They say that there are only two sure things in life - death and taxes! Another sure thing that we expect in our Society is to age. Nowadays, we see more of our elderly relatives sitting around in nursing homes, often in a state of senility, seemingly waiting to die. Occasionally, a sprightly 80 or 90-year-old will waltz down the street, still self-sufficient, ready to have a chat with everyone, and remaining very independent. How lovely it would be, if we could all be like that!

You might say that it's all in the genes, and obviously, quite a lot is. However, there are many things we can do, to prevent, or hold back, the effects of many of the diseases which we take for granted as part of ageing.

The main diseases, which we now accept as part of our Western way of life, were largely unheard of a few hundred years ago. These illnesses may take years off our lives, and incapacitate us - leading to time off work, chronic illness, inability to look after ourselves, institutionalisation, and premature death - not much to look forward to, is it?

The main causes of death a few hundred years ago were infection, accident, and malnutrition. These days, we have largely controlled infections, taken more precautions to avoid accidents, and eat heartily (however, many of us are still malnourished from the point of view of not having the correct amount of protein, minerals and vitamins, in our systems - a recent study published through the Oxford Textbook of Medicine, showed that up to half of all the patients admitted to hospital, suffered from some degree of malnutrition - and up to 70% who leave hospital are malnourished).

These chronic diseases have often a high degree of inflammation in them, leading to blood pressure problems, Heart Disease, Diabetes Type2, Cancer, bowel disorders, blood vessel damage, stroke, types of arthritis, etc. Few of these illnesses were around 200 years ago.

With Anti-Ageing medicine, we use a combination of factors, including advice on Nutrition, on exercise, the use of Bio-identical hormones, antioxidants, etc to keep the body's systems working at an optimum level, and to help detoxify the system. This can then give you a feeling of healthiness and vitality, allowing you to feel younger than your actual age.

Since it's often a downhill road from the mid- thirties onwards, looking after your health should start early in life - you shouldn't wait until the symptoms start and the progressive degenerative process is underway. An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of treatment.