F. Cortizo

Mind‐Body Medicine: Stress and Its Impact on Overall Health and Longevity

The belief that adverse life stressors and the emotional states that can lead to major negative impacts on an individuals body functions and hence health has been held since antiquity. Adverse health outcomes such as coronary heart disease, gastrointestinal distress, and cancer have been linked to unresolved lifestyle stresses that can be expressed as a negative impact on human survival and ultimately a decrease of the human life span. Psychological modulation of immune function is now a well‐established phenomenon, with much of the relevant literature published within the last 50 years. Psychoneuroimmunology and psychoneuroendocrinology embrace the scientific evidence of research of the mind with that of endocrinology, neurology and immunology, whereby the brain and body communicate with each other in a multidirectional flow of information that consists of hormones, neurotransmitters/neuropeptides, and cytokines. Advances in mind‐body medicine research together with healthy nutrition and lifestyle choices can have a significant impact on health maintenance and disease prevention and hence the prolongation of the human life span.

Can We Delay Aging? The Biology and Science of Aging

Long before the fountain of youth, mankind has had an interest in staying young. As we move into the 21st century, that interest has not only continued, but it has become an obsession. While no one can really prevent normal, chronological aging, there are things we can do to slow down “pathological aging.” After all, aging is about accelerated inflammation, depletion, and wear and tear. With the marked increase in life expectancy and life span, clinicians need to be aware of the effects of aging on the provision of treatment modalities. Appropriate interventions individualized to the patient can help to “compress morbidity” by shortening the period of functional decline common in old age. Therefore, the “health span” will come closer to matching the life span. Disease and disuse are far more likely explanations for functional decline and the onset of common chronic conditions in older persons than is “tru” natural or normal aging. Regardless of your genetic inheritance, you can accelerate aging by lifestyle choices and environmental conditions to which you expose your genes. There are even ways to reverse the problems associated with aging. Getting older does not have to mean growing older. Welcome to the world of preventative gerontology, better known as anti‐aging medicine!