As we get older our body goes through a process of gradual changes. You’ve probably heard of this process. It’s called aging. And it’s quite natural.

But then there is accelerated aging, where this process happens years or decades before it should. And while this is definitely not natural, unfortunately, it’s becoming more and more common.

In this article we’re going to dive even deeper into accelerated aging, especially accelerated aging in our 30’s, 40’s, 50’s… and even our 20’s.

We’re going to cover exactly what is happening to our cells, what is doing this, how this affects aging and what we can do to prevent it.

Someone born in 1950 started out life receiving 50 times less toxins going into their bodies than a child today. Their mother had grown up receiving even less than that and so had less to pass onto them before birth as well.

And they grew up on this much smaller toxic load.

So the amount of toxins injuring or destroying cells was much less.

But now look at where we are today — 50 times as many chemicals as we had then, and many of them are much more toxic.

These very definitely have an affect on our health. In some cases it’s quite obvious, but in most cases it’s something we don’t notice, because it happens over time.

Did you know that factors such as diet, exercise, toxins, sleep, stress and more can affect how able our DNA are to make new, healthy cells? This is actually a huge factor in aging.

If our DNA can't make new cells properly, but instead make "faulty" cells, then, as our body is nothing but cells, over time our body begins to slowly degrade.

We see it in our skin, our strength, our energy levels and our overall health. This is half of what we call "aging."

But it doesn't have to be this way. This is a created situation. And we can reverse it.

When we look at the fact of aging, or getting older, we often measure it in two ways:

The number of years we’ve been on this earth, chronologically.

And the amount of decay that’s set in: fatigue, lower energy, poorer fitness levels, poor sleep, loss of muscle, physical conditions, etc.

But, while we’ve come to see the second as the inevitable result of the first, it’s actually not. It’s the result of getting biologically older — accelerated aging before our time.

We don’t realize this because our view is obviously based on what we’ve seen for decades now. And what we’ve seen is not good.

But this isn’t a natural situation. It’s a created one.

If we want to actually increase longevity, increase lifespan and increase overall health and ability during the entirety of that lifespan, then we need to define what we’re talking about and, even more, compare the current “norm” we’ve become accustomed to… to what not only can exist, but does exist in other places today.

 A person should be able to live past 100 years old, with high energy levels, strength and mental ability, doing what they want without the need of twenty different drugs to keep them going, and then pass away peacefully.

And not only should that be the case, but in places outside of our “modern world” — called Blue Zones — it is the case. Quite routinely.

The effect that energy drinks and high levels of caffeine have on our bodies, our health, our sleep, our stress levels, our mood, our anxiety levels and our hormones is much more than most people think.

When continued over time, these can have a very significant impact on our long-term health and our body’s ability to function at optimal levels, not to mention our ability to lose fat and gain muscle.

And considering many people who drink these are in their teens or twenties, when their bodies are still developing, the damage they do there can be far worse, leading to acute or even chronic health conditions in the future.

Stress, whether it’s physical, mental or emotional, can lead to:

Delayed healing responses in the body, a nervous system that is always “on,” worsened mood, inability to relax or fall asleep, decreased mental alertness or lowered ability to “think,” hormonal imbalances, cravings for sugary foods, and high cortisol levels which increase mental stress, lower our energy levels, and make it harder to lose weight, build muscle or recover fully from the daily load we put on our body

It doesn’t matter much “where” the stress comes from, as any point of stress triggers the same reactions in the body. And stress from any one of these three areas (physical, mental or emotional) raises stress in the other two areas.

But, just as stress in one area creates stress in another area, with each point of stress making the overall worse, it also works in the opposite direction.

Each point of stress we remove lightens the load overall and makes it easier to deal with the other points of stress.

It’s very simple. Let’s see where we’re at!

When our digestive ability is weak, we don’t get all of the nutrition from foods we eat. This is because food, including proteins and minerals, must be fully broken down by stomach acid in order for our body to be able to use it.

In fact, poor digestion of protein is one of the largest causes of muscle loss as we age: our digestive system isn’t working as well as it was when we were younger, and so not enough protein is being broken down for our body to use.

But it’s not just our cells that need this nutrition.

Specific bacteria in our colon are responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation of the neurotransmitters serotonin and GABA, the happy, calming neurotransmitters.

Did you know low levels of thyroid can bring on not only low energy and weight gain, but also depression and even brain fog?

This can make thinking, problem-solving, and just coping with the everyday stresses of life, much harder.

With the rise in hormone-blocking toxins in our environment, processed foods and processed sugars, and the low amount of protein most of us consume, low thyroid is affecting more and more people, especially among women and the elderly.

In this article we dive into what thyroid is, how low thyroid occurs, how it affects our mood, mental alertness, and our ability to think and cope with the problems of everyday life and what we can do to raise it.

We know that toxins are harmful to our bodies.

They stress our nervous system, raise inflammation and cortisol in the body, mess up our hormones, damage or kill cells, contribute to many diseases including cancer, and even cause trouble for our unborn children, disrupting the process by which both their nervous systems and immune systems form.

But how do toxins stress the body? How do they raise inflammation? And how can we prevent this?

Electromagnetic Fields, or EMFs, are invisible electric and magnetic fields of force surrounding any flowing electricity or magnetic object.

They can be generated by natural things, like the Earth's magnetic field, or the Sun, which don’t cause us trouble. Or they can be generated by man-made devices: cell phone towers, cell phones, microwave ovens, kitchen appliances, and even electrical wiring in our homes.

And these can cause us trouble, depending on how much or many we’re exposed to, and how strong they are.

I wanted to talk a little about inflammation.

Because, outside of very obvious causes, such as an injury or infection, few people know what actually causes it in general.

And even fewer know what to do about it beyond taking a pain-killer.

When we’re talking about inflammation, we’re talking about a symptom, not a cause. A symptom that does have a cause.