How to maintain our youthful glow

As we age . . . we all try to accomplish that mission as gracefully as possible.

We exercise, we take vitamin C, we stop smoking, decrease our sugar intake, use sunblock every day, we have facials and peel, botox and even surgery.

But does all that really work?

Believe it or not . . . The body is actually "programmed" to die . . . with aging being the outcome of diverse and complex changes in normal biological functions. And as the body ages . . . we find that our DNA becomes damaged, we have a dysfunction of proteins and as I've spoken many times before . . . our communication within cells becomes impaired.

So what is this really all about???

Well . . . yesterday we spoke of "chromosomes". So let's dig a little deeper and see how they affect our aging process.

Now . . . there's an element that's called "Telomere". And these "telomeres" are the caps at the end of each strand of DNA that protects our chromosomes . . . it's kind of like the plastic tip at the end of a shoelace, where it protects the end from fraying.

And without this protective cap . . . DNA strands become damaged and our cells can't do their job.

Are you with me so far???

Now, we also spoke about "stress" the other day and chronic stress such as untreated depression, social isolation, long-term unemployment and anxiety attacks accelerates premature aging by shortening DNA "telomeres".

You see . . . "stress" can speed-up the aging process by shortening the length of each DNA strand.

"Telomere" length, shortens as we age and the rate that the telomere shortens may be an indicator of the pace we will grow old. Lifestyle factors such as smoking, alcohol, lack of physical activity, obesity, stress and exposure to pollution can increase the rate of "telomere" shortening, which in turn puts you at a greater risk of illness and age related disease.

Short "telomeres" have also been associated with chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, cancer and depression.