12 Ways To Challenge Aging and Boost Health Span

Aging is inevitable. Our bodies naturally decline in function as we get older. While we can’t magically reverse aging, we can work to slow the aging process to increase our health and lengthen our years.

“Health care has done an excellent job at reacting to disease. We find disease; we treat it. Longevity medicine is an alternative to that approach. It looks at early disease prevention and the sustained maintenance of wellness,” explains Matthew Rennels, DO. 

Dr. Rennels is a family medicine and sports medicine physician with ProMedica Physicians. He’s also the Medical Director at Icaria, Powered by ProMedica, a precision health and wellness center located in Toledo and serving the region. 

Icaria is named after one of the Blue Zones where people have a life expectancy that exceeds the average across the globe. Residents in these Blue Zones share common characteristics, such as having a wellness mindset, being physically active, following a Mediterranean diet, and having a focus on community.

While longevity is about adding years to your life, health span is about the quality of life, health and activity within those years.

“When we talk about longevity, I use the analogy of flattening the curve of the aging process,” says Dr. Rennels. “I think the first goal should be how to extend health span within the current life expectancy – to slow the rate of decline.”

According to Dr. Rennels, here are 12 ways to start slowing your aging and boosting your health span.

1. Develop a mindset of longevity.

“The first and most important step is to have a mindset focused on wellness. That means paying attention to the things that can lengthen your life and impact your health,” says Dr. Rennels. “Recognize you want to live better for longer and see it as a possibility. Think: I can and I will work towards that goal.”

With this goal in mind, you can start thinking about what you want out of your life and health. That purpose can inspire your workouts, make it easier to follow through on health commitments and help you find the resources you need to meet your longevity goals.

2. Build a relationship with your primary care provider.

Seeing your doctor for your annual wellness visit, at a minimum, is foundational to health span. Your doctor is your advocate in your day-to-day health. They can help assess your risk for certain diseases, help you develop healthier lifestyle habits and ensure that you’re getting the appropriate screenings and tests when needed.

3. Know your health risks for common diseases. 

According to Dr. Rennels, the top three threats to healthy aging include cardiovascular disease, cancer and neurologic disease. Make a plan to assess your risk for these. Risk factors may include your family health history, lifestyle factors and age. Your primary care provider can help by performing screenings during routine health exams to assess your heart and neurologic function.

4. Know your metabolic risks.

Metabolic risks are factors that relate to your risk for diabetes, heart disease and stroke, as well as other health conditions. These risk factors include your weight, blood sugar, insulin, glucose resistance and blood pressure. Metabolic risks often intensify other health risks.  Work with your doctor to determine your metabolic risk and how to improve your numbers if needed.

5. Discover your biological age and genetics.

Your chronological age can be counted by the number of birthdays you’ve celebrated. Your biological age, however, indicates how “old” your body is in terms of aging markers. When those two numbers don’t match up, it can provide insight into health and longevity.

“We’ve started to understand which variables in the body cause some individuals to have significant gap between their chronologic and biologic age,” explains Dr. Rennels. “It’s the combination of nature versus nurture. We’re measuring these observable characteristics to determine how genes are expressed based on extrinsic environmental factors.”

An individual’s DNA patterns, or genetic footprint, can shine light on how to address and manage health from a disease prevention standpoint.

6. Have healthy sleep habits.

Poor sleep has ties to heart disease and dementia. Sleep provides restoration and recovery for the body, but it’s a pattern that often needs to be established. If you have trouble sleeping through the night, getting out of bed to do something else may make it worse.

“Allow yourself the opportunity for six to eight hours of sleep per night,” suggests Dr. Rennels. “Sleep has a component of learned behavior. It’s like sleep training a young infant; sometimes the circadian rhythms are off and the sleep pattern is disrupted. You must allow yourself the opportunity to sleep and be patient with the process.”

7. Keep your stress at bay.

“There are clear correlations between stress and disease risk, but it’s too multi-factorial to say that stress causes heart disease or cancer, for example,” explains Dr. Rennels. “But stress is a distractor. It draws you away from the goals of achieving a longer health span and slowing the process of aging.”

Dr. Rennels recommends identifying your triggers and working on coping skills to manage them, or avoidance if that’s possible. Some triggers are unavoidable, but reducing stressors or improving coping as much as possible will help you better care for yourself.

8. Strengthen your bones and muscles.

Musculoskeletal health ensures that we’re still able to do the things we love as we age. Loss of muscle and bone density occurs naturally, but we can support musculoskeletal health with resistance training. Increasing the load on your muscles and bones with weights will encourage them to adapt and strengthen. Stronger muscle and bone tissue can improve body movement, function, endurance and balance.

9. Consider a preventive full-body MRI.

Preventive full-body MRIs are gaining in popularity because of their ability to detect medical conditions earlier, when they are often easier to treat. These MRI scans can screen for cancer throughout the body, and can assess brain, heart and organ health. Preventive MRIs are private pay, so talk with your primary care provider to determine if it’s right for you.

10. Have a healthy social network.

“All the Blue Zones have rich social interaction and community, which links to having a purpose,” says Dr. Rennels. “If you find your place in community, you are engaged and involved in that process. You have strong motivation to want to do the right things from a health standpoint to be there for the community. It’s pretty powerful in allowing for longevity and extending the health span.”

11. Know your caloric set point.

“Scientific evidence within nutrition is very hard to capture because of the high amount of variability. Every person’s gut health and ability to absorb various macronutrients and micronutrients is different,” explains Dr. Rennels. “But if we look at nutritional sciences, the primary point we know is that calories matter. Too many calories is bad; too few calories is bad.”

Dr. Rennels continues, “Everybody's caloric set point is different based upon their metabolic needs, how much they're exercising, how much they're sleeping, their body frame, their body type. An individual should work to determine what their caloric set point is, or the amount of calories that will cause them to be weight neutral. Depending on a person’s goals, it may be necessary to identify the amount of calories that will help them lose or gain weight.”

12. Eat enough protein.

“Protein can be argued as one of the primary macronutrients of importance,” says Dr. Rennels. “If inadequately consumed, we’re not able to build tissue, repair muscle, maintain muscle strength, regulate metabolism or have enough immune support.”

Protein can also help prevent muscle wasting, called sarcopenia, which is a common problem with aging. Because everybody has different needs when it comes to protein, it’s important to work with your primary care provider to determine the right amount for you. 

Lengthening Your Health Span 

While aging is inevitable, we have some control over how fast we age. Lengthen your health span by adopting a longevity mindset, addressing disease risk early and building a lifestyle that supports your wellness goals. Start with your primary care provider to discuss your health goals and set a plan for moving forward.