Organ reserve and biologic age

A Corporate Wellness Solutions principle…enhancing organ reserve yields lower biologic age. The average length of human life has increased dramatically over the past 100 years, and may increase further in the next two decades. It is important that these additional years be healthy enjoyable years. If additional years of living have seriously compromised physical and mental function, then the overall benefit to the individual is questionable, and the burden to society is potentially enormous.

Physiological functions gradually decline with aging, but with great variability among individuals. Organ reserve is the principle behind biological aging vs. chronological aging. An example of reduced organ reserve is a man who cannot walk up one flight of stairs but doesn't need to because he always takes the elevator. An example of reduced brain organ reserve is the woman who answers simple questions but cannot do basic math or remember the main points of a story she just read ten minutes ago. At first, these people appear entirely normal. It is only when we stress the organ that we discover how much reserve it has.

Everyone loses some vitality and organ reserve with aging. How much organ reserve you lose is the important determinant of biological aging. Maintaining organ reserve has two distinct benefits. One is that over time, the person with more reserve can afford to have a little organ reserve decreased with aging. The second benefit is increased resiliency or less vulnerability to acute stresses now, like certain bacteria that may cause disease, or even trauma. And the person feels better, stronger, with increased "feelings of well-being", a phrase now more frequently used in even the most stodgy of scientific journals.

In general, musculoskeletal reserve is measured in strength, flexibility, range of motion of joints, and cardiovascular endurance. It is enhanced through specific prescriptions for resistance training, flexibility and cardiovascular exercises tailored to the individual's existing strengths, vulnerabilities (e.g., a bad knee or arthritis), and preferences.

Antioxidant (or detoxification) reserve is measured biochemically, and is corrected with nutrition: elimination of the toxic; augmentation of phytonutrient consumption (found generally in fruits and vegetables), and specific targeting with supplementation (e.g. grape seed extract for varicose veins).

Cognitive reserve is measured with specific validated neuropsychological tests, and improved with a combination of measures, then remeasured to document improvement.