The REAL Fountain Of Youth! Finally Discovered... [Science Of Wellness]

(The following article is condensed from several lessons in the ground-breaking Science Of Wellness home-study program from LifeStyle Fitness Personal Training.)

You needn’t travel to some far-off land, or battle bugs and jungles to find the secret to a long, healthy, and active life. Because the real “Fountain of Youth” is MUCH closer to home!

I’m going to lay out a simple 6-pronged approach to resisting the effects of aging – six “spouts” on this fountain of youth, if you will. And by taking control of (and responsibility for) each of them – increasing some and decreasing others as we discuss below – you can add both “years to your life and life to your years”. They might not keep you “eternally young” ... but you CAN look and feel far more youthful than your years suggest.

Here then are the six primary factors in winning that age-old battle with aging:

Sleep

Oddly enough, even when they know they’re not getting enough of it, most people have no idea how much DAMAGE a lack of sleep is doing to their body.

Sleep – that good, sound, right-through-the-night kind of sleep – is when your body not only repairs itself from all you put it through, but rebuilds (if all the nutritional “building blocks” are available) to a slightly higher level than you were at before. This “super-compensation” process is your body’s way of ensuring that whatever it had to struggle with today, it can just take in stride the next time.

The amount of sleep you get – along with the quality – is a critical factor in regulating and maintaining your body’s immunity, hormone production and balance, strength and energy levels, digestion, fat-burning, and more.

And every one of these things has a tremendous effect on how you look and feel – tomorrow, and for years to come. (Lack of, or poor quality, sleep also interferes with some of the other aging factors discussed below.)

Stress

Heck, even if you didn’t live one day longer for having learned to manage stress, and reduce its effects … you’d increase the QUALITY of your life so much that it would FEEL like you’d lived a longer, richer life.

Of course, it’s not the stress itself that causes problems – it’s your RESPONSE to stress. (Or your LACK of response, in some cases.) For one thing, a poor stress response can kick your adrenal glands into high gear, resulting in high levels of circulating cortisol – the “fight or flight” hormone – which, in turn, increases inflammation, insulin production, insulin resistance, suppressed growth hormone production, and poor sleep.

A healthy response to stress, on the other hand, leads to physical, and emotional strength and growth. In fact, it’s the ONLY thing that prompts us to adapt and grow … in the same way that a plant’s stem grows stronger in response to the stress of bending in the breeze. (This is why many long-stemmed plants, when grown in a sheltered spot, fall to the ground or snap in two.)

There are many factors that can interfere with your ability to manage stress – like smoking, over-training, poor food choices, lack of sleep (there it is again), alcohol, certain medications. And, of course, there are just as many that are helpful – like emotional anchoring (a Neuro-Linguistic Programming technique), meditation, and paying close attention to those previously-mentioned interfering factors.

(The Science Of Wellness program includes an extensive Adrenal Screening Questionnaire that helps you determine whether or not your adrenals are being over-worked on a regular basis, and whether you have a problem with excessive cortisol levels. There is also an abbreviated version available for free. See our website for more info’ on this life-enhancing tool.)

Insulin

This hormone – responsible for stabilizing blood sugar and storing fat – is a bit of a “two-edged sword” because your body needs it in small amounts … but over-production of Insulin (or insensitivity to it) can have DEADLY consequences like diabetes, heart attacks, obesity, an increased risk of developing certain cancers, and an increase in the speed of aging.

Fortunately, there are a number of steps you can take to moderate the release of Insulin into your bloodstream, AND boost your body’s sensitivity to it (so production gets shut down when it SHOULD) … including certain herbs (like fenugreek and bergamot), spices (such as cinnamon), and nutritional supplements (Omega-3, Co-Q10, and chromium) which you can use to help maintain optimal Insulin health.

Since the three main triggers of insulin over-production and resistance are carbohydrates, stress, and inflammation … the first step in managing insulin levels is reducing your carbohydrate consumption, stress response, and inflammation levels!

And the Science of Wellness Insulin Reset Program is an excellent, easy-to-follow system for increasing your sensitivity to insulin and lowering the production and release of excess amounts into your bloodstream. (See our website for how you can get a copy of the Insulin Reset Program. Just use the link at the end of this article.)

Inflammation

A leading cause (even THE cause, according to some experts) of heart disease, stroke, and other major health concerns, inflammation’s impact on how quickly you age cannot be denied.

Inflammation, in and of itself, is neither good nor bad. In the proper amount, it’s a necessary part of our feedback and recovery processes. But when it becomes excessive – as it is for MOST people – then it can wreak havoc throughout your body, and lead to such horrors as heart disease, joint problems, slow recovery from injury, and chronic pain (lower back pain being one of the most common examples).

Inflammation can cause cortisol, the stress hormone, levels to rise … which causes an increase in blood sugar, and then insulin (which, in turn, increases inflammation). Repeated and acute exposure to this process can, over time, lead to insulin resistance. Inflammation can also interfere with your thyroid working effectively, cause food cravings, and lead to problems with body composition and body fat levels.

And, as is so often the case, some simple changes to your diet and lifestyle – not drugs – are the key to managing inflammation and its effects.

Reducing (or even eliminating, for some people) dairy and gluten from your diet will have a tremendous lowering effect on inflammation levels … as will supplementing with selenium and Omega-3.

Sugar

The average American eats more than 150 pounds of sugar every year … 16 million adults in the US are diagnosed as diabetic (including 8% of all men and women over the age of 20) … and around 30% of the world's population is obese.

And a huge proportion of those last two statistics are the direct result of the first one!

Sugar raises blood glucose levels … which causes additional production of insulin … which … well, we’ve covered that throughout this article!

You might never eliminate it from your diet entirely (certainly the food processing industry has no intention of letting you) – and it’s not really necessary. But it’s safe to say the closer you come to that goal, the longer and healthier will be your life (all other factors being equal).

To that end, READ LABELS! Don’t look just for the word “sugar” – watch for various types of “syrup”, and any ingredient ending in “ose” (like glucose, maltose, and dextrose). And the absolute WORST of all – high fructose corn syrup!

Growth Hormone

With its ties to skin quality, protein synthesis, reduced abdominal fat, better sleep, wrinkle reduction (in your skin, not your clothes), increased bone mass, and more … Growth Hormone (or more accurately its converted form “Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1”) affects almost every cell in your body, and truly is “the hormone of youth”.

Sufficient levels of growth hormone can lead to increased metabolism, faster recovery from exercise and exertion, improved sleep quality, better skin with fewer wrinkles, increased bone mass, improved cholesterol levels, stronger immunity, increased energy and mood, and more…

…while low levels can result in a slower metabolism (and the resultant weight gains), age spots, thinning and greying hair, diminished s*x drive, poor reflexes, and more frequent colds and flu.

Low growth hormone levels can be caused by such things as excessive inflammation, high insulin resistance, high blood sugar, or a diet low in protein and high in carbohydrates or processed food.

Obviously, you can increase growth hormone production by reversing the above causes of low levels – in other words, by managing inflammation, increasing your insulin sensitivity, avoiding sugars and excessive carbs, and getting plenty of protein (especially in the morning). Intense exercise also increases growth hormone … and managing stress is essential.

“The Whole” – MUCH greater than the sum of its parts!

Of course, just as every part of your body is in some way connected to other parts – whether physically, functionally, or both – there is overlap and interactivity between the various factors that influence “eternal youth”, as you’ve likely deduced from the article, already.

One example of this is the way insufficient levels of growth hormone interfere with sleep … and inadequate sleep reduces production of growth hormone. In the same way, excessive insulin can cause a rise in cortisol levels … which can bring on additional inflammation … which, in turn, can cause over-production of insulin!

That’s why you can’t just pick ONE thing to pay attention to … while letting the rest slide. But when you take measures to boost your body’s production of Growth Hormone, ensure you get adequate sleep (in terms of both amount and quality), bring down inflammation levels, increase your sensitivity to Insulin (while reducing its production), limit your consumption of sugars in all forms (sometimes severely), and manage stress…

…you’re almost guaranteed a long and healthy life!

You’ll find recommendations for additional foods and supplements that can help you win the fight against aging in the breakthrough home study program The Science Of Wellness – the most up-to-date and powerful resource for living a healthier, happier life.

Created by Andy McGlynn and the management team at LifeStyle Fitness Personal Training, this course is ideal for anyone wanting to gain that “edge” – whether you’re a Personal Trainer or other fitness professional, a competitive athlete, or just someone who wants the ultimate in health and wellness wisdom.

Visit the Science Of Wellness website today: