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With the recent advances in aesthetic medicine and surgery, we can now retain our youthful features for much longer. But what is the point in looking young if we don’t feel as good as we look? The definition of health not just as the absence of disease, but also as a state of well-being. This concept forms the base of a new and fast growing specialty – anti-ageing medicine. In its essence this is preventative medicine and it is closely connected with cosmetic medicine. Usually those patients who want to look well also want to feel good in order to have a better quality of life as they age. When we start feeling excessively tired, forgetful, depressed or lacking libido most of us accept it as part of the ageing process. Although we do not like those changes most of us think they are inevitable, but this is not true. Longevity is another aspect closely related to well-being. If the maximum human life span is 120 years and the average life expectancy is 78 years why is there such a huge gap between the two?
“The World Health Organisation’s Ageing and Life Course Division’ in 2000 there were 600 million people aged 60 and over, there will be 1.2 billion by 2025 and 2 billion by 2050. Women outlive men in virtually all societies and in 2011 the Baby Boomer generation begins to turn 65. By 2030, 1 in 5 people will be aged over 65. In 1900, life expectancy at birth was about 49 years. By 1960, life expectancy had increased to 70 years, and in 1997, life expectancy at birth was 79 years for women and 74 years for men”. According to Dr Ronald Klatz, President and Founder of The American Academy of Anti-Ageing Medicine the “Triple digit human lifespan is achievable by 2029”.
This phenomenon has triggered the development of a new speciality in anti-ageing medicine. According to the American Academy of Anti-Ageing Medicine “this is a medical speciality founded on the application of advanced scientific and medical technologies for the early detection, prevention, treatment, and reversal of age-related diseases. It is a healthcare model promoting innovative science and research to prolong the healthy lifespan in humans.”
While adding years to life is beneficial the main purpose really is to add life to those years. Ageing is a very complex natural biological process depending upon several factors including heredity, mental, physical activities and nutrition. Therefore a variety of techniques are necessary to achieve our goal of good quality of life, one of which is the nutritional biological approach.
The answer to optimum health as we age comprises of proper nutritional balance, an appropriate exercise program, dietary supplements and hormonal therapy which are all part of the anti-ageing medicine treatment approach. All these are aimed at maintaining the optimal function of our genes. This is of great importance as most people do not reach their full health and longevity potential not because their genes are faulty, but because the gene repair processes are.
There are multiple causes of this but one important cause is today’s progressively hostile environment and poor dietary habits. Abnormal hormonal ranges and relative imbalances are another cause of ageing. Many people know that certain hormone levels drop as we age but most are unaware that almost all hormone levels start to drop from our mid to late twenties and in both sexes. One of the first things an anti-ageing consultation focuses on is the biological age measurement and its comparison with the chronological age of the patient.
This can be done separately for different organs and systems. For example, your kidneys may be the same biological age as your chronological age or even younger, but your liver can be older. Biological, sometimes referred to as functional age, is the objective assessment of the patient’s health status. In theory everyone’s biological age in terms of appearance, performance and functional capacity should be the same as his chronological age, but this is not always the case, hence we often comment on people who do not “look their age”. The biological age measurement includes physical and laboratory testing of important indicators called objective biomarkers, as well as subjective biomarkers which are derived from a specific questionnaire designed to pick up age-related symptoms and body changes. This information can also be used in order to monitor the progress of a treatment.
The prediction is that anti-ageing medicine will become even more closely integrated with aesthetic medicine and surgery, and in future patients will not only undergo procedures in order to achieve external rejuvenation but they will be treated for age related symptoms in order to enjoy better quality of life.
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