Aging is considered a catastrophe in U.S. and you could not possibly think of growing old gracefully; on the contrary, you may feel compelled to avoid the very idea of turning 60 or 70. The commercials advertising American obsession with youthfulness are only fuelling up the desire to look and stay younger.
No wonder clinics specializing in age management are finding a ready market to cash in on the society’s obsession with staying young. A Las Vegas based clinic, Cenegenics Medical Institute, run by Dr. Jeffry Life, is one of the many clinics that claim to turn the desire of many Americans to stay young into a reality. The 69-year old doctor is a role model for many of his patients.
“He’s the man,” says Ed Detwiler, one of his patients while pointing towards a framed copy of Life’s photo on the office wall at Cenegenics.
The 47 year old Detwiler, who has been Life’s patient for more than three years, is an epitome of Americans’ desire to live a long and a healthy life. A real estate developer in suburban Las Vegas, Detwiler says he rigorously follows everything that is prescribed by his doctor to stay young and healthy. “If I were stooped over and bedridden, what kind of quality of life is that?'' asks Detwiler.
This could mean bringing a few lifestyle changes including a combination of healthy eating habits and following an exercise regime to stay clear-minded and recharged with positive energy. He makes it a point to inject himself with human growth hormone each day and receives testosterone injections every week.
It is quite common to look and feel younger, and Detwiler represents this common sentiment of the society he is living in. “If I can get out and be active and travel and see the world and be able to make a difference in other people's lives, then yes, I would want to have as long an existence as possible,'' he reaffirms.
The quest for youth is not new. “In 1,500 B.C. people were ingesting tiger gonads to rejuvenate them,'' says Dr. Gene Co, an expert on aging in George Washington University. However, now it seems to be taking on a new urgency.
Decades ago, people hated being labeled “poor”. But now, it seems people will do anything to avoid being labeled “old”. From Botox, wrinkle fillers, hormones
define of various kinds or going under the knife with cosmetic or plastic surgery in order to look younger and have tighter skin, the list of age-defying tactics seems to be endless.
According to findings of a research on people who live up to 100 years, having healthy eating habits, along with regular physical as well as mental exercise are considered vital clues for a long and a healthy life. “The quest to live forever and the desire to avoid diseases and not suffer'' is understandable, agrees S. Jay Olshansky, a public health professor and longevity researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
However, the growing cause of worry is that we are becoming too much focused on treatments that could result in dangerous side effects and jeopardize our lives, both physically as well as emotionally.
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