Learn how the process of autophagy affects aging
Are you looking for a way to rid your body of accumulated toxins? You may be interested to learn that your body already has its own natural process for detoxification, repair, and regeneration at a cellular level. It’s called autophagy.
Autophagy means “self-eating,” and refers to the various processes by which cells are cleared of toxins, dysfunctional proteins, and damaged cell components such as mitochondria. Autophagy also takes care of dead or diseased cells, helping to recycle these old parts into new, healthy cells or else use them for energy.
Benefits of Autophagy
The purpose of autophagy is to keep the cells in your body working efficiently. The greater the autophagy taking place, the fewer damaged and disarrayed cells there will be.
Autophagy can:
- Slow the aging process
- Reduce inflammation
- Improve immune response
- Remove pathogens like bacteria and viruses
- Keep stem cells healthy
- Prevent cancer
- Remove proteins associated with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and other neurodegenerative conditions
- Remove damaged mitochondria without killing the cell
- Prevent unnecessary cell death
- Reduce rate of telomere shortening (longer telomeres are associated with longevity)
How to Activate Autophagy
Autophagy tends to decrease as you get older, causing various cells in the body stop working optimally, which is part of the reason signs and symptoms of aging to appear. To promote longevity, it’s important to keep the autophagy process working as efficiently as possible in your body. Fortunately, there are many different ways to promote autophagy:
Exercise: Exercise can stimulate both autophagy and the generation of new mitochondria in cells. This means you get better removal of damaged mitochondria through autophagy, as well as the new replacement mitochondria needed to promote longevity. Experts recommend 150 to 450 minutes of exercise per week, with about 30 percent of this time spent on high-intensity exercises.
Fasting: Intermittent fasting can not only help boost autophagy, but also provide additional protection to your mitochondria. One possible fasting schedule would be to eat all your meals between 8 am and 4 pm, so that you fast for 16 hours each day. Fasting affects five molecular pathways that activate autophagy.
Nutrition: Vitamin D, caffeine, green tea, reservatrol, and phytosubstances like soy products can all boost autophagy by activating or inhibiting various molecular pathways and mechanisms. You may also want to consider adopting a high-fat, low-carb diet that includes moderate protein. This will result in nutritional ketogenesis, which helps promote autophagy.
Want to Learn More About Longevity?
At Renew Youth, we have a variety of products and treatments designed to help promote better aging, to not only enhance longevity but make sure you’re enjoying every year to the fullest. To learn more, please contact us at 800-859-7511 for a free no-hassle consultation.