Aging today is viewed as an evil that we cannot avoid. In reality aging is a natural process. All living things on this planet age and die. We define aging according to what we believe it to be. In short aging and anti aging is defined by one's outlook. With this in mind, there are many advocate groups that have their own definitions of what anti aging is.

 

For the medical and scientific community anti-aging refers to the process of slowing, reversing or preventing the aging process altogether. From a medical/scientific approach anti-aging is seen through scientific and medical means. Currently the medical and science community is approaching anti-aging in terms of detecting, preventing and treating diseases that age us. They feel that as the body breaks down and systems work less effectively aging sets in.

 

There is also the aesthetic community who sees anti-aging as a physical process based on one's looks. They view aging as the decline of one's youthful appearance and physical vitality. Aging is defined by this group as how many wrinkles a person has on their face and how saggy their bodies are.

 

Regardless of definitions, anti-aging has become a big business. Today one can pay their way to stay young through endless products and programs geared to keeping us as youthful as possible. This includes the plastic surgeons that can cut the evidence of age away or inject it away to make one look younger. Unfortunately anti-aging remedies like surgery and spas are geared towards those with money. The average working person on a meager salary cannot afford it. For them maintaining their youth as such would be a luxury. They cannot pay for the expensive treatments, diets and plastic surgery to keepthem looking like they were when they were 20.

 

What is the working or poor persons alternative? Well, for those of us who aren't rich we have to consider diet, exercise and a healthy lifestyle to help us fight aging. We have to try and eat the best we can on our budgets and exercise ourselves to stay young. The question becomes can we fight the clock. Right now in reality there is no magic cure against aging.

The medical experts across the board do all agree that the best weapon one can use to fight the aging process is diet and exercise. How one eats and how much one exercises has a lot to do with how quickly they age. Eating healthy definitely slows down the onset of disease. For example, diets low in saturated fat is definitely a defense against cardio-vascular diseases which conversely age the body. We also know that exercise gives us many benefits including physically looking better.

Although there is no fountain of youth, anything that can lengthen one's life span is definitely anti-aging since we all have to die. Anti-aging starts from the inside out. What we put into our bodies help us feel and ultimately look a certain way. Knowledge is power. So in retrospect whatever we learn to keep us healthy is the key to living long and staying young.

We must also remember our genetics have a lot to do with how we age. Chances are if your parents and grandparents look young as you get older probability has it that you will too. It’s just that simple. But, we can also help our genetics by taking care of our bodies from the internal to the external we are given. That is the best weapon against aging. Eating right, keeping our weight in check, getting enough exercise, staying out of the sun, stimulating our minds and resting are all the tools to anti-aging that we have the power to do something about.