Aging Is Mindfulness over Matter

AGE IS MINDFULNESS OVER MATTER A Look at How Mindfulness Can Effect Cellular Aging

November 14, 2014

Mark Twain said, “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” However, for those who want to remain in the folds of youthfulness, it certainly does matter and the mind may just be the answer to not only your mental state but your physiological one as well. Ongoing studies on the effects of aging and the practice of mindfulness training are showing positive results for those aged 30 and above in dealing with not only their mental and emotional outlook, but on the effects of cellular aging. The significance here is that by controlling our cellular aging, we may be able to avoid or at least delay the onslaught of a variety of disease states, such as cardiovascular disease, vascular dementia, and degenerative conditions like osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. How can mindfulness do this? We will see that our emotional state has a direct impact on our physical well-being, more specifically on the true age of our biological cells. There is a chance for us to halt this progression by practicing ‘mindfulness aging’ and if we can master this practice, we can elevate our mind over the matter that is our body. While we may think that gray hair and wrinkled skin may be a determinant of age, telomeres provide a unique model for understanding cellular aging and senescence, which is the measurement of biological aging by way of gradual deterioration found in most complex life forms. Telomeres are the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes. Similar to the plastic caps on shoe laces, they keep the chromosome ends from fraying and/or corrupting during cellar division. Cell division is necessary for growing new skin, blood, bone, and other cells. Each time a cell divides, telomeres get shorter. Since telomeres naturally shorten with time many researchers use telomere length to determine cell age, and give a picture of overall brain...