Aging happens
1) Do you need to lose ten pounds?
a. Add 10 points if your weight is appropriate for your height
b. Add 5 points if you need to lose only ten pounds
c. Add no points if you need to lose more than ten pounds
Carrying around extra weight is stressful--not just on your back and your joints, but on your immune system too. Besides causing you to be at higher risk for diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, extra weight also can overactivate your immune system.
One of the best ways to measure the extent of immune activation is the C-reactive protein (CRP) blood test--the higher your CRP levels, the more active your immune system is. A March 2006 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showed that overweight women were eight to almost ten times more likely to have an overactive immune system, as demonstrated by high levels of CRP than women of healthy weight, even if they were physically active. Studies on men show similar results.
2) Do you smoke?
a. Add 10 points if you rarely even smell smoke
b. Add 5 points if you're exposed to some second-hand smoke every day, but you don't smoke
c. Add 2 points if you live with a smoker, but don't smoke yourself
d. Add no points if you smoke
Smoking is one guaranteed way to age your body faster. You know the effects--wrinkled skin, clogged arteries, emphysema, cancer, and impotence, to name just a few. But the most important reason to stop smoking is that it overstimulates the immune system, which in turn speeds up aging.
3) Do you live in one of the following cities: Birmingham (AL); Los Angeles, Fresno, Bakersfield, Hanford-Corcoran, Merced, Modesto, Sacramento, San Diego, San Jose, Visalia (CA); Bridgeport (CT);Canton-Massillon, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Weirton (OH); Eugene-Springfield, Medford (OR); Harrisburg, Lancaster, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia (PA); Provo, Salt Lake City (UT); Charleston (WV); Huntington-Ashland (WV-KY-OH); Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Louisville, Knoxville, New York City, Newark, St. Louis, Seattle-Tacoma, or Washington DC.
a. Add 5 points if you live in the country
b. Add 2 points if you travel to the areas listed frequently (i.e.: weekly or more)
c. Add no points if you live in one of these areas
These are the forty most polluted cities in the U.S. (not necessarily in order) measured by particulate air pollution and ozone. Breathing in polluted air activates your immune system into a constant defense mode that ages your body prematurely. A February 2006 study in the American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care Medicine measured the day-to-day variations in CRP levels against the daily air pollution index. The study showed that CRP levels rose significantly approximately two days after subjects were exposed to particulate air pollution.
4) Have you broken a sweat exercising in the past twenty-four hours?
a. Add 10 points if you break a sweat exercising at least four days a week
b. Add 5 if you break a sweat at least twice a week
c. Add no points if you seldom exercise to a sweat
Exercise helps deactivate the immune system in several ways. Exercise lowers CRP levels. It's no surprise that exercise has been proven to prevent just about every disease and reduce the effects of aging.
5) What was your birth weight?
a. Add 4 points if you weighed more than eight and a half pounds but less than ten pounds at birth
b. Add 2 points if you weighed between seven and eight and a half pounds
c. Add zero points if you weighed less than seven pounds or more than ten pounds at birth.
Research shows that smaller babies (five and a half to six pounds) have prematurely aged immune systems, while larger babies (up to nine and a half pounds) lead longer lives with less disease. Lower birth weight has been linked to higher levels of CRP and immune activation in adult life. In the recent MIDSPAN Family Study, researchers found that CRP levels in adults were inversely proportional to their birth weight (in the range between five and a half to nine and a half pounds), and that every kg (2.2 pounds) at birth meant 11 percent lower CRP levels in adulthood.
6) Have you taken an antibiotic medication in the past year?
a. Add 4 points if you can't remember the last time you took an antibiotic
b. Add 2 points if you've taken a course of antibiotics no more than ten times in your life
c. Add no points if you generally take a course of antibiotics every year, or more often
Antibiotic use prematurely age the immune system and is linked to a number of health effects, including heart disease, allergies, asthma, and even breast cancer. Frequent antibiotic use is a sign of someone whose immune system is often in battle mode, fighting an infection but also wreaking havoc on his or her health in the process.
7) Do you have older siblings?
a. Add 4 points if you have older brothers or sisters
b. Add no points if you're an only or oldest child
Research suggests than only children, or the oldest sibling, are often more prone to allergies, eczema, asthma, and other allergic disorders, which are indicative of an overactive immune system.
8) Is your belly bigger than your hips?
a. Add 10 points if your hips are bigger (yeah!)
b. Add 2 points if your belly and hip measurements are the same
c. Add no points if your belly is bigger than your hips
Your hip measurement should be at least 10 percent more than your waist measurement (for men) and 20 percent more for women. Carrying extra inches around the middle of your body is an immune system disorder, and is linked with premature aging. This rule holds true even for people who are not overweight.
9) Did you floss your teeth today?
a. Add 2 points if you flossed today
b. Add 1 point if you did not but often do
c. Add no points if you seldom or never floss
Yes, floss. Flossing helps reduce plaque buildup in the teeth and gums. This plaque is a thick coating of nasty bacteria that creates a constant struggle with your immune system. High levels of plaque are linked with an overactive immune system and a doubled risk of cardiovascular disease.
10) Have you made love in the past week?
a. Add 5 points if you have a good love life
b. Add 3 points if you have a fair love life
c. Add 1 point if you're frustrated with your love life (at least you know what a love life is!)
Right--just what you were waiting for: Sex is good for you. Well, actually it's not just sex; it's loving and feeling loved. Nothing quiets down a revved-up immune system better than knowing someone else loves you, and vice versa. When you're loved, not only does everything seem better in the world, it is better in your body, too.
11) Did you tell a funny joke to your friends today that made them laugh?
a. Add 2 points if you made someone laugh
b. Add 1 point if someone made you laugh
c. Add no points if you can't remember laughing
Okay, this is a bit of a trick question. If you answered yes, we know two things: You have friends, and you have a sense of humor (plus good delivery). What's important here is camaraderie and laughter. Both are rejuvenating to the immune system. "Laughter is the best medicine," is not an old chestnut. Laughter sends a signal to the immune system to chill out.
12) Did you grow up with a dog?
a. Add 2 points if you grew up with a dog
b. Add 1 points if you grew up with any pet
c. Add no points if you never had animals
Besides being a best friend, a pet plays an important role in supporting your immune system.
13) Have you had a massage in the last month?
a. Add 2 points if you were massaged
b. Add 1 point if you massaged someone else
c. Add no points if you haven't done either
Talk about being relaxed. Having every tired muscle rubbed for an hour while your brain takes a holiday is good medicine. Relaxing touch combined with a release of muscle pain goes a long way toward reducing tension in your immune system, too.
14) Do you eat three meals a day? (If more than one answer applies, pick the one that applies best)
a. Add 5 points if you're a "grazer" and almost never over-eat
b. Add 3 points if you skip a meal almost every day
c. Add 2 points if you skip a meal now and then
Despite what you might think, eating three meals a day is no longer considered healthy. Meals are one of the biggest stresses on your immune system. Grazing, or eating several smaller meals, is a better strategy than eating three large meals a day.
15) Do you take vitamins?
a. Add 4 points if you take a multivitamin an hour before your biggest meal of the day
b. Add 2 points if you take a multivitamin every day, but not before your biggest meal
c. Add no points if you don't take a multivitamin
Taking a multivitamin daily reduces stress on the immune system and slows aging. In fact, it has been shown to reduce CRP levels significantly, according to a study in the American Journal of Medicine in December 2003.
However, if you're like most people, you probably take your multivitamin first thing in the morning. Your multivitamin is actually best taken about an hour before your biggest meal of the day, when it acts to help reduce the immune activation that occurs after a meal.
16) Have you raised your voice in anger over the past twenty-four hours?
a. Add 5 points if you can honestly say that you rarely get angry at anything
b. Add 1 point if you felt angry, but didn't yell
c. Add no points if you've raised your voice today
Be honest. Yelled at your kids? Your spouse? At the office? At the store? At anyone? How about your dog or cat?
Even when your voice gets a little edgy, it's a sign of inner hostility. Hostility or anger is a powerful emotion that tells your immune system you're geared up for a fight. Translation: Get ready to be hurt by an overactive immune system.
17) Do you feel anxious during the day?
a. Add 2 points if you're just occasionally anxious
b. Add no points if you're anxious nearly all the time
c. If you're never anxious, add zero points because lying isn't good for your immune system, either.
Nervous? Sweaty palms? Outright scared? Or even just kind of flustered? Your immune system isn't happy when you get nervous. Anxiety sends a loud and clear message--you feel threatened. That's exactly when your defense system kicks in. Frequent anxiety ages you prematurely.
18) Ever feel down in the dumps? Blue? Sad? Outright despairing?
a. Add 5 points if you're generally positive and optimistic
b. Add 2 points if you've felt depressed more than once in the past month
c. Add no points if you often feel depressed
Of the three most dangerous emotions (hostility, anxiety, and despair), despair is probably the worst; it tells your immune system that you are not just anxious, but also that you've given up. Despair and depression have been linked with all sorts of conditions from heart disease to brain decline to osteoporosis.
19) Did you sleep well last night?
a. Add 5 points if you almost always sleep like a baby
b. Add 3 points if you usually sleep like a baby
c. Add 1 point if you often don't get enough sleep
d. Add no points if you're always tired and you still don't seem to get enough sleep
Sleep is when your immune system can finally relax, recharge, and repair. It can't do this during the day--it's too busy defending you. It's difficult to sleep when you're sick, because your immune system is so damn busy. All kinds of repair processes occur during sleep, while sleeplessness triggers activation of the immune system.
20) Do you sing? Hum? Tap your foot much of the day? Often have a song running through your head?
a. Add 2 points if you play an instrument or sing every day
b. Add 1 point if you often listen to your home music system or portable music player
c. Add no points if you couldn't care less about music... it won't help you, but it probably won't age you either
Music soothes more than the savage beast--it also soothes your immune system; Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, or even Earl Scruggs or Eminem will do.
KEY: If your score is between:
80-100: You are aging like a Bristlecone pine tree, living in harmony with your immune system, which is calm and secure. There's no need for it to be overactive, and peace reigns in your bloodstream. But there's always room for improvement. Read on and learn how to slow the aging process even further.
60-79: You are aging like a Giant Tortoise. Your immune system is your friend and has little interest in attacking you--at the moment. It's possible to improve upon your success and make your immune system work even better. There are several steps you can take to slow down the aging process and live a longer, healthier life. Learn on!
40-69: You are aging like the average human, which isn't bad, but you could be aging so much more slowly while at the same time reducing your risk of getting sick. Knowledge is power, so here's your chance to learn how to slow the aging process and prevent disease. There are many things you can do right now to improve your immune function, starting with the right mindset: believe that you have the power to change your health and your aging speed.
20-39: You are aging like a speeding bullet, heading for a dreaded disease--if you don't already have one. This score calls for immediate action to stop this process. You probably should skip ahead to the UltraLongevity program in Section II; you can always come back and read Section I once you've taken the first steps to gain control of your immune system.
1-19: You are aging like a dinosaur (nearly extinct already). To score this low, you must be purposefully trying to hasten your own demise. But the mere fact that you're reading this book means there's still hope. Pause. Take a breath. Affirm to yourself that you are worth taking care of. And read on. This is the start of a whole new you and you are in the driver's seat. Even people who score this low can, and have, changed their lives for good.
© Dr. Mark Liponis, 2007
Medical Director, Canyon Ranch
Ultralongevity: The Seven-step Program for a Younger, Healthier You
Many more scientific citings, recipes, tips and ideas are in his book.
Eons has it's own longevity expert! Have you met Dr. Tom Perls? Visit his group and take the longevity calculator from here!
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