Nature does not like inaction. At the same time, nature discourages and punishes excess of anything.

Your behaviour, too, can lead to premature ageing. Excess accelerates ageing, moderation steadies the pace.

Let us now consider behaviour. If any aspect of your behaviour is in excess of what is considered natural, natural effects are activated and you begin to age in advance of your years. Your excess activates the processes of premature ageing.

What are the various ways in which your behaviour can be so much in access that you begin to age prematurely?

• Excessive sleeping during daytime and at odd hours:

Many people do not take adequate sleep at night, either by going to bed late or getting up early. This thing leads to an Ageing. Seven to nine hours of sleep is compulsory daily, but many people go to bed late or get up early because they say they have ‘other things to do’. The ‘other things’ include distractions like reading, watching TV, playing video games, talking on the telephone, etc. Set a fixed sleeping time and fixed wake-up time. Go to bed early. Finish eating meals two to three hours before bedtime. Regular exercise offers multiple benefits for sound sleep at night. Exercise also gives you more daytime energy and keeps your thinking sharp. Getting enough sleep at night will help you function better during the day.

• Excessive lust or indulgence in sexual activity:

Excessive sex strains and taxes the body, making the person look worn out and haggard leads to premature ageing as it weakens the body’s natural immunity, damages tissues, nerves and joints, causes muscular and nervous pain and promotes infection and inflammation. It can lead to severe damage to brain cells and parasympathetic nerves in the liver, lungs, adrenal glands, heart, blood vessels and some other vital body systems. It can even lead to hair loss and baldness.

Read also : Common SYMPTOMS OF AGEING

• Excessive indulgence in alcohol:

It takes your body one hour to process one unit of alcohol. Psychological and physical dependence on alcohol can occur. Tolerance gradually increases, so the more you drink on a regular basis the more you will need to reach the same state. Excessive use of alcohol can cause illnesses such as liver damage, breast cancer, heart disease and stomach ulcers. It can lead to alcohol poisoning, which could put you in a coma or even kill you. Your appearance may suffer if you drink too much. Not only is alcohol high in calories, making you gain weight, it has also been linked to premature skin ageing too. As you get older, your body is less able to process alcohol and you may find that the time it takes you to recover from a drinking session is longer than it was when you were younger.

• Excessive exercise:

According to Ayurveda, one should exert only up to 50 per cent of one’s capacity; anything in excess of this for a prolonged period of time can lead to many diseases and premature ageing. You have touched 50 per cent of your capacity when you start sweating under the arms, on the forehead and on the chest; this is the time to stop exercising. This 5000-years-old finding of Ayurveda has been corroborated by the Cooper Institute of Aerobic Research in Dallas, Texas, USA. The institute reported that exercising beyond 60 per cent of one’s maximum heart rate for more than four hours a week leads to a significant increase in the amount of harmful free radicals which damage the body. So, if you want health benefits and longevity from exercise, you must exercise below 60 per cent of your maximum heart rate. The maximum heart rate = 220 minus your age in years.

• Excessive fear and anxiety:

Many people live in fear all the time. For example, some persons are constantly afraid of or alarmed by outside noise. High anxiety is linked to signs of faster aging. High levels of anxiety might really make you age faster. Telomeres generally shorten as we age, and among people of the same age, shortened telomeres have been linked to an increased risk of cancers, heart disease, dementia and overall risk of death. Telomeres are the caps at the end of each strand of DNA that protect our chromosomes, like the plastic tips at the end of shoelaces. Without the coating, shoelaces become frayed until they can no longer do their job, just as without telomeres, DNA strands become damaged and our cells can’t do their job. It has been proven scientifically that we can help to restore telomere length or at least slow the loss of telomere length by reducing our stress levels.

Seeing Off:-

To repeat, nature has its own timings and rhythms and ways – and all these put together function harmoniously to dictate the pace of your mind and your body. You are at risk of premature ageing when your excesses clash with the relaxed and rejuvenating pace of nature. Nature’s track is neither fast nor slow; the natural track is a comfortable, pleasant and healthy zone in between these two extremes for healthy life.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

In Ayurveda, ageing is known as ‘Jara’, and Jara is divided in two parts – Akal Jara and Kalaj Jara.

Akal Jara means premature ageing. You can observe that many college students, sometimes even school students, have graying hair. Also, you will not find the glow of youth in many of these young faces. A few students even look a bit like old persons. How often do you see 30-year-old who appear to be 50, or 50-year-old who appear to be 60? This is called premature ageing. This early appearance of the signs of ageing – before the actual onset of old age, is called Akal Jara.

Kalaj Jara refers to ageing that starts at the appropriate age, that is, the appearance is consistent with the age. A 40-year-old appears to be 40, perhaps even younger.

Also Read: What are Symptoms of Ageing

There are several factors that cause premature ageing. One important factor is an improper diet. Some diets and foods are known to cause premature ageing. A few examples:

• Sour food
• Salty and pungent tasting food
• Excessive consumption of alkaline and dry foods
• Excessive consumption of dry meats
• Excessive consumption of dry vegetables
• Insufficient intake of micro nutrients like magnesium and zinc
• Eating harmful rice varieties
• Liquid and calorie free diet
• Excessive consumption of  incompatible foods

We will discuss later how many diets and foods can be very incompatible with your constitution and therefore very unsuitable for you.

With or without the above factors, one major culprit behind premature ageing is untimely eating – eating at crazy hours and unscheduled times. We will deal with this culprit in detail in a future blog. It deserves a blog of its own!

About MAHC Clinic & Hospital:

MAHC Clinic is one of it’s kind of Anti Ageing Clinic where people can take various Anti Ageing Treatments in form of Ayurvedic Herbs, Panchakarma treatment. MAHC Hospital is in residence Anti Ageing Centre with accommodation facility.

You can stop premature ageing,

And then grow gracefully and productively!

Before we go any further, I would like to remind you about my earlier blog: “What is Ageing” in which I pointed out the difference between ageing in a healthy way and ageing prematurely.

As I said earlier, ageing in a healthy way is what happens when you follow a healthy lifestyle that does not violate the rhythms of nature’s clock and calendar. Premature ageing is what happens when your lifestyle is unhealthy and violates nature’s clock and calendar and rhythms.

Healthy ageing is a natural and graceful and automatic process which shows that you are a vibrant human being who is growing old appropriately. You should not even bother to stop healthy ageing, for it shows that you are alive and well.

As far as premature ageing is concerned, it can be halted – and sometimes even reversed – if you realise that you have lived wrongly and you then take corrective steps. It is a faulty lifestyle that is usually the cause behind premature ageing. If you change the lifestyle, you can slow the pace of ageing, and perhaps even totally turn the clock back to its normal pace.

Does Ayurveda have the answers to ageing? Yes, it does have the answers.

If you are ageing in a healthy way, Ayurveda helps you to stay on the proper course. It warns you about the obstacles ahead, and it prepares you to resist the obstacles and overcome them.

If you are ageing prematurely, Ayurveda makes you see the flaws in your lifestyle, it helps you to overcome all or part of the harm that your lifestyle may have done to you, and it strengthens your body to ‘flush out’ its harmful toxins. 

I repeat, yes, the principles of Ayurveda can help you to slow down the process of ageing and restore physical and mental strength. Up to a certain extent, Rasayan therapy can prevent the consequences of ageing. Up to 80 % of age related diseases can be slowed down. 

In 1986 we carried out research on ageing in Fairfield, Iowa, USA. Our study observed the rejuvenation effect of the Panchakarma programme on more than 5,000 people. We wanted to determine the effect of this programme on the biological age of each participant.  

Chronological age is the number of years a person has been alive. Biological age is different. We often see people who are of the same age, but appear to be of different ages. We wonder why they appear to be of different ages even though their geographical and social conditions are similar. The reason behind this is that people of the same chronological age can have different biological ages. The biological age represents the changes in the physical structure of the body as well as the changes in the motor skills and sensory awareness. Biological age corresponds to the functional status of our bodies compared to standard age patterns. 

Now, let us get back to our study. A 50-year-old person who went through a three-week special rejuvenation Panchakarma programme began it with a biological age of 40 years, and measured 28 years after the programme. Every person in the study reduced his or her biological age by 12 to 15 years.

About Author: 

Dr. Dinesh Pandya is one of renowned Ayurvedic Doctor in India. He is pioneer of Ayurvedic Hospital in Vadodara – Maharshi Atreya Health Centre. It is one of best rated Ayurvedic Hospital in India. He also runs Panchakarma Clinic in heart of Vadodara city, which is among best Ayurvedic Clinic in Gujarat.  It is well known Panchakarma Therapy Centre, where one can get Ayurvedic Treatment for their ailments with holistic approach. Ayurvedic Treatment is done with Genuine Ayurvedic Herbs, Ayurvedic Food, Ayurveda Yoga sessions, Knowledge sessions on various topics related to Ayurveda, Panchakarma, Vata, Pitta, Kapha, Ayurvedic Nutrition etc.

What is Ageing?

Ageing can simply refer to the passage of time that indicates the biological process of growing older in a deleterious sense.

As we said earlier, ageing depends on the clock and the calendar. Your health depends on you. Your health can deteriorate with age and, yes, it can even improve with age.

All plants and animals, including human beings, are subject to the passage of time. So the years add on, inevitably.

Common Symptoms of Ageing

Menopause:

Menopause is a common symptom of women in old age.

Balding:

• Male baldness pattern and female baldness pattern are different.
• In males, receding of the hairline and the thinning of hair start from the crown. The hairline gradually moves backward (recedes) and forms an ‘M’ shape. Eventually the hair becomes finer, shorter, and thinner, and creates a U-shaped pattern around the sides of the head.
• In females, hair thinning is different from the male baldness pattern. In females: hair thins mainly on the top and crown of the scalp, and usually starts with a widening through the centre hair parting; the front hairline remains the same; the hair loss rarely progresses to total or near total baldness as may be seen in men; the graying of hair in old age is due to lower production of melanin in the hair roots and new hair grows without pigment.

Skin Changes:

• Wrinkles and sagging skin.
• The outer skin layer (epidermis) becomes thin, even though the number of cell layers remain unchanged.
• The number of pigment-containing cells (melanocytes) decreases, but the remaining melanocytes increase in size.
• Skin appears thinner, more pale, and clear.
• Large pigmented spots called age spots may appear in sun-exposed areas.
• Sebaceous glands produce less oil as you age.
• Women gradually produce less oil beginning after menopause. This can make skin dry and itchy.
• The subcutaneous fat layer become thin, reducing its normal insulation and padding which increases the risk of skin injury and reduces your ability to maintain body temperature.

Slight Mental Decline:

• Slight loss of mental acuity is normal in old age. It may increase gradually in some people and may develop into a condition like Alzheimer’s.
• There may be slight memory loss. We often observe that some old persons forget what they want to tell us.

Eye Changes:

• After you pass the milestone age of 40, you may notice that it is more difficult to focus on objects up close because of presbyopia. This is a perfectly normal loss of focusing ability due to the hardening of the lens inside your eyes.
• There may be itching in the eyes and the eyes may be dry.
• There may be cataract formation.
• There may be difficulty in reading.

Hearing Difficulty:

• Hearing loss can affect your life in many ways. You may miss out on many things in conversations with friends and family members.
• On the telephone you may find it hard to hear what the caller is saying.
• Sometimes hearing problems can make you feel embarrassed, upset, and lonely.
• It is easy to withdraw when you cannot follow a conversation at the dinner table or in a restaurant.
• It is also easy for friends and family to think that you are confused or uncaring when the problem may in fact be that you just cannot hear well.

Gynecological Problems:

• In women the vagina may become dry and itchy.

Wisdom: The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young.

Wisdom comes from the brain slowing down in old age, thus making elderly people less impulsive and less likely to be driven by emotion. An older person is also less likely than a younger person to respond thoughtlessly to negative emotional stimuli. This happens because the brain of an old person is less dependant on dopamine.

Diagnosis:

Maharshi Atreya Health Centre (MAHC) is one stop solution to all age related and lifestyle diseases that are commonplace today. MAHC a comprehensive approach towards the treatment of Ageing– timely ageing as well as premature ageing that belongs to bringing real Anti-Ageing that is no longer skin deep!

Let us take a look at some of our conditions for which our lifestyle – not our age – is the guilty party.

• Medical Emergencies.
• Social Circumstances.
• Loss of Physical Strength.
• Poor oral Health, such as dry Mouth and Defective Occlusion.
• Uncomfortable Dentures.
• Mental problems, such as Anger and Depression.
• Functional problems, such as the inability to walk or see or Hear properly.
• Indigestion, perhaps leading to related problems like Constipation.
• Loss of Memory.
• Vulnerability, perhaps as a result of some Disability.
• Financial instability, perhaps caused by decreasing income.

Whether we are young or old, our common sense – and our conscience – will suggest to us that all of the above are not necessarily inevitable problems. Perhaps, we have sometimes lived carelessly and invited the problems into our lives.

Common sense helps us to realise that it is not the years that have brought the problems. The problems are what we have added to the years!

Whatever be the cause, the problems can be dealt with. As we go along, we will see how the problems can be avoided, how they can be handled and how they can often be defeated, how Ayurvedic Therapy, Ayurvedic Medicines, concept of Ayurvedic Nutrition, Ayurvedic Diet plays role in maintaining optimum health and delaying ageing. How Ayurvedic Health Centre like MAHC can help you achieve the goal to be healthy and happy. The solution lies in a commonsensical way of life, the way of Ayurved. Age is an asset to be cherished, not a liability to be burdened with.

Ageing can simply refer to the passage of time that indicates the biological process of growing older in a deleterious sense.

As we said earlier, ageing depends on the clock and the calendar. Your health depends on you. Your health can deteriorate with age and, yes, it can even improve with age.

All plants and animals, including human beings, are subject to the passage of time. So the years add on, inevitably.

Actually, human beings are not afraid of Ageing. They are afraid of the diseases and physical conditions which they believe – not very correctly – are associated with the passage of time. They assume that our immune system, our ability to fight off certain germs and viruses, is hampered as we grow older. They worry or are depressed that their ears, eyes, mind, hands and feet will not work properly as they age. They are nervous that their basic senses (vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell) as well as different organs and parts of the body will suffer from ageing. They may suffer from high blood pressure, Parkinson’s disease, constipation, etc., conditions which may cause them to live in constant fear.

Yet, it is necessary to realize that diseases are not always a function of time. Ill health is often a function of how we spend our time, how we behave in self-destructive ways, how we fail to routinely ‘overhaul and maintain and repair’ our minds and bodies.

By and large, diseases do not come to us voluntarily; we actually invite them, welcome them in, and then dislike them.

We will see later how we can easily close the door so that diseases do not enter. Yes, we can shut the door on diseases. In such a way that not only do we grow old with time, but we also grow old gracefully, in style.

Next, we will examine some of the other conditions for which we blame age instead of blaming our lifestyle.

ABOUT AUTHOR:

Dr. Dinesh Pandya is one of renowned Ayurvedic Doctor in India. He is pioneer of Ayurvedic Hospital in Vadodara – Maharshi Atreya Health Centre. It is one of best rated Ayurveda Hospital in India. He also runs Panchakarma Clinic in heart of Vadodara city, which is among best Ayurvedic Clinic in Gujarat.  It is well known Panchakarma Therapy Centre, where one can get Ayurvedic Treatment for their ailments with holistic approach. Ayurvedic Treatment is done with Genuine Ayurvedic Herbs, Ayurvedic Food, Ayurveda Yoga sessions, Knowledge sessions on various topics related to Ayurveda, Panchakarma, Vata, Pitta, Kapha, Ayurvedic Nutrition etc.

Your age is in your mind, in your habits, in your lifestyle, in your food, in your relationships with your environment, in your responses to the people and events around you. Your age is in the harmony and balance that you achieve with the world of which you are a part. Your age is in your hands. Entirely.

You can look and feel older than what the calendar shows. You can even look and feel younger than what the calendar shows. If you live unwisely, you will age faster than the years. If you live wisely, you will age gracefully and prove the calendar wrong.

What is this wise living? The answer to this question is revealed in the ancient Indian medical science of Ayurveda.

Ayurveda may be ancient in origin, but its truths are as timeless and as relevant today as they were in the past.

If you follow the way of Ayurveda, the clock will move faster than you – that is, you will look and feel and function like a much younger person. If you violate the way of Ayurveda, you will move faster than the clock – that is, you will look and feel and function like a much older person.

Remember, ageing is inevitable, but what matters is whether you are ageing well or ageing badly. If you are healthy and happy and fully functional, age is only a number. You can throw away the clock and the calendar.

But what exactly is Ayurveda? It is a science that helps you to live life fully, the way it is meant to be lived. It helps you to be both healthy and happy, at the same time. Then, for all practical purposes, your age will not matter to you or to those around you. This may appear to be impossible, but it is very much possible.

So, the calendar shows only your chronological age. Your real age – that is the age you look and feel – is determined by how you live, that is, your lifestyle.

We will next examine the close connection between lifestyle and ageing.

About Author:

Dr. Dinesh Pandya is one of renowned Ayurvedic Doctor in India. He is pioneer of Ayurvedic Hospital in Vadodara – Maharshi Atreya Health Centre. It is one of best rated Ayurveda Hospital in India. He also runs Panchakarma Clinic in heart of Vadodara city, which is among best Ayurvedic Clinic in Gujarat.  It is well known Panchakarma Therapy Centre, where one can get Ayurvedic Treatment for their ailments with holistic approach. Ayurvedic Treatment is done with Genuine Ayurvedic Herbs, Ayurvedic Food, Ayurveda Yoga sessions, Knowledge sessions on various topics related to Ayurveda, Panchakarma, Vata, Pitta, Kapha, Ayurvedic Nutrition etc.