What Does Telomere Testing Reveal About Your Aging Process?

Telomeres tell your doctor how the cells in your body are aging. You want them to be healthy and strong, so they can effectively fight any mutations or degeneration. These cells are made of shelterin, a set of proteins that work to prevent your DNA sequence from being tainted in any way. It’s normal for telomeres to shorten as you age. However, with the help of telomere testing at Dr. Avi Ishaaya Centers, board-certified physician Dr. Avi Ishaaya can analyze any changes to your chromosomes that may potentially lead to decreased health or a shorter lifespan. Shorter telomeres tell him when you’re more likely to develop certain disorders or diseases, like cancer. During an initial consultation at his Los Angeles, CA office, you can have this important testing done to determine how healthy you are.

Why do telomeres shorten?

Degeneration of telomeres happens because of poor lifestyle choices, like being sedentary, overweight, or obese, smoking, or having a poor diet. All of these things can lead to a shorter lifespan. When your telomeres shorten, it tells your cells to regenerate less healthy ones and to produce mutations that can lead to the development of cancer.

Ultimately, some of the most significant factors for telomeres are genetics and stress. Stress can significantly shorten telomere length. The type of stress that you experience, as well as your lifestyle, will directly affect your telomeres. When we are exposed to chronic stress, our health is negatively impacted, especially our telomere length.

How telomere testing works

A telomere test is a blood draw or a cheek swab test, which is conducted at your initial visit. You don’t need to fast in any way. The sample is sent to a lab for evaluation. Dr. Ishaaya suggests telomere testing once a year to compare results and to re-examine lifestyle changes. This will give him a baseline to make suggestions for treatments that will help improve your health. It also gives you information on whether your telomeres are healthy or not and can prompt you to make positive changes in your life.

You can experience many different symptoms when shortening occurs, which can affect all of your organs. This is why having telomere testing at Dr. Avi Ishaaya Centers in Los Angeles, CA is so important for patients of all ages. Telomere length testing enables Dr. Ishaaya to diagnose and treat certain diseases or disorders caused by shortened telomeres.

How can I strengthen my telomeres?

Treatment options vary with each patient. However, Dr. Ishaaya’s goal is to slow down any shortening to help improve your health. This is achieved with a healthy diet and lifestyle changes, including:

• Quitting smoking

• Getting enough sleep

• Losing weight

• Reducing stress

• Reducing inflammation in the body with an anti-inflammatory diet

• Exercising

• Having regular annual visits

At Dr. Avi Ishaaya Centers, we can determine what we think will help strengthen your telomeres best to help combat chromosomal aging.

How telomere testing will improve your health and increase your lifespan

Telomere testing allows our board-certified physician, Dr. Avi Ishaaya, to look at your chromosomes to learn how you are aging. At our Los Angeles, CA, office, we can create a custom anti-aging plan that will focus on maintaining your telomere length and slowing down the shortening rate. If you’re interested in improving your health, call Dr. Avi Ishaaya Centers today to schedule a consultation to learn how telomere testing can help you.