Today, with the accelerating aging process in society, effectively managing health for the elderly has become an urgent social issue.
In the realm of health preservation, Reishi mushrooms are a “treasure trove.” They have consistently excelled in supportting the immune system and regulating bodily functions, harboring immense potential!
On the evening of April 24, Professor Lin Zhibin from Peking University Health Science Center was a guest on the “Shared Great Doctor” live broadcast, sponsored by GanoHerb. He delivered a wonderful presentation on “Reishi and Elderly Health Preservation,” packed with valuable insights! Health enthusiasts, be sure to save this!
1. Old Age ≠ Senescence: Professor Lin Zhibin Shared His “Elderly Health Scripture”.
A person’s life is divided into several stages: infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. Old age is an inevitable stage of life. Upon entering old age, various bodily systems undergo degenerative changes, which are essentially manifestations of aging.
However, it’s important to note that “aging” doesn’t only begin in old age. For example, after entering adolescence, the thymus gland already begins to degenerate.
Modern medicine believes that aging has 14 characteristics, with key features including genomic instability, telomere attrition, epigenetic changes, protein synthesis deficiency, and autophagy dysfunction. It’s worth mentioning that “psychosocial isolation” is also a very important characteristic of aging.
Various factors contribute to aging, with diet and lifestyle playing crucial roles. Bad habits like heavy drinking and smoking accelerate human aging.
During the live broadcast, when discussing his personal health preservation experience, Professor Lin offered three practical health tips:
1) Prioritize mental health: Don’t be afraid of aging, don’t dread it. Face the changes that come with age.
2) Actively integrate into society: Elderly people should not detach themselves from society; they should do what they can. Society should also give the elderly enough respect and not discriminate against them.
3) Maintain a healthy lifestyle: Eat moderately, wake up and go to bed on time, don’t smoke, drink as little as possible, and exercise regularly, such as brisk walking several thousand steps a day.
2. The Anti-Aging Secret of Reishi Mushrooms
Ancient texts already highlighted the miraculous effects of Reishi mushrooms. Phrases like “long-term consumption lightens the body and prevents aging, prolonging life” clearly indicate Reishi’s life-extending properties. The Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (The Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica) also states that Reishi can “tonify the qi of the five internal organs (heart, liver, lung, spleen, kidney),” “replenish essential qi,” “tranquilize spirit,” and “increase wisdom.”
Today, Reishi mushroom fruiting bodies have not only been included in the list of national statutory traditional Chinese medicines but also entered the “medicine and food homology” catalog in 2023. This means it can be used as a medicine, a health food, and also as a regular food.
The anti-aging effects of Reishi mushrooms are mainly reflected in the following aspects:
1) Regulating Immune Function: Reishi significantly enhances immunity. During flu season, taking Reishi in advance can effectively prevent colds and alleviate their symptoms, as many who have taken it can attest.
2) Antioxidant and Free Radical Scavenging Effects: Reishi can increase the activity of antioxidant enzymes and reduce oxidative products, thereby acting as an antioxidant and scavenging free radicals. This effect is also related to its ability to delay the aging of the five internal organs.
3) Improving Learning and Memory Impairment: Reishi can also improve memory and play a positive role in the nervous system, helping to “increase wisdom and prevent forgetting,” and also assisting in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
4) Regulating Aging-Related Genes: The human body has aging genes and aging-suppressing genes. The former promote aging, while the latter delay it. Reishi can regulate these genes, bringing them to a relatively balanced state, thereby exerting an anti-aging effect.
3. How to Choose the Right Reishi Mushroom Products?
With a dazzling array of Reishi products on the market, how should one choose? Professor Lin offers professional advice:
1) Always choose products with government approval numbers. Medicines must have a pharmaceutical production license number, and health foods must have the “Blue Hat” symbol. It is not recommended to buy unbranded and dateless products by a nameless factory. Especially for spore powder, when purchasing, always choose products with the “blue hat” symbol or a pharmaceutical production license number. This is an important guarantee of product quality and safety.
2) In terms of product type, you can choose Reishi extracts or combination products of Reishi extract and spore powder. When choosing spore powder, buy sporoderm-broken spore powder, as sporoderm-broken spore powder is more easily absorbed by the human body.
Ultimately, aging is inevitable, but scientific intervention can slow down this process. By adhering to “following the ways of nature and regular routines,” supplemented with Reishi to nourish the body and mind, a healthy old age can be expected.
