Happy Birthday Sparta

Sparta had a birthday this week.
Sparta looks like she is in her early 30’s and has the energy of a teen.
She has told me different but I find it hard to believe.
What I do know is that age is a misnomer when applied to people like Sparta.
I have seen a number of people who aged more slowly than the average person during my years of practicing medicine.
Their physiology does not recognize the aging process.
They retain the characteristics and appearance of youth late into their life.
I think it is related to several key factors.
The first and most important factor in my opinion is attitude.
If a person wakes up already knowing the day is going to be bad and the frown is affixed to the face then the aging process has a chance to work its magic.
The jowl droops, the chin sags, the shoulders slump, the upper back rounds and the shuffle to the bathroom becomes the routine.
If on the other hand, one is excited to get up and already has determined the purpose in the new day, smiles, stretches, pulls the shoulders back and walks with anticipation then the aging process is reversed a few hours.
Another key factor: nutrition.
When a patient would ask me about a diet, I would half-seriously tell them, “If it tastes good, spit it out”.
A diet must consist of proper nutrition.
It should include high quality protein, complex carbohydrates, fruit, vegetables, grains, nuts and so on.
We all know what a good diet consists of, it just doesn’t taste as good as a diet loaded with sugar and fats.
It is much easier and more “rewarding” to eat doughnuts, chocolate milk, cookies and cold pizza.
Besides, you’ll do better tomorrow as the weight and the age pile on.
Next: exercise.
Many jobs no longer require strenuous activity. Frequently jobs are sedentary.
You feel it at the end of the day. You are drained. Your “Brain” actually hurts.
Muscles are set and resist uncoiling for the walk to the parking spot and some places even offer shuttles to your car.
Sit in the car, sit at home, sit for dinner (usually carry in or processed foods), sit in front of the TV and then struggle to the bed for the night.
The weight of inactivity is worse than gravity as far as aging is concerned.
A better suggestion, do some sort of exercise immediately after work and guess what, your energy level spikes and that “awful hunger” is no longer there.
Your step is quicker, your mind more keen.
Age has again retreated.
Bad habits can certainly wreck havoc on your life.
Smoking, excessive alcohol, too much sun all contribute to the aging process and will make you old years ahead of schedule.
Finally genetics helps.
I don’t pretend to understand the all of the intricacies of the genetic code, telomeres, the repair process, cellular aging, cellular suicide, all of the proteomics but in some people the difference of expression is profound.
As an example, a patient of mine still split his own firewood by hand at the age of one hundred. He lived in the same farm house he was born in and I never saw him when he wasn’t laughing.
His wife said he was like that from the day she met him.
He looked like a middle aged man with a full head of hair even as he passed one hundred and one.
He just didn’t age like other people.
So “Happy Birthday Sparta”.
May your “aging clock” always run slow and many, many thanks for helping the rest of us “slow” ours.