Definition: Anti-Aging Therapy

Anti-aging addresses how to prevent, slow, or reverse the effects of aging and help people live longer, healthier, happier lives. It includes scientific research and applications in genetic engineering, tissue engineering, and other medical advances.nnThe anti-aging marketplace includes anti-aging psychology, e.g., coping skills for resiliently handling change, stress, and aging, nutrition, physical fitness, skin care, hormone replacements, vitamins, supplements, and herbs. Alternative medicine and holistic approaches have often been an incubator for approaches initially shunned by traditional medicine.nnHistorynAnti-aging pursuits date back at least to ancient Egypt. While the religion and pyramids focused on the afterlife, a lot of attention was given to herbs and remedies to promote beauty and longevity. Over the centuries scientists and alchemists tried to find cures and potions. These included drinking, eating, or injecting substances such as gold, testicles, and transplanting monkey gonads. Many cultures, such as India and China, developed long traditions of herbs, foods, diets, and health practices to foster anti-aging.nnThere are many legends of magic places that give life, e.g., Ponce de León’s search for the “Fountain of Youth.” In 1933 British novelist James Hilton’s book Lost Horizon described Shangri-la – an ageless paradise somewhere in the Himalayan mountains near the Tibet-China border. Despite Shangri-la being a fictional place, expeditions have tried to find it.nnGerontologists have tended to paint a bleak picture of aging being all downhill with increasing loss of skills, functions, and quality of life. Women’s movements leaders, e.g., Betty Friedan’s book The Fountain of Youth and books like Gail Sheehy’s Passages helped paint a more positive, generative template for aging.nnCurrent Anti-agingnNutrition has been an extremely controversial area in anti-aging medicine, with gurus offering a huge variety of diets to help people stay healthy and live longer. The diets are often contradictory. One of the few areas of consensus among nutritionists is the importance of keeping stable blood sugar levels, achieved in part by managing the glycemic indexes of food choices.nnSome fitness and longevity advocates love grueling sports and activities such as running marathons. This runs the risk of injuries and wear and tear on body parts such as knee joints. Some fitness experts focus on being healthy and fit enough and emphasize a balanced approach. This includes cardiovascular, strength, flexibility, balance, and posture – whether achieved through exercise or sports.nnResearchers continue to search for causes and cures for diseases. Tissue engineering is developing ways to grow new tissue, e.g., for burned skin or damaged heart muscle. Tissue engineering includes using stem cells to grow new tissue, organ transplants, and artificial tissue or organs. Nanotechnology, genetic research, and pharmaceutical research are all contributing as well.nnTraditional anti-aging medicine has tended to focus on age conscious consumer’s desires to look good, feel good, and live as long as possible through the use of hormone therapies, supplements, skin care treatments, and plastic surgery.nnSource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-aging