To Slow the Aging Process, You Must Understand It

Everyone wants to slow the aging process.  No matter who you are, your current age, or where you are in your health right now, figuring out how to slow down the clock to the end of your life is a big deal to all of us.

To slow it down, you must first understand the basics of why and how we age.

Life Expectancy vs Healthy Life Expectancy

Human beings are extremely long-lived mammals but we have the genetics to live far longer.  As of 2017, in the United States, the current life expectancy estimate for males is 79 years.  The estimate is 81 years for females.

These numbers fluctuate further depending on the state you live in and they fluctuate drastically from country to country.  Per the World Health Organization, the average life expectancy around the globe is 71 years (factoring in all races and genders).

Life expectancy (LE) is the statistical estimate of how long an organism will live.  Healthy life expectancy (HLE) is the statistical estimate of how long an organism will live and remain healthy.  Your HLE is what you need to worry about if you want to slow the aging process.

This is the number most significantly affected by environment, injury, diet, and lifestyle habits.

Living to 80, 90, 100, and beyond isn’t such a good thing if you’re sick or in pain.  However, if you are healthy, happy, and still sharp…why wouldn’t you want to live as long as possible?

The Man Who Lived…and Lived…and Lived!

A Chinese man named Li Ching-Yuen (also written as Ching-Yun) was said to have lived to be 256-years-old, dying in 1933 (his obituary appeared in the New York Times).  I’ve written about him before but I want to share the advice he once imparted to a warlord.

“Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon, and sleep like a dog.”

Modern science and holistic medicine are on the same page here.  In the pursuit to slow the aging process and fight disease, the guidance is sound.  Mr. Ching-Yuen’s words translate to avoiding stress, sidestep inflammatory over-exertion, get regular exercise, and get plenty of sleep.

Several critical principles I’ve recommended (and practiced myself) for almost four decades.

To Slow the Aging Process – Slow Your Heart Rate

The average heart rate for an adult is around 72 beats per minute.  A worthy goal is to get it under 70 (mine is typically between 58-64 beats per minute).

To lower your heart rate, you need to follow Mr. Ching-Yuen’s advice with a few extras such as removing stressor foods, losing the inflammatory sugars in your diet, quitting smoking, and getting rid of other habits that are gunking up your works!

The Years Don’t Kill Us – Disease Does

As I mentioned, humans are long-lived but we’re genetically capable of living much longer.  Our average years of life are getting longer but our healthy life expectancy is horrible!

National Geographic did a survey in 1970 that determined 69 people out of every 100,000 surpassed the age 100.  That number is 3 per 100,000 in the United States.

As the wealthiest nation in the world, with the massive medical complex we’ve created, and the education afforded to the population – why aren’t we living longer?  Just about every expert in the field agrees that the answer is chronic stress.

Most commonly, it is bronchopneumonia that claims the very aged.  They make it 100 years – beating statistic after statistic regarding diabetes, heart disease, or cancer – to fall to a germ.

To slow the aging process, you need to be acutely aware of three things:

1. You can prevent disease. The medical industry, pharmaceutical companies, and government agencies act like disease is unavoidable but that’s a lie that feeds so many bottom lines.
2. Easing symptoms is not a cure. If your doctor is uninterested in getting to the bottom of your health situation, you must do it yourself.  A long-term prescription is not a cure – no treatment, no symptoms…that’s when you have a cure!
3. It is never too late to start. Your body is capable of repairing tissue, growing new tissue, and helping you prevent, fight, and beat disease at every  Just because doctors say there’s “no cure” for a condition or disease doesn’t mean your body can’t be enlisted to fight!

Almost all disease is reversible.  Your body has the ability (and the will) to repair damage if you give it the chance and the raw materials it needs to do the work.

You don’t have to accept the breakdown of your body as “part of aging” because it’s not!

Right now, you can experience a complete life renewal, increased vigor, mental clarity, and sexual pleasure by learning to slow the aging process and even turn back the clock in many ways.

Dr. Walter Pierpaoli and Dr. William Regeleson said it perfectly in their book The Melatonin Miracle: “Ours is the first generation that need not experience the dismal physical decline now associated with old age.  We are the first generation that need not resign ourselves to accepting the fate that our later years will be filled with debility and disease.”

Here are some of the biggest concerns we face in the next decade.  I’ve addressed these repeatedly over the years and it can be frustrating that there is so little done on a massive scale to correct the problems!

1. The obesity epidemic
2. Hospital errors and infections, doctor shortages, poor options
3. Antibiotic resistance
4. Medical diagnosis apps for do-it-yourself care but no real innovation
5. Contamination of our food and water supply
6. Caregivers for the elderly (because we’re living longer, but not healthier)
7. Alzheimer’s cost (emotionally and financially)
8. Managing the physical and emotional impact of stress
9. Increasing the push to prevent disease before we must fight it!

It is possible (truly!) to slow or turn back the clock!

Understanding how the human body works, why we age, and learning the methods that can repair (and even reverse) damage already done have already been discovered.

To get a more in-depth look at what you can do to slow the aging process, read my book “How to Live Beyond 100 Years (and Stay Healthy in Mind and Body)” right now.  I’m going to give you all the tools you need to age successfully.

It is never too early – or too late – to alter your healthy life expectancy!