation and oxidative stress when you reach for sugary foods that offer temporary relief from anxiety, anger, sadness, pain, and displeasure. I’m not talking about fresh fruit, which contains fiber and lots of nutrients and antioxidants. You’re probably not drowning your sorrows by indulging in a bowl full of freshly picked blueberries. The sugars we consume under stress tend to be highly refined. They’re the sugars in foods that lack the protein or fiber that would slow the biochemical effect of the sugar on the body. The quick energy from sugar
may make you feel good in the moment, but the candy bar, cupcake, or glass of wine can spike your insulin, and that causes damage to LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol. The sticky, damaged LDL travels through your blood vessels and incites further inflammation until it ends up glued to the walls, forming plaques that create restrictions and, eventually, increased risk for Alzheimer’s, diabetes, arthritis, heart attack, and stroke. In addition, glycemic stress from even slightly high levels of blood sugar results in the release of inflammatory chemicals like cytokines from immune cells, which damage blood vessel walls.

Excess visceral fat (belly fat) also causes inflammation, which leads to the sorts of aches and pains that make you want to fore-go an evening walk and settle onto the couch with a bowl of ice cream. Ingesting refined sugars triggers a beta-endorphin response that dulls pain and feels good temporarily, but the sugar-and-sedentary-living habit creates vicious cycles of inflammation and oxidation. That rounded belly isn’t due to age but to sugar consumption and inflammation catching up with you. It’s a sign that you need to give birth to a new you: an ageless goddess who experiences so much pleasure that she doesn’t succumb to the temptation of lesser, temporary pleasures from sugars and alcohols.

And while the aging effects of regular drinking start to become obvious to the eye, much of the damage is happening deeper within the body. The brain’s pathways for processing dopamine, a natural pain reliever and pleasure creator, stop functioning properly. Over time, you start to feel worse sober than you did before the drinking habit took hold. “Just a glass” of beer or wine improves mood and sense of well-being temporarily, but then the cycle begins all over again. Now, having a few sugary, sweet, or alcoholic indulgences isn’t going to kill you. In fact, healthy rituals involving pleasure (like eating fine chocolate or enjoying a glass of good wine) are part of living well. But mindless overindulgence as a way to ease pain you don’t want to feel is a whole different story. Do you really want sugar, or a sweeter life? Are you seeking spirits in a bottle of vodka, or do you want to find Spirit? Do you self-medicate and suppress your “inconvenient,” difficult feelings? It’s far better to detoxify from
them and release them so that you can experience sustainable joy, like a happy two-year-old!

Detoxification is great. It fosters good health and reminds us of how good it feels to get the junk out of our system and return to our natural state of wellness. However, most of us do a detox as a sort of penance for being “bad,” which is not an ageless attitude. The thought is:
I was “bad” and ate too many holiday treats so I have to punish myself with a grueling detox.
You don’t have to do a four-day detox that brings on a migraine and flu-like symptoms. You can simply choose to begin the process of returning to clean eating and pleasurable living, knowing that you might feel a bit under the weather for a few days as all those toxins make their way out of your body. During that mild discomfort, you can look forward to the transition from feeling bloated, achy, and low on energy to feeling vibrant again. Let go of the concept of detoxification as punishment and focus on the pleasures of taking care of yourself, tuning in to your needs, and eating fresh, healthy foods. Notice how good it feels to tackle a cluttered drawer or closet—and then enjoy the “white” space that is left. The same thing happens in your body when you clear out the gunk.

All the junk you eat and all the health-eroding messages and behaviors you keep repeating will take their toll if you don’t admit it’s time to really care for and love yourself enough to put your adrenaline-fueled ways behind you. Then you will find that you have much more control over your health than you previously thought. Gerontologist Michael F. Roizen, M.D., has done research showing that you can extend your quality and quantity of life by adopting a positive attitude and even just flossing your teeth!
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Some of the changes may seem difficult as you try to develop new habits and fit new activities into your busy schedule, but the payoffs can be extraordinary.

NO MORE SENIOR MOMENTS

Everyone wants her healthspan to match her lifespan. Many women don’t just fear losing their health, their stamina, or their
looks. They also fear dementia, which is the physical degeneration of the brain. It seems every day there’s another frightening report on how many older people who are otherwise in good physical health are in cognitive decline or have developed Alzheimer’s. What isn’t so apparent is that we can make many lifestyle changes to protect our brain health. There’s quite a lot of ongoing research into dementia, but rather than wait for a treatment, why not live a lifestyle now that prevents it in the first place?

What we commonly refer to as stress—mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual—actually creates inflammatory chemicals in the brain and body that lead to memory deterioration. Whether that stress comes from too much sugar in the diet, chronic worry, or lack of sleep, stress leads to cellular degeneration. Fortunately, you have the ability to turn that around. You can read about how to “manage” stress, but reading about it and intending to manage your stress one of these days isn’t going to do anything. You need daily health practices that boost immunity, lower cortisol levels and inflammation, support brain health, and cause you to embody wellness and joy. These practices can include regular movement, standing up from a sitting position regularly throughout the day, enjoying meals with good friends, dancing, breathing fully, stretching your fascia (connective tissue) through yoga or other practices, calming your emotions and calming the activity of your mind through meditation, taking antioxidant supplements, or something else. There are plenty of other ways to enhance brain health, too (more on that later).

If you find yourself standing in a room wondering where your cell phone is, please don’t say, “I’m having a senior moment.” Cognitive decline is not a normal part of getting older. What you’re probably experiencing is mental overload from trying to juggle too many tasks and not getting enough quality sleep (more on that later as well). Words are powerful. Don’t talk yourself into believing your brain is turning to mush just because you are over 40! Adopt an ageless and healthy mind-set so you can program your cells to be ageless and healthy too.

AN AGELESS MIND-SET

Mental habits play a huge role in our health and longevity. The famous Ohio Longitudinal Study of Aging and Retirement (OLSAR) by gerontologist and epidemiologist Becca Levy, Ph.D., found that people with positive perceptions about aging live, on average, seven and a half years longer than people who don’t hold that belief. In fact, people’s perceptions of aging had more of an effect, positive or negative, on healthy longevity than did having low cholesterol or blood pressure (which increase longevity by four years) or a low body mass index (BMI). Perceptions even had more of an effect than not smoking (which adds three years to your life).
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In other words, the belief in the positive aspects of aging strongly affects your biology and thus your survival. If this information were a drug, it would be unethical not to prescribe it! A different study was done with people 60 to 90 years old to determine their “swing time,” that is, the time the foot is off the ground when a person is walking. Swing time measures balance and can indicate that someone is becoming frail. Both groups in the study were told to walk so that their swing time could be measured as a baseline. Then the subjects played a simple computer game, but unknown to them, the first group’s game contained subliminal positive messages such as “wise,” “astute,” and “accomplished” and the second group’s had subliminal negative messages such as “senile,” “dependent,” and “diseased.” After playing the computer game, the second group lost swing time. They walked as if they were actually “senile,” “dependent,” and “diseased.” However, the first group’s swing time increased. The transformation seemed to be due solely to their unconscious thoughts and the immediate effect of these thoughts on their bodily functions.
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How powerful are our attitudes toward aging and growing older? Harvard professor Ellen Langer, Ph.D., in her classic book
Mindfulness
(Addison-Wesley, 1989), recounts how she conducted a famous study of men in their 70s and 80s. She had one group live as though it were the 1950s when they were in their prime: watching television shows from that era, looking at pictures of themselves in their prime on the walls, reading magazines from
that time period, and so on. A control group lived away from their daily routine, but without any reminders of what life was like in their youth. Before the study began, the men underwent tests for hearing, blood pressure, eyesight, and pulmonary function. They also had their pictures taken. After two weeks, the tests were repeated. The men who had just lived as if in the era of their prime looked, on average, ten years younger. Their hearing, vision, lung function, and other functions and measures had also improved dramatically. They had a greater sense of well-being. And when they left the venue where they had been living, they all carried their own luggage—like the healthy vibrant men they remembered they could be. The control group showed no changes.