I hope you’re doing well! In my last article I wrote about “aging rapidly vs aging slowly” and in this email I want to share some causes of rapid aging.

Knowing is the first step to preventing. There’s lots of areas to focus on that can speed up the aging process – Diet, digestion, exercise, lifestyle, mindset, relationships, work, activity, rest (sleep), weather, mental-emotional health.

Three points here to make first.

One: there are some causes that are more important and impactful than others and I’ll give you some pointers to help you focus your efforts.

Two: There is the obvious – choosing causes to focus on based on what’s working well for you or not working well in your daily routines to support your health.

Three: identifying causes based on your specific medical health issues that you may not be able to recognize and need to seek the guidance of a medical professional – particularly one that has good advice on natural methods of prevention.

Outside of genetic limitations and debilitating diseases, the main cause of rapid aging is STRESS. Stress meaning mental-emotional stress. This is cultural phenomenon in the USA. The chronic daily drip, drip, drip of stress is a part of our culture.

Mental-emotional stress shifts our body into breakdown mode. It depletes our internal resources and energy. It wears down the body and can overwhelm body function. It can impact the body beginning with constricted breathing and increasing muscle tension. Over time stress can be exhausting to all body function. Check out my article on Defining STRESS for a deeper understanding.

Stress comes in many forms. Our body function and health can be stressed by our diet. Sugar is a big stressor particularly on our endocrine system. Overeating sugar and carbs that abundantly break down into sugar (bread, pasta, grains, and cereals) can lead to weight gain, inflammation and fatigue. Sugar can dysregulate and strain hormone production – so important for rejuvenating and healing.

Not eating right could mean you’re missing out on important nutrients to deal with everyday stress. This can weaken your body and leave you more vulnerable to other health issues – weak immunity, allergies, more energy drain, chronic infections and so more.

We don’t have to accept it. We can learn better good dietary practices and share it with our families. You are what you eat. Diet is even more important than exercise. You need fuel to run on and nutrients to rebuild and rejuvenate the body.

Let’s shift the talk to the biggest source of stress – the mind and our emotions. The mind and emotions are tied together. They greatly influence body function. When you get excited, your heart starts racing. This shows the mind, body and emotions are all tied together.

In traditional Chinese Medicine / Tai Chi and Chi Kung practice, it’s known that the mind leads our energy and efforts (body function). Emotions are normal but prolonged or chronic emotional states like anger, irritability, sadness, depression can be debilitating to our health.

Being in control of our mindset and what we focus on is important. We can choose. We just have to put it in practice.

Find out in the next article the choices we can make to age slowly and gracefully and guard against a rapid decline.