Is it possible to beat the process of aging?

In a word, no. Getting older is a fact of life, and unless you have access to magic, aging affects all of us. The thing is, we don’t have to allow this inevitable process to dampen our livelihoods and the ability to enjoy our lives to the fullest. Every adult in the world is susceptible to the effects of gravity on the body, except the astronauts in outer space. Since we’re all being pulled into the earth at the same rate, we’re all breaking down at the same rate, however with one major difference.

We often hear the question, “Why do I have this pain? Nobody else on my team has these problems, and we have the same job.” The key difference is lifestyle, of which work is just one aspect. The things we do in our lives can affect the rate at which our body breaks down. You can consider this break down due to wear and tear.

So obviously the best way to avoid wear and tear is to do less and take more rest, right? In theory, this sounds like a wonderful way to prevent your body from early degenerative changes. But in fact, science tells us a different story. Humans evolved as active organisms, with regular movement and a variety of foods as energy sources. We’re far from our hunter-gatherer days, but the lifestyle we’ve adapted to now has actually accelerated the damage we’re doing to our spines, discs, muscles, and joints.

Think of it as a spectrum from black to white. On the far, white end, we can talk about too much movement. Think of an intense body building regimen over a prolonged period of time. And on the other end, a very sedentary, couch potato lifestyle. On both of these extreme ends, degenerative change or wear and tear on the body is accelerated. This is to say, people who lay in the grey area between these two points tend to break down less quickly.

The distance between the two ends is actually fairly significant. It takes a lot of physical grinding to do too much, where your body gives up and breaks down. So, despite what most people think, activity is actually a preventative where it comes to degeneration. The most preventative thing we can do is to avoid the sedentary end, and exercise conscientiously, taking time to warm up and cool down, eat nutritiously and stay hydrated. Of course, kissing off the smokes, and keeping the cork on the bottle helps too.

One of the most helpful things you could do to prevent early degenerative change, live your life to its fullest, and truly allow your later years to be your golden years, is to have your spine maintained on a regular basis. Low back pain is the most common disability reported around the world, but also could be one of the most preventable. Chiropractic care works on this, by keeping the health of your spine at its optimum best. Removing stress, irritation, and preventing inflammation from building up within the bones and joints of your body can reap rewards long into the future.

Once we accept aging as an inevitable process, we can focus on how we can stay young, and fight through the rigors of life. We can’t stop from getting old, but getting old doesn’t have to be painful. See your chiropractor today, your older self will thank you.