Aging Hormones and Young Hormones, It’s Never Too Early to Be Younger
Since ancient times, it is known that with age, the hormonal level decreases. Residents of ancient Greece, Egypt and India tried to restore declining sexuality and increase energy potential by taking extracts from the male sex glands of animals. Aging Hormones and Young Hormones
Today, we already know that the decrease in hormone levels is explained by the development of diseases that accompany the aging process, such as cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis and cancer.
Some hormonal abnormalities are associated with other age-related changes, such as loss of muscle mass, obesity, and mental disorders. Most of these unwanted changes now occur not only because of a decrease in absolute levels of hormones, but also because of the imbalance between different hormones.
All the hormones of our body can be divided into two groups: anabolic and catabolic.
Anabolic hormones contribute to the growth and formation of tissues – for example, they are responsible for powerful muscles and strong bones. You may have heard of anabolics steroids – synthetic chemicals that bodybuilders use to develop powerful muscles (and that are prohibited for use in preparation for the Olympic Games). But sex hormones, growth hormones and DEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) refer to natural anabolic hormones – steroids, the level of which almost always begins to fall after reproductive age.
Aging Hormones and Young Hormones
Catabolic hormones, on the contrary, cause tissue destruction. The main catabolic hormone is cortisol, the stress hormone, which is produced by the adrenal glands. Insulin (produced by the pancreas) and estrogen (in men) behave to some extent as catabolic hormones. Unlike anabolic hormones, the level of cortisol and insulin (both sexes) and estrogen levels (in men) usually do not decrease with age; in rare cases, the level may decrease slightly, or stay at the same level or in some cases, as is the case with estrogen in men, on the contrary, increases. This leads to a violation of hormonal balance, which plays an important role in the aging process.
Insulin is produced in the pancreas in response to high blood sugar. You need to know that insulin does not always act as a catabolic hormone. In small quantities, it works as a hormone – an anabolic and promotes tissue growth.
In large quantities, when eating too much sweet food or food with a high glycemic load, it stimulates the growth of only one type of tissue – adipose tissue, or simply fat. With age, the tendon of cells to insulin drops and its level increases. This is the main reason for gaining excess weight in the aging process. With age, the balance between hormones shifts from anabolics to catabolics.
Anabolic hormones – testosterone, estrogen in women, progesterone, growth hormone, melatonin and DEA – contribute to tissue growth and youth, so they are attributed to the hormones of adolescence. Conversely, cortisol, insulin and estrogen (in men) are referred to as aging hormones.
Healing hormones
What steps can we take to maintain a younger balance between two types of hormones? We suggest you start by discussing ways to reduce or even reverse the gradual prevailion of catabolic hormones.
Cortisol
The body’s response to stress is a rapid release of cortisol from the adrenal glands, which makes the cardiovascular system and lungs work hard, suppressing the immune system, slowing down the digestive processes and reducing reproductive function.
A strong spike of cortisol increases the heartbeat, allowing you to run faster, dilates the pupils, allowing you to see better, and increases blood sugar levels, improving mental abilities. But constant emissions of excess cortisol accelerate the aging process, contribute to the development of diseases, destroy muscle tissue (sarcopenia) and bones (osteoporosis), cause sodium retention in the body and high blood pressure, increase blood sugar and destroy the immune system.
In patients with Cushing’s disease (related to an excess of cortisol) or patients who have long taken synthetic forms of cortisol, a significant loss of muscle mass and bone weakness develops. Frank Herbert’s Dune says Fear of the Brain.
In fact, fear increases the level of cortisol, which, as the studies have proven, leads to a violation of brain activity. For example, Dr. D.S. Hals demonstrated with the help of his Alzheimer’s patients how chronic stress destroys memory.
As you can see in the picture below, all steroid hormones (including cortisol) are synthesized from cholesterol. First of all, cholesterol turns into pregnenolone, which can then go either into progesterone or DEA, “mother of hormones” of testosterone and estrogen. When stress is chronic or overweight, more cortisol is produced by DEA, testosterone, and estrogen. The normal aging process is associated with a slight shift to greater cortisol production and a simultaneous decrease in the formation of other hormones.
The easiest way to determine how well your youth hormones fight aging hormones is to determine the ratio of DEA (anabolic hormone of youth) and cortisol (catabolic hormone aging). You can find out this by undergoing a stress test of the adrenal glands, which will also allow you to check the health of the adrenal glands themselves.
You can get a kit for the analysis of a therapist or a practicing doctor and you do not have to donate blood for this. You analyze the house, collecting saliva samples 4 times a day – as you wake up, lunch, dinner and before going to bed.
Normal result is considered to be a higher level of cortisol in the morning and its gradual decrease during the day. Under the influence of chronic stress, this daytime variation is often imperceptible and as a result we get an almost straight line instead of a descending line.
Stress tests of the adrenal glands also count the ratio of DEA to cortisol. In young people, this attitude is usually high, but in the elderly already decreases.
Special indications for the alignment of the relationship include additional additives containing DEA, the use of herbs such as natural lacquer, which is used in Chinese travesci, or the ayurdotic herb ashwagand, as well as adherence to lifestyles that help reduce cortisol levels, and a low-glycemic pressure, reducing stress, regular exercise and a healthy amount of sleep.
Insulin
If races were performed between insulin and cortisol for the subject who would destroy the body faster, we would bet on insulin. Barry Sears in the Rejuvenation Zone calls an overabundance of insulin “a ticket to accelerated aging.”
An excess of insulin increases fat deposits in the body, increases cortisol levels and causes insulin resistance, accelerates the development of atherosclerosis and increases the risk of developing heart disease, and also interferes with the work of other hormones of adolescence.
Insulin is produced with excess calories. When you eat sugar or food with high glycemic stress, you’re so stimulating the production of excess insulin that your body can separate sticky sugar from the blood. As soon as the level of insulin increases, glucose in the blood is instantly converted into fat, which is then deposited in the body’s fat cells.
Cortisol and insulin refer to the same “good old guys” of the hormonal country club. Excess insulin increases the level of cortisol, and its excess leads to an increase in insulin levels. Excess insulin is also an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease.
Insulin reduces the effectiveness of youth hormones, which accelerates the aging process.
It is for this reason, sugar-rich food or food with high glycemic load that raises insulin levels makes us age much faster than anything else in our diet. It is very easy to get into the lifestyle network, which contributes to an overabundance of insulin: lack of physical activity, constant stress and the use of high-glycemia carbohydrates.
Knowledge of nematodes
C. elegans is a type of roundworms that scientists often use in their experiments. The nematodes gained their fame due to the first multicellular, whose genetic map was fully reproduced in 1999. In 2003, c.elegans again fell under the rays of spotlights, having lived 188 days, which translated into human age is equivalent to 500 years.
In earlier experiments, life expectancy reached 150 days by manipulating the genome of roundworms under the code of IGF-1, a protein that is very close to the human growth hormone. But there was one problem: while the worms received longevity, they showed reduced activity throughout their lives.
In a further study, Cynthia Kenton of the University of California, San Francisco, added insulin manipulation and removed some pediot tissue. As a result, the worms gained even more longing without a decrease in activity. Since humans and c. elegans most genes are the same, this study can lead to methods of prolonging a person’s life by manipulating insulin levels and some other hormones without removing any organ tissue.
Hormones of Youth
Reducing the level of catabolic hormones contributes to the alignment of their relationship to the anabolic hormones of adolescence. But historically, the most acceptable way to level the balance was a direct replacement for hormones. Usually the term “hormoniasis therapy” (HRT) refers to sex hormones: estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Next, we will discuss at least the most important hormones of youth: DEA, growth hormone and melatonin.
DEA
DEA, or dehydroepiandrosterone, is the most common steroid hormone that forms in our body. In the past, it was believed that DEA is just a precursor of other hormones, which does not have any special physiological properties.
But later, William Regelson, a well-known practitioner researcher, called DEA a “superstar among superhormones.” The level of DEA reaches its peak by the age of 25, then gradually decreases by 50% to 40 years, and by 85 years is about 5% of its level in youth.
Does this mean that the DEA could contribute to the prolongation of life? According to the results of animal experiments, DEA supplements can slow down the aging process and increase life expectancy.
It is proved that men with higher levels of DEA are less susceptible to the development of cardiovascular diseases. DEA has anti-inflammatory properties and is able to reduce the level of IL-6 (interleukin-6) and TNF-α (the factor of necrosis of the alpha tumors), which are strong agents of dangerous inflammation in the body. According to Dr. Regelson’s study on oncology, DEA prevents the uncontrolled division of cells, the obvious sign of cancer cells.
Useful properties of DEA:
Reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases
Fighting stress
Improves the functioning of the immune system
Removes Depression
Improves Memory
Softens the symptom of menopause
Prevents bone weakness
Strengthens the libido
Increases insulin sensitivity and glucose endurance
Increases fat-free body weight
DEA “tastories” cortisol. When you experience stress, the body produces excessive amounts of insulin, which negatively affects the work of your immune system, which in turn entails a predisposition to disease and accelerates the aging process.
Some studies have identified a link between the suppressed immune system and a breach between DEA and cortisol. Taking supplements with DEA, you will improve the condition of the suppressed cortisol and other steroids of the immune system. Since DEA is a precursor to testosterone, it can have a positive effect on libido, especially in women. DEA also contributes to the transformation of food into energy and burns excess weight.
Before you start taking supplements with DEA-S (DEA-sulfate), check your level of DEA, and then check it every six to eight weeks to be sure that you are approaching the desired result. It is recommended to adhere to a level of 300 for men and 250 for women. Men should start with 15-25 milligrams of DEA per day, and women with 5-10, then should increase the dose to achieve the required level.
Attention: Since DEA is an androgen hormone that is dominated by male properties, it can easily turn into testosterone. DEA supplements also raise the level of SAP (specific prostate antigen), an important marker of prostate cancer. Before starting to take DEA, men should check the level of SAP, as well as during admission every 6-12 months. If the level of SAPR increases, then you need to immediately stop taking DEA and consult a doctor.
