- When you’re getting older, not only the physical appearance that begin to change, but many internal organs also begin to deteriorate. Therefore if you want to slow down the aging process to stay bright and healthy, you need to take care of these vital internal organs as well.
1. Blood vessel
When young, blood vessels were like water pipes that are still clear and free of sediment deposits. But eating unhealthy foods such as consuming bad cholesterol (LDL – Low Density Lipoprotein) on a regular basis, including triglycerides which will build up in the arteries’ wall. Meanwhile, human’s body will not allow the presence of foreign objects, therefore, it produces white cells to eliminate these bad fats, causing the artery walls to be rough, narrowing the path and reducing blood flow which is the symptoms of Peripheral Arterial Disease, consequently, the heart has to work harder to work harder to pump the blood to various organs in the body, resulting in abnormal blood pressure which is the cause of many deadly diseases.
Apart from bad fats, consuming large amounts of sugars and simple carbs (flour, rice and white rice) is another cause of peripheral artery disease, the signs of vascular deterioration are varicose veins in the arms and legs, and for those with pale skin will be more prone to spider veins on their faces, or if they walk and bump into something they will be easily bruised and take longer to heal. Therefore, if you want to slow down the aging process, you must avoid consuming bad fats, bleached flour, and sugars.
2. Brain
Normally, human brain is constantly developing until age 35, after that the memory start to decline, you can’t remember things as quickly as when you were young. That is short-term memory, as a child when you’d heard whatever people said, you could remember it all, meanwhile, when you’re older you seldom remember new stories you’ve heard, but you can still retain middle-term and long-term memories well because they have lost their connection with the short-term memory, due to lower level of choline.
Talking about concentration, children can focus on anything well without practice, but after the age of 35 people will become more easily distracted and can’t control their stress properly or can’t let go, as they can’t remember recent incidents, therefore, people thoughts will revolve around middle-term and long-term memories, mostly encompassing past events or stories. But that’s not a bad thing at all, elderly people are suitable for works that require reviewing skill or attention to detail, because they can think thoroughly, but they can’t think as fast as the children.
3. Lungs
Our lungs are made up of thousands of tiny air sacs, the organ that inhale many things since we are born.
Lung efficiency can be measured from its capacity, and how much the air sacs can be expanded. The air sacs will inflate and deflate continuously, if they lose their shapes and become floppy, reducing the surface area available for gas exchange, consequently, the body will receive less oxygen which affects the brain as well.
For those who aged 35 and over, they’ve breathed a lot, even worse, some people who smoke or living in the areas where there are high pollution, or getting frequent colds, all these contribute to decreased lung capacity, a risk factor for future asthma, some might get asthmatic cough or those who suffer chronic cough can have asthma. The solution for slowing our lungs’ aging process is aerobic exercise or deep breathing exercise, if you do these exercises regularly, they can help keep your lungs and alveoli (air sacs) in good shape.
4. Heart
When you’re getting older, one way to test your heart health is try walking up stairs, if you feel lightheaded after walking a few flights of stairs that means your heart is unhealthy, because when your heart doesn’t contract properly it can lead to fatigue – but if your heart beats in a regular rhythm you won’t feel anything when it has to contract faster.
If you perform exercise regularly, such as running on a regular basis you will be able to run longer, or not getting shortness of breath when walking up stairs, you might be a bit tired or having leg pain, but your heart doesn’t get tired because it can pump blood as fast as the body has to work harder. For those with unhealthy heart, after a short speed walking they will get tired and can’t walk any further.
In addition, your heart health also depends on whether you take good care of the coronary arteries or not? Smoking or not? Having heart valve disease or not? Having high blood pressure or not? If you want to slow down the aging process of your heart you have to fix those problems first, which some causes can be fixed but some causes are congenital abnormality (I will explain more of these in detail next time.)
Compiled by: Winna Rakkarn
Photo credit: Unsplash, Freepik
