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Do you feel like age is catching up with you?
Have you noticed wrinkles, hair loss, reduced physical energy, or diminished sex drive?
Prevention, Anti-Aging, and Wellness
We are determined to shift the definition of PREVENTION. Go beyond cholesterol, blood pressure, mammograms, and colonoscopies (all important) and learn more about your true health risk for disease and factors that may be accelerating the aging process and affecting your health.
Comprehensive Nutritional Eval - Is your diet working for you?
Find your Functional Medicine Diagnosis
Detoxification- Where are you?
Hormone Evaluation & Hormone Replacement
Genetics- what are your TRUE risks for disease
CIMT testing- Learn your CV age
Stress Rehabilitation- Find a comprehensive stress mgmt. program that fits you.
The Aging Process
Do you feel like age is catching up with you? Have you noticed wrinkles, hair loss, reduced physical energy, or diminished sex drive? Do you get sick more often than you used to?
Although we typically think of the external signs of aging, with the emergence of wrinkles and graying hair, aging is also an internal process that has roots at the cellular level. All the organs of our bodies are made up of individual cells that have limited life spans. While we are young, our cells divide many times as we grow. Our cells are capable of repairing themselves, communicating with other cells, and interacting with all the physiological molecules that ultimately define our current state of health. Scientists have discovered, however, that our cells have a limited capacity to divide and repair.
Laboratory studies have shown that cell aging patterns are genetically encoded and cell death occurs along a predictable schedule of events for different cell types. Our DNA is bundled into chromosomes, each capped with repeated sequences called telomeres. During cell division, the cell attempts to make a complete copy of itself, including all of its DNA, but researchers have discovered that these telomeres shorten over successive cell divisions. The telomeres help protect the DNA from radical arrangements (that might cause cancer, for example) and they can be lengthened by an enzyme called telomerase. If the telomeres are allowed to become too short, however, the cell senses this problem and puts in motion a cascade of events that will result in its own death. This mechanism of programmed cell death, also called apoptosis, is a critical part of proper human development and a natural part of the life cycle of a cell.
A cell’s life also comes to a close if its DNA sustains damage more quickly than the DNA repair machinery can compensate for it. One of the major causes of DNA damage in our cells is the presence of free radicals. These highly reactive molecules can cause significant damage to both the proteins and the DNA in our cells by undergoing chemical reactions with them. The free radical theory of aging suggests that these molecules accumulate naturally over time and that our DNA repair machinery copes less and less well with the damage. Thus, our physical aging would be correlated with this decline in the health of our individual cells. Free radical damage has also been scientifically linked to many age-related medical conditions, including arthritis, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Intriguingly, it has been shown that antioxidants can slow or stop the damage caused by free radicals by helping to balance the chemical reactions in the cells. Antioxidant levels can be increased by adding antioxidant rich foods to the diet or by taking nutritional supplements.
Because our cells become less resilient as we age, so do our bodies. We become more susceptible to illnesses and once we get sick, it takes longer to recover. Wounds may also take longer to heal. As some cells begin to lose function, they cease expressing hormones, further shifting our physiological balance. All of the changes to our immunity, metabolism, and body chemistry can have a huge impact on our health and well-being as we age.
Do You Have Difficulty With:
Difficulty sleeping at night
Lack of energy and fatigue
Reduced mental focus
Reduced or lack of memory
Feel moody
Muscle and/or joint pain
Anxious or depressed
Experience weight gain
Inability to lose weight
Decreased muscle strength
Reduced sexual desire
Anxious or depressed
Be Preventive & Obtain Total Wellness
We are determined to shift the definition of PREVENTION. Go beyond cholesterol, blood pressure, mammograms, and colonoscopies (all important) and learn more about your true health risk for disease and factors that may be accelerating the aging process and affecting your health.
"Dr. Stephen Dalton, DO."
At LIMA Lubbock we uses a series of questioners and testing along with state of the art technology to identify the offending foods in your diet. Many times the foods we eat frequently and seem healthy are contributing to our health problems. A customized plan is compiled directly from your test results and your nutrition questionnaire. Elimination of the offending foods and desensitization (allergy drops) can improve many health problems and lead to a better quality of life!
Let Dr. Stephen Dalton, DO. Provide The Keys To Your Overall Wellness Vehicle
Getting the Facts is the first start! You should request to have a LIMA Prevention & Wellness Consult!
Detoxification
Depending on your case, a detoxification program may also be recommended. By reducing the toxin levels in your body, damage to your cells and stress on your cell repair systems can be minimized and ultimately slow the aging process. Carefully regimented dietary restrictions may be suggested to cleanse the body of ingested toxins it may be harboring. We are available to guide you through a complete detoxification program.
The path toward greater longevity requires a steadfast commitment to healthier habits beyond these specific treatments. It sounds simple, but keeping active, eating a diverse diet rich in antioxidants, and getting plenty of sleep are some of the most natural, effective anti-aging measures that one can take. As with all of our treatments, we can help devise a plan centered on achievable goals for your health that mesh well with your lifestyle and personality.
Natural Hormones Are Powerful Anti-Aging Tools
Hormone replacement therapy is the essence of anti-aging medicine. By restoring your body's levels of hormones to those of a young adult, you are taking one giant step away from the aging process. We are well-versed in the safe uses of natural hormones to boost energy, vitality, and libido, as well as lower risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, and many other degenerative diseases.
What is genetic testing?
Genetic testing looks for specific inherited changes (mutations) in a person’s chromosomes, genes, or proteins. Genetic mutations can have harmful, beneficial, neutral (no effect), or uncertain effects on health. Mutations that are harmful may increase a person’s chance, or risk, of developing a disease such as cancer. Overall, inherited mutations are thought to play a role in about 5 to 10 percent of all cancers.
Cancer can sometimes appear to “run in families” even if it is not caused by an inherited mutation. For example, a shared environment or lifestyle, such as tobacco use, can cause similar cancers to develop among family members. However, certain patterns—such as the types of cancer that develop, other non-cancer conditions that are seen, and the ages at which cancer typically develops—may suggest the presence of a hereditary cancer syndrome.
The genetic mutations that cause many of the known hereditary cancer syndromes have been identified, and genetic testing can confirm whether a condition is, indeed, the result of an inherited syndrome.
Genetic testing is also done to determine whether family members without obvious illness have inherited the same mutation as a family member who is known to carry a cancer-associated mutation.
Inherited genetic mutations can increase a person’s risk of developing cancer through a variety of mechanisms, depending on the function of the gene. Mutations in genes that control cell growth and the repair of damaged DNA are particularly likely to be associated with increased cancer risk.
Natural Hormones Are Powerful Anti-Aging Tools
Hormone replacement therapy is the essence of anti-aging medicine. By restoring your body's levels of hormones to those of a young adult, you are taking one giant step away from the aging process. We are well-versed in the safe uses of natural hormones to boost energy, vitality, and libido, as well as lower risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, and many other degenerative diseases.
Nutritional and Intravenous Supplementation
We have a variety of nutriceuticals and phytonutrients available to enhance your anti-aging therapy. We will work with you to incorporate these into your diet to encourage better overall health and strengthen your immunity to prevent disease. Be sure to communicate with all your other doctors before incorporating any new therapies, as some of these supplements are still undergoing FDA evaluation and may also have interactions with other medications you are taking. Many of the supplements we recommend and offer to patients as a convenience are termed medical foods and all are extremely effective in optimizing health and vitality.
By helping to limit the damage done to DNA, nutrients can help slow aging at the cellular level by reducing the strain on the DNA repair machinery and keeping our cells healthier longer. Intravenous nutrition with vitamin C and B vitamins all has anti-aging properties and provide energy to our cells. Many of these therapies are invaluable in ensuring that we get the nutrients we need because oral supplementation may not be effective due to absorption issues.
Atherosclerosis Screening
Atherosclerosis Screening is the latest state-of-the art technological advance in carotid IMT (intima-media thickness) ultrasound that allows your physician to get a direct measurement of how healthy your arteries are.
Vascular disease can be seen even in its earliest stages before it causes symptoms or starts to block blood flow. Much more sensitive than regular carotid ultrasound vascular imaging (or Carotid Duplex which can only tell us if there is already significant plaque or blockage in the carotid arteries), Carotid IMT (CIMT), has been shown to correlate with future risk of stroke and heart attack. CIMT results allow us to assess how old your arteries are.
Stress Rehabilitation & Management
Just as stress is different for each of us there is no stress reduction strategy that is a panacea. Jogging and other aerobic exercises, different types of meditation, prayer, yoga and tai chi are great for many people but when arbitrarily imposed on others, prove dull, boring and stressful. There is certainly no shortage of stress relievers and in addition to the above, various progressive muscular relaxation exercises, autogenic training, deep breathing, massage therapies, visual imagery and self hypnosis practices are popular.
There are also acupuncture, acupressure, biofeedback, and other bodywork and postural techniques. Some people find that listening to music, hobbies, volunteer work, keeping a daily journal of events and how they feel, laughter, playing with pets, taking short breaks or shopping help them to relax. Others find relief for their stress related symptoms from aromatherapy, nutritional supplements like chamomile, spearmint, kava kava, adaptogens and St. John’s wort or even sitting under a pyramid.
In addition, a variety of cranioelectromagnetic stimulation devices have been found to be effective and safe for anxiety, insomnia and drug resistant depression. Strong emotional support from group therapy, family or friends is a powerful stress buster.
