The Fountain of Youth and Your Hormones

Everyone has heard of the mythical "Fountain of Youth", but very few realize that it actually does exist. And even fewer realize that it exists inside every one of us. Yes, it's there right within you, just waiting to be activated !!

Juan Ponce de Leon, the Spanish explorer sailed around the Florida coast in search of the legendary "Fountain of Youth".....the secret to being young again forever. That was five hundred years ago, more or less. Since then modern day 'explorers', in the form of researchers, have been continuing the quest for the secrets to attain eternal youth.

These researchers have discovered that at the core of the fountain of youth is the body's hormonal or neuro endocrine system, the collective name assigned to the glands and organs that manufacture hormones within our bodies.

Aging is a process that happens to all of us. Usually around thirty to thirty-five years of age, we begin to notice the first telltale signs of aging, the strands of gray hair, the deepening of expression lines (the pre-cursor to wrinkles), the slight sagging of facial features, the gradual loss of skin elasticity as collagen formation declines. As the years roll by, this aging process continues inexorably - stiffer joints, dimmer vision, loss of taste buds, gray hair, less libido!

As we see the same thing happening to our friends and family we accept it as natural and inevitable. We start to accept our declining faculties as being nature's way, and start thinking of ourselves as old.The change in mental perspective further accelerates the process. And, as we look in the mirror, year after year, we gradually begin to look, feel and act progressively older, our mindset reflecting our mirror image.

Today, technology and medical advances have made it possible to live much longer, leading to an aging of the population - there are many more 'seniors' in our society than ever before. In fact, average longevity has gone up all over the world since the beginning of the 20th century. In the U.S longevity has increased by as much as 25 years.

However, regrettably, the factor that has not changed is the number of years one has to live with age-related disability. It is still an average of ten years for most of us. Can we minimize, or eliminate completely this period of decrepitude from our lives? There is no question that each one of us, man and woman, would like to live our sixties, seventies and eighties with looks, health and vitality intact. Nor do we like the idea of losing any of our faculties or senses.

The fountain of youth was seen to be the answer, making it a life or death (literally) quest since time immemorial.....Juan Ponce de Leon et al....and it remains as important today. People stop at nothing in their attempts to combat aging, and to drink from the fountain of youth. So much so, that it has become somewhat of a chimera. There are diets designed to combat and reverse aging, cardio-vascular exercises do the same, the brain is kept young by 'challenging' it, viagra promises peak sexual performance, HRT promises relief from pre and post menopausal problems, cosmetic companies produce moisturizers and creams to build collagen,....one can go on and on!!!

In varying degrees, they all work! But think about HOW they work!

Diets and cardio-vascular exercises work by regulating the body's consumption of energy. Known as metabolism, it is a complex interaction of chemical conversions that take placecontinually in order to generate energy and keep the body at optimum level. Control of the entire process lies in the hormonal (neuroendocrine) system.

The challenge element perks up secretions of the hormone adrenaline...the body's age-old response to any form of stress or threat is production of higher doses. The skin is kept hydrated by secretions of oil and sweat-producing hormones, and the entire process of sexuality and reproduction is hormone-induced, and starts from the hormonal (neuroendocrine) system.

And so, through course of diets, exercises, creams and supplements you manage to keep your body and mind in peak condition. What happens when you get a bout of the 'flu'? Without the help of the thymus and your immune system your body may just pack it in !!

The hormonal system has a finger in every pie! Does the concept seem rather esoteric? Do you think I am overplaying the role of the endocrine glands?

Consider the facts. Sift through reports on the most current research going on in this field. Much of the anti-aging experimentation being conducted in various labs around the world, is connected with ingestion of hormonal supplements. HGH (human growth hormone) and DHEA, both popular experimental therapies being used at present, are nothing but hormones. And without a doubt they produce benefits, even though it is probably too early to determine if they produce any their attendant side effects.

Then again there is much research connected to the use of release factors or 'releasers', whereby, instead of ingesting supplements, one would ingest releasers, which would activate the glands into releasing hormones. Such experiments are still at an early stage, and not much is known about the attendant side effects, if any.

In fact, this very principle of hormonal flow seems to have been known to the Himalayan people in ancient times, and forms the basis of the Tibetan yoga rejuvenation and anti aging technique.

They seem to have way ahead of us in their knowledge. They knew, 4000 years ago, how to push the button that would cause the body to produce its own natural releasers, rather than rely on artificial synthetic ones. This, then, is the knowledge made public by the Tibetan rejuvenation yoga technique.