How the body of a person ages with age excerpt from the book by Cameron Diaz The book about longevity

How to get old

The integumentary system includes the skin, hair, nails, and sweat glands. The role of skin and hair is far from being limited to cosmetic: first of all, it is the border of our body, it provides its external protection and helps to control its temperature.

As we all know, age affects the quality and color of our hair. They turn gray, taking on a gray, white or silvery hue; the texture of the hair changes, it coarsens, becomes brittle or becomes thinner. But these changes affect not only your hair – eyelashes also become thinner and weaker. Some older women even lose their pubic and axillary hair.

Reduced collagen production affects the condition of our skin, it becomes drier, less elastic, prone to wrinkles. A decrease in the subcutaneous fat layer leads to the fact that we are more sensitive to cold (remember how your grandmother always wrapped herself in a jacket, even on the warmest days, as you thought?), And the risk of heatstroke increases. The skin becomes more vulnerable and sensitive to cuts and bruises, and any scratches heal four times slower than in youth.

How to protect your skin

There are many things you can do to preserve your skin. If you smoke, stop immediately. Some moisturizing cosmetics do help to keep the skin hydrated, as can drinking plenty of fluids. Always wear sunscreen, especially since your skin is more susceptible to sunburn as you age.

How to get old

Your eyes look out at the world by focusing beams of light through the lens onto the retina and sending information to the brain. When a woman ages, her eyes are the first to take the hit. The dry eye effect is observed in women over fifty years of age twice as often as in men. Cataract – a clouding of the lens – also prefers women. As you get older, you may have problems reading or perceiving objects located in close proximity to you, there may be a violation of color perception, and the need for brighter lighting when reading.

How to protect your eyes

Take a break from the glare of a monitor or TV screen and wear UV-protected sunglasses when outdoors. And remember that diseases such as diabetes and hypertension hit the eyes too. Drink plenty of water to keep the eye hydrated. Antioxidants like beta carotene, vitamin C and trace minerals like zinc are extremely beneficial for eye health, so eat more fruits and vegetables. And watch your salt and sugar intake; excessive enthusiasm for these products contributes to the development of eye diseases.

How to get old

The respiratory system supplies your blood (and therefore your cells) with oxygen and removes carbon dioxide from the body. As you get older, your lungs lose their elasticity, the alveoli (bubbles that fill with air) become flabby, the air in them can become stagnant, which means less oxygen gets into the blood vessels. With age, the lungs are not as effective at fighting infections, and the cough becomes less harsh and clears the airways worse.

How to protect your lungs

If you smoke, getting rid of this habit is the best thing you can do for your lungs at any age, and even more so when the aging process has begun. You can also choose a cardio training program, introduce into your daily diet foods high in antioxidants that can protect lung cells. Air pollution is another problem: regular indoor fires irritate the lungs. Volatile paint thinners, dust, soot can all cause or worsen lung disease. And get a flu shot: To maintain optimal respiratory health, it’s best to avoid respiratory infections.

How to get old

The heart and blood vessels make up the cardiovascular system, which transports blood, oxygen and nutrients throughout the body and flushes out waste. As women age, their risk of developing heart disease increases; today in the United States, cardiovascular disease is the number one killer for both women and men.

The exact cause of heart disease has not yet been established, but it is known to increase its risk, such as age, family history, smoking, poor diet and lack of physical activity. The main methods of treatment for atherosclerosis, a clinical manifestation of heart disease, are associated with lifestyle changes. Drug therapy is also possible. The salvation was statins – drugs that lower cholesterol: they reduced the number of heart attacks by about 30%. However, like most drugs, statins have potentially dangerous side effects that can be exacerbated by interactions with other drugs, especially in old age, when there is a need to take several drugs at once.

How to protect your heart

Eat right, exercise actively, quit smoking and remember the symptoms of heart attack in women (read about them in the book. – Ed.).

How to get old

In youth, our body is continuously building up bone mass, but after thirty-five years this is no longer possible. And we begin to lose it: the bones become less dense and more fragile. At the same age, muscle tissue begins to naturally decrease, which leads to a decrease in muscle strength, which can no longer, as before, serve as powerful support for our weakened bones, and to a decrease in flexibility, since the ligaments and tendons become less elastic. And with the loss of estrogen after menopause begins, bones weaken even more, and the risk of fractures increases further.

How to protect muscles and bones

Eat foods high in calcium and vitamin D to help keep your bones strong. Strength training will help build the muscles that support and protect your skeleton. Despite the fact that muscle mass decreases after thirty-five years, you can still build new muscles – it just takes more effort!

How to get old

The urinary system removes metabolic end products from the body and regulates the water and acid-base balance. Over the years, the kidney cells become smaller: accordingly, the kidneys themselves decrease. Less and less blood passes through them, and by the age of thirty they already filter blood much worse. With aging, the urinary tract also changes: the female urethra – the channel through which urine is excreted from the body – becomes shorter and thinner as estrogen levels decrease. The bladder holds less urine, and its muscles weaken.

Chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes can also affect your kidney health.

How to protect your kidneys

Drinking plenty of water is important for kidney health. And also monitor the intake of medications. Consuming large amounts of vitamins, over-the-counter pills, and prescription drugs puts excessive stress on your kidneys, so always check with your doctor about the range of medications and supplements you are taking. And quit smoking. Smoking can damage your blood vessels, so less blood gets to your kidneys.

How to get old

Your digestive system does an incredibly difficult job: absorbing and digesting food, assimilating nutrients, and expelling what is not absorbed from the body. Although the digestive system does not age as clearly as our other organs, as we age, the walls of the stomach lose elasticity, and it is slower to ship food to the small intestine, so that large portions may not be able to cope with it right away.

The large intestine also begins to slow down, delaying the evacuation of waste, which leads to impaired intestinal motility and chronic constipation. The production of lactase, an enzyme found in the small intestine that helps digest dairy products, may also decrease. This means that on your fiftieth birthday, you probably won’t want an ice cream birthday cake anymore.

Over the years, the liver loses cells, shrinks in size and becomes less and less effective in coping with its duties, so the consequences and side effects of drugs and alcohol last much longer.

How to protect the digestive system

There are a million reasons why you should include as many fruits and vegetables in your diet as possible and drink plenty of water. Protecting a system that works around the clock to get the most out of food is one of the most compelling. If you don’t drink enough water and don’t get the right amount of fluids or fiber, then you will suffer from constipation, and your body will starve.

How to get old

The immune system uses a variety of organs to protect your health. This work involves both the bone marrow, which produces blood cells, and the lymphatic system, which transports potentially harmful substances, such as bacteria and damaged cells, to the lymphoid organs for further disposal using white blood cells, thereby protecting you from disease. As we age, the immune system slows down and does not respond to health threats as quickly as it used to. Therefore, with age, the risk of contracting the flu and the risk of developing pneumonia and cancer increase.

Changes in the immune system that accumulate over the years also affect how the body responds to vaccines. Let’s say the flu vaccine is significantly less effective for the elderly. Generally speaking, immunity is an indicator of general health: scientists even determine the biological age of a person by the response of the immune system to the influenza vaccine.

How to protect the immune system

Protect your immune system so that it can protect you: eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, and reduce stress. Get an annual flu shot, especially for people over sixty-five; it is estimated that from 80 to 90% of mortality from seasonal flu and from 50 to 70% of severe complications from it occur in the age group over sixty-five years.

How to get old

The aging process affects the entire body, but the weakest link is the nervous system: it is the most vulnerable. The brain is the control center of the entire body. Everything that is in you, from character and memory to the ability to breathe involuntarily without thinking, is controlled by the brain. The healthier your brain, the healthier your entire body.

Certain age-related cognitive changes manifest as degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (which, as we will learn later, affects women more often than men) and Parkinson’s disease. Unfortunately, the causes of these diseases have not yet been fully understood.

How to protect your brain

There are many things you can do to protect your brain, and – don’t be surprised! Are the same measures that help preserve your muscles, bones and mood. Being physically active, eating healthy, getting enough rest, developing horizons and creativity, reducing stress, and being open to communication are essential for long-term brain and body health.