Dr. Mark Hyman is a scientist, researcher, and author of several best-selling books who promotes functional medicine, which keeps the body at its healthiest, rather than waiting for symptoms of illness to appear. He suggests that doing so could slow or even reverse aging. Dr. Hyman’s research into the biomarkers of aging and longevity has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Gerontology and Alternative Theories in Health and Medicine.
Dr. Hyman recently did an interview where he discussed his beliefs, practices and his predictions regarding health. His thoughts are summarized here:
In Dr. Hyman’s view, it’s only a matter of time before our annual checkup tracks much more than just blood pressure and cholesterol levels — it will be an opportunity to apply principles of functional medicine to your everyday lifestyle to promote health, longevity, and ultimately prepare us to become fully functional centenarians.
Dr. Hyman suggests that the hallmarks of aging are all inseparable, fundamental processes that go wrong — poor diet, stress, lack of sleep, lack of exercise, nutritional deficiencies, and environmental toxins. All these affect our epigenetic programming, which controls our genes. According to Dr. Hyman, we can literally reprogram our epigenome and reverse biological age at any age.
Dr. Hyman doesn’t believe in living forever but suggests having our health span equal our lifespan. For this to happen, we need to get rid of all processed food. Sugar and starch are the devil when it comes to longevity, aging, and our health overall. They should be considered recreational drugs used occasionally and sparingly, but not as staples in our diet. A plant-rich diet full of phytochemicals and good fats is recommended, and protein becomes way more important as we get older, which is essentially taking our biology and activating protein synthesis, required for vitality as we get older because we need muscle. Muscle is the currency of longevity, and without it, we become frail, decrepit, and weak.
According to Dr. Hyman, most beauty starts on the inside. Nutritional status, gut microbiome, the level of inflammation, and oxidative stress all play a role. It’s really not that hard to fix our appearance through lifestyle. People can look ten years younger by changing their diet and lifestyle in a very short time.
Dr. Hyman believes that the average kid born today is going to live to over 100. For people living today, it’s not too late to start. At any age, we can have a huge impact on biological aging. Studies have shown this effect, whether it’s just taking vitamin D, which reversed biological age by a year in a cohort that was studied, or a Mediterranean diet doing the same, or an aggressive functional medicine approach with lifestyle and diet doing three years reversal in eight weeks.
In conclusion, Dr. Hyman believes that we can disrupt the aging process as we know it and remain feeling good as we do. It’s all about keeping the body at its healthiest through lifestyle changes that promote health and longevity. It’s only a matter of time before our annual checkup tracks much more than just blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and we start applying principles of functional medicine to our everyday lifestyle.
You can read the full interview here