Do I need NAD Injections?

You may be thinking to yourself, “Do I need NAD Injections?” Of course, always consult with a doctor before making decisions about your health. But I’m excited to tell you how I’ve been raising my NAD+ levels naturally.

First, let’s define some important terms for this blog and our lives.

Lifespan is the number of years in your life.

Healthspan refers to how long your wellness and overall health last. If you listen to my podcast, you’ve probably heard the story about my grandma who has been in the nursing home with dementia for 14 years. Her disease-span, the opposite of healthspan, is 14 years. I want to increase my healthspan as close to my lifespan as possible. I also want to help you do the same.

You may be thinking your genetics are going to come into play here. They are, but not as much as you might think.

Our genes and DNA are NOT our destiny!!! The epigenome, which controls gene expression is the main mechanism that decides our destiny!!!! Only 20% of our health is genetically determined. Epigenome accounts for the other 80%!!

That means our environment as well as what we put in and on our body will have a bigger impact on both our lifespan and healthspan than our genes. For someone who had 3 grandparents die with cancer, this is great news.

I bet you can think of two people who are the same age but appear entirely different ages. Maybe you know people who look years younger or others who look far older than their peers.

Aging happens from the inside out. It’s rooted at the cellular level. If your cells are young and healthy, that manifests on the outside. If your cells are struggling or damaged beyond their years, that also shows on the outside.

So, how do you boost your NAD+ levels? You might have heard of NMN. It’s quite the buzzword right now. But you might be wondering what it is.  

NMN has been shown to suppress age-associated weight gain, enhance energy metabolism and physical activity, improve insulin sensitivity, improve eye function, improve mitochondrial metabolism and prevent age-linked changes in gene expression.

 NMN supplementation can reinstate NAD+ levels in the body through biosynthesis pathways, reversing the aging process and preventing age-associated diseases. The NMN in the MetaPWR Advantage is natural. I’ve only been able to find synthetic till now. That is one reason why I’ve been so excited to add this product to my daily habits!

 NMN is a vital precursor in the biosynthesis of NAD+. So without NMN, our body isn’t synthesizing NAD+. NAD+ is a coenzyme found in every cell of the body and serves MANY functions. The most critical are metabolic processes and mitochondrial function.

NAD+ is a key player in metabolism where it helps enzymes turn nutrients into energy. Its reaction with oxygen in the mitochondria creates energy that enables essential body functions such as breathing, thinking, moving, and digestion. 

 By the time we reach age 50, NAD+ levels are generally half of what they were at age 20. This decrease can contribute to various health challenges, like difficulty managing weight and lower energy levels.

 Besides converting food into energy and repairing damaged DNA, NAD+ serves as fuel for many indispensable biological processes like strengthening the immune system and setting the body’s internal clock. Scientists also believe that NAD+ is the most powerful antioxidant in our body.  NAD+ cells function as if they were younger reversing our biological age. YES!!

 Pretty amazing! Needless to say I’m really excited about this new product. Let’s talk a little bit more about how it can help us turn back time.

 Glucose Metabolism is the chemical reactions that converts carbs and sugars into energy. This happens inside our Mitochondria. They are basically our life force generators. They create the fuel that powers each and every cell in our bodies. Their biggest job is to import nutrients, break them down, and turn them into complex molecules called ATP, the cells battery packs.

"Perhaps no structure is so intimately and simultaneously connected to both the energy of you and the decline of the old." Dr. Sinclair

Over time we have been bombarded by toxins, radiation, stress, crappy diets and not enough movement. We've been stuffing down our emotions. This takes a toll on our cells and how they function.

Epigenome is the cellular software that controls your DNA/your genome. It tells each cell what genes it should turn on and what genes it should turn off. Genome are the keys on the piano and epigenome is the pianist who decides which keys to play.

These lifestyle factors are believed to powerfully modify epigenetic patterns:

Diet

Healthy weight

Physical activity

Stress management

Sleep

Reducing:

Smoking

Alcohol consumption

Toxins

 NAD+ is a helper molecule, a co-enzyme found in every cell in our body. It partners with our sirtuin vitality genes. Sirtuins signal proteins that regulate cell metabolism and longevity gene. It helps process nutrients into ATP, the power "currency" of our cells.

Sirtuins are a set of seven regulatory genes that have two different and competing functions in your cells. The govern epigenome and direct DNA repair. As we age they can become overtaxed because of how much DNA repair is happening. When that happens, they are distracted by the other most critical job of deciding which genes should and should not be turned off.

Aging on a molecular level can be described as the tension between gene regulation and gene repair, and how we pay the price when our sirtuins become overwhelmed.

In epigenetics study they measure a chemical change called methylation. They compare this change to rust on a car.  The more you have the older you are biologically and the fewer years you have left.

 Over the last two years the CDC has reported that those in their 90s with chronic disease wrack up 1/3 of the healthcare expenses than those who get diagnosed with one in their 60s. They are more likely die quickly and are sick for a short period of time.

 You can start right now with water, nutrition, daily movement, and better sleep habits. I’ll be doing all of that and adding this natural supplement of collagen, NMN and other amazing natural ingredients to my daily routine. I’ve been taking it for over 60 days and call already tell a difference in my sleep and energy. I’ve also lost 15 pounds. Since I’m not dieting, I know my body will stop losing weight when it feels it’s in the healthy zone.

I recently finished a couple of books on extending healthspan, both of which talk quite a bit about NMN. If you’re interested in learning more, I recommend.

 Lifespan by Dr. Sinclair and Life Force by Tony Robbins. Thank you so much for purchasing with these affiliate links that help support this blog and the podcast. Let me preface this by saying I don’t agree with everything in these books. But it gave me a lot to think about. The parts that did resonate with me REALLY resonated. I found them both to be interesting reads.

So to recap, when we take natural NMN supplements, it helps the body make NAD+. NAD+ enables essential body functions and is the most powerful antioxidant in the body. So think of it like a car. It’s helping to keep up from rusting from the outside in and the inside out. We can see improvements in:

Breathing

Thinking

Moving

Digestion

Immune system

Age related weight gain

Insulin response

Energy

Metabolism

Age associated diseases

Learn more about the 30 Day Your Metabolic Reset Here

FAQ

Can kids and teenagers take NAD supplements?

Children's metabolic health is largely under the influence of parents. Focusing on the other 4 pillars of metabolic health (healthy eating, daily movement, stress management, and health conncetions) in the younger years of our children's lives will be of great benefit. As teenagers start to have poorer diets outside of our homes it may be beneficial for them to use these supplements.

What is NMN?

NMN stands for nicotinamide mononucleotide, a molecule naturally occurring in all life forms. At the molecular level, it is a ribo-nucleotide, which is a basic structural unit of the nucleic acid RNA. Structurally, the molecule is composed of a nicotinamide group, a ribose and a phosphate group. NMN is the direct precursor of the essential molecule nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) and is considered a key component to increase NAD+ levels in cells.

What is NADH?

NADH acts as the transfer of the extra electrons to the inner membrane of the mitochondria and are considered the activated carrier molecule. NADH converts back to NAD+ in a reverse reaction and the process of electron transfer is carried out with the movement of protons as H+ ions.