Dr. Paul Savage, a longevity physician, breaks down 12 causes of aging including DNA damage, telomere shortening, toxic exposures, hormone deficiencies, metabolic dysregulation, and immune dysfunction. He frames these as targets for prevention and treatment, aligning with recent research on how we age.
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Hi, I'm Dr. Paul Savage, the founder and CEO of MD Lifespan. I've specialized in longevity medicine for over 25 years, and I've developed a list highlighting the 12 ways we age. It's actually pretty amazing because In January of 2023, a group of renowned researchers published a landmark article article outlining the 12 causes of aging in the esteemed journal Cell. Their list and my list were almost exactly the same, only mine's a little easier to understand to the average person who isn't a scientist, and I want to share it with you. Cancer, viruses, environmental toxins and radiation, among other things to the human body, all negatively impact and damage DNA. That damage actually leads to a change in our DNA structure, making it unstable and more likely to develop into cancerous cells. Genetics as we age, so does our DNA. Throughout our DNA, you can find telomeres, which protect the DNA. And when the telomeres weaken and die off, our lifespan does as well.
Toxins can be environmental, Toxins can be mold, Toxins can be heavy metal. And unfortunately, now we have a lot of toxins that are petroleum based and they're called forever chemicals. These are things that get into our body that weren't supposed to be there. And these toxins poison you. They poison the environment that your cells live in and make the cell unable to survive. So treating toxins both in prevention and eradicating them from your body is essential if you want to live a long life.
Hormone deficiencies Our hormones are what power us to be healthy and robust. When their potency diminishes, you may experience exhaustion, muscle mass and strength. Depletion shifts in your mood and your brain is less sharp.
Cognitive decline. As your brain ages, it loses the ability to perform certain tasks, resulting in reduced memory capacity, weaker motor skills, and slower cognitive processes.
Nutritional failure, age, medications, trauma and infections all lead to our body producing less stomach acid, fewer enzymes, and we essentially have slower digestion.
Metabolism changes over time. Your body responds less effectively to processed carbohydrates and refined sugars until it can no longer tolerate them. This increases insulin resistance and high blood sugar.
Oxidative stress, that's a real kicker for aging. That will take you down in a minute. What happens is you actually burn everything. That's what oxidation is, is oxygen added to things and they burn. And when you burn, you set off free radicals. And those free radicals damage proteins and DNAs themselves and every message in your body. And you have to be aware of the causes of oxidative stress as well as doing everything that you can do to quell oxidative stress to keep your body running as the fine tuned machine that you need it to be.
Heart Disease Increased blood pressure, fats building up in the arteries, and hardening of the arteries are all very common as we age and they all increase the risk of developing heart disease.
Immune Dysfunction A weakened immune system puts us all at increased risk of infections, cancers, many different things. We can't develop the proper response without a strong immune system.
The Microbiome the microbiome changing increases the body's inflammatory load and contributes to many of the age related diseases such as Alzheimer's, osteoporosis, cancer and Parkinson's. Chronic inflammation creates so many problems in the body. Weight gain, joint pain, muscle pain, fatigue, insomnia, depression, anxiety, mood disorders, and so many more. And all of these problems lead to bigger problems that ultimately lead to a shortened lifespan. We have multiple therapy options for each one of these 12 causes of aging. I actually spent months writing all the information on our website going into each one of these in full detail. Me, I wrote it and I'm very proud of it. I did it because I care and I want to educate you and everyone on the 12 causes of aging so I can help you and everyone live a longer and healthier life.
