Do you know your biological age?
How about the reserve capacity of your lungs?
Or the length of your telomeres?
These are important questions, but who do you ask? Unfortunately, your typical internal medicine doc probably can’t answer them.
But the technology is here to answer all of these questions — and more.
As a regular reader, for example, you probably know that telomeres are the tiny strands of DNA at the end of each chromosome that determine how healthy and long your life will be.
And it’s very important that you know how long your telomeres are and how you can maintain them.
But a typical doctor’s visit won’t get you there.
Instead, what you probably get is a few minutes to share your symptoms. Then you’re told what’s wrong with you and you’re sent off with a prescription, hoping the problem goes away.
This isn’t my idea of how medicine should be practiced. And it sure won’t identify any underlying problems you have or how you can prevent them from turning into dreadful, age-related diseases.
That’s why I’ve come up with a different kind of practice — and different kind of patient care.
Patients Want Answers
I’ve always believed that to achieve optimal health and wellness, patients need to act like dance partners working “in sync” with me to achieve the same goal.
If I don’t know where my dance partner is — in terms of their health markers and progress — we’re almost certainly going to be out of step.
That’s why I’ve never just treated patients’ symptoms and sent them on their way.
To prevent premature aging and achieve real, long-term healthspan, I need to quantify those vital markers.
For example, I need to know all about my patients’ daily diets, what type of exercise (if any) they do, and what toxins they’re exposed to, etc.
Only then can I get an accurate picture of what’s working and what isn’t.
I’ve already started the next generation of comprehensive, collaborative medicine at my Sears Institute for Anti-Aging Medicine in Royal Palm Beach, Florida.
You see, all of the new patients at my institute go through a comprehensive exam and blood screening. But that’s just the beginning.
To get a full picture of a patient’s health, we test things like body composition, metabolic rate, heart and lung reserve capacity and, yes, telomere length.
We also set up a food log to track your diet and do strength assessment testing to check your mobility and muscle function. And we test the level of toxins in your body.
Once that diagnostic work is done you receive an all-encompassing wellness, which we use as a baseline for your care.
But we don’t stop there…
Who’s Your Health Coach?
Then I set you up with our health coach, Jessie. But she’s much more than a coach — she’s your care advocate.
To show you how this new program works, let’s start with a sample patient, John.
- Step 1: John visits the Sears Institute for Anti-Aging Medicine. He complains about shortness of breath and weakness. Firstly, we complete a comprehensive health questionnaire and blood work to establish his vital health markers.
- Step 2: We study his lab results. Overall, his health seems pretty good. But we make some nutritional adjustments to his diet to deal with various deficiencies. To address his shortness of breath and weakness, we now test the reserve capacity of his lungs with our VO2 Max test. We also test his muscle strength in our fitness studio.
- Step 3: John’s performs poorly on our VO2 Max test, which means the reserve capacity of his lungs is low. We have caught a major hidden danger lurking. Lung power is the number one predictor of how long you’ll live. As the capacity of your lungs declines, so does the length of your healthspan.
- Step 4: To boost John’s lung capacity and strength, Jessie prescribes short bouts of vigorous exercise that are the core of my PACE exercise program. PACE progressively challenges cardiopulmonary output. Think of it like weight lifting for your lungs. When you progressively challenge your muscles by adding incremental amounts of weight, your muscles become bigger. PACE does this for your lung capacity.
- Step 5: But Jessie doesn’t just send John on his way with some PACE exercises. She works with him, one-on-one in our fitness studio and develops a personalized program.
- Step 6: Jessie checks in with John regularly to track his progress, answer questions and offer words of encouragement. She’s there to meet his needs every step of the way on his journey to wellness.
The next generation of health care has you involved as an active, educated participant. It provides anti-aging treatment that gives you a full measure of your health by tracking the real sources of premature aging and disease — poor nutrition, lack of proper exercise and exposure to environmental toxins.
And it features medical professionals who are your partners, working in concert with you to provide the vital information, open communication and motivation you need to restore your health and vitality.
Modern medicine is changing for the better in a fundamental way. Is your doctor evolving along with it?
For more information about the Sears Institute for Anti-Aging Medicine, call 561-784-7852 or visit searsinstitute.com.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD, CNS