I was born in 1951 and from that year until now no one in the United States has officially died of old age because state and federal agencies updated the standard list of contributing and underlying causes of death. “Old age” was dropped from the list in 1951.
Despite not having to worry about officially dying of old age I have still been acutely aware of the impact aging has had on my life. While it’s a lot easier to describe aging than to define it the fact remains, the symptoms of aging are both subtle and obvious. When I was a 19 year old athlete I was immortal and indestructible.
Things changed…
Of course we don’t all age at the same rate. Our clocks tick at different speeds. When I turned 40 I began to explore the question, “Is there anything that could reduce the rate I was aging?” Of course there were lots of theories and opinions, most of which were conflicting.
Honestly, at first, I was skeptical, and it hardly seemed worth pursuing. As I read more and more about natural HGH enhancement, I became fascinated, if not obsessed. Researchers agree that if we were able to maintain our body as it is when we were eleven - when our healing capacity is at its maximum - we could live for an estimated 1,200 years. Well, I knew I couldn’t go back to being eleven but I could take a close look at what’s occurring at the cellular level in an eleven year old physiology.
I’m a product of my daily choices…
Research article after research article pointed to the fact that my daily choices were determining my rate of aging and life span. In fact, current wisdom indicates that the sum of my daily decisions equals about 70 percent of the factors that determine my rate of aging and life span. 70%
Human Growth Hormone
In 1990 while I was an adjunct professor at the University of Oregon I discovered, quite by accident, HGH (human growth hormone). A friend in the human physiology lab brought up the subject over lunch one day and went on and on about the possibilities it had. He told me there was a flurry of activity in labs across the developed world investigating this new magic elixir.
I’ll also never forget his statement, “There are no guarantees, it could be dangerous.” Actually he was talking about the pharmacological injected form of HGH.
It took me all of 3 seconds to make my mind up about this method of slowing my aging… Forget It!
Altering my hormonal status…
Truth was hormones (HGH), or the lack of, were exerting a dominant influence on my body composition and aging but I was simply not willing to inject HGH and take the risk. I’m not an endocrinologist but I do know that growth hormone decline is not inevitable and can be reversed, naturally.
Studies show that old pituitary somatotrophe cells (the cells that produce growth hormone) are capable of releasing as much growth hormone as young somatotrophe cells, if adequately stimulated.
Actually, my growth hormone production had began to fall-off long before I had began to “age” in the conventional sense of the word. My daily growth hormone production was declining by about 14% per decade, so that by sixty years of age my growth hormone output would have been less than 50% of what it was when I was 19.
I took control of my aging…
Once I had a more complete understanding of the physiological mechanism responsible for HGH production I began a program of natural HGH production/optimization utilizing diet, exercise and HGH supplementation. One of the first things I started to do was monitor my circulating growth hormone levels to get an idea of exactly where I was.
What I found interesting was that when my first blood test came back and I met with my physician she looked at the results and said you’re fine (normal). I asked, “what does normal mean?” She said, “normal for your age group.” I then pointedly asked, “what if the entire age group is low?” She responded, “well… it’s just part of getting older.” - Wrong Answer…
Not that I don’t trust my doc but as Mark Twain wrote. “There are more old drunks than there are old doctors.“
Needless to say, making the right choices has increased the quality of my life and has indeed reduced the rate at which I’m aging.
What I am NOT doing…
- I am not using a needle to put HGH into my body.
- I am not exposing my body to dangerous unmanageable levels of growth hormone.
What I AM doing…
- I use a supplement to help mimic the growth hormone signaling and feedback mechanism in my endocrine system.
- Because it’s handled endogenously (internally) my body uses its own hormonal thermostat to regulate growth hormone levels which ultimately means my body keeps growth hormone at very safe and manageable levels.
- I enjoy the benefits of “normal” growth hormone levels.
