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Explain theories of ageing
Explain theories of ageing
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In the field of gerontology, there is no other issue which is as contentious as the question of how long humans can live. One school maintains that human life can be extended for any number of years. While the opposing school says that there is definitely an age limit beyond which human life cannot be extended.
Aging is labeled as the accumulation of diverse harmful changes occurring in cells and tissues with advancement of age that are responsible for the increased risk of disease and death. (Harman 2003). Opposed to humans, most animals living in natural environs don’t age much due to various factors like disease, predation, drought or starvation. (Holliday 2006). In fact, it can be said that aging is a unique human phenomenon. (Hayflick 2000b). Advances in the fields of biomedicine and hygiene, have enabled us to know more about the aging process. The increase in life expectancy in the recent years can be seen in the boost in number of the old in developed countries.
We need to clearly distinguish the terms, life expectancy and life span. Life expectancy is the number of years a human can expect to live on an average. The maximum upper limit that a human can aspire to live is life span. Life span for humans has remained more or less unchanged over the past 100,000 years and it remains at roughly around 125 years. But life expectancy has increased tremendously over the past few decades thanks to advances in medicine and improvements in lifestyle.
One scientist who has become famous for expounding that science can reverse the aging process is gerontologist Aubrey de Gray. He is one among the leading lights that belongs to the school that argues that extension of human life is child’s play for Science. To understand...
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...an of those in developed countries. Studies have also proved that increased brain activity or cognitive faculties tend to elongate human lives. Some statistics also point out to the higher number of centenarians and super centenarians (those above age 110) living now.
References:
Harman D. (2003) The free radical theory of aging. Antioxid Redox Signal.5. P. 557–61.
Hayflick L. (2000b) The future of ageing. Nature. 408. p. 267–9.
Holliday R. (2006) Aging is no longer an unsolved problem in biology. Acad Sci. 1067. P. 1–9.
Tosato, Matteo., Zamboni, Valentina., Ferrini, Alessandro. and Cesari, Matteo. (2007) The aging process and potential interventions to extend life expectancy. PMC. [Online] Clin Interv Aging 2(3).p.401–412.Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2685272/. [Accessed: 4th March 2014].
-- Contrary to some clinical studies, there is inconclusive scientific evidence to support the theory of increasing a person’s lifespan
Humans undergo several stages during their lifetime including growth, development, reproduction and senescence. Senescence is defined as the deteriorative biological changes that organisms experience as they age eventually leading to death. These changes include low metabolism, a weak immune system, memory loss, poor vision and loss of hearing. Senescence begins in humans during their post-reproductive years. However, gerontology research has shown that individuals who reproduce late have longer life spans compared to individuals who reproduce early. Nonetheless, it does not indicate that senescence is inevitable. All organisms experience senescence, but at different rates and time. Many genetic diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease are prevalent in older individuals and the symptoms being to appear in middle adulthood. The causes of genetic diseases and disabilities in older individuals are explained by three evolutionary theories: antagonistic pleiotropy theory, mutation accumulation theory and disposable soma theory. These theories suggest that favorable natural selection and heavy allocation of resources for somatic maintenance during the reproductive period decreases the chances of genetic diseases in younger individuals.
As we age, we become more prone to a wide array of diseases, such as cancer and heart disease and treating these diseases most definitely helps us live longer but they do not seem to halt the natural aging process that eventually causes our bodies to weaken and wither away. New research suggests that, like several biological processes, the aging process could also be controlled and this could lead us to live much longer lives. However, commoners and bioethicists alike are often concerned about the bioethical issues pertaining to the life extension phenomena. They argue that the quality of life may be compromised in exchange for longevity and this may be due to intervention in the
Common sense seems to dictate that we are all going to die one day. As we all get older we crave to keep our youth, and to stay young forever is the ultimate dream. The thought of a possible immortality is just an added benefit. Even though we have strived towards this goal for centuries, have we obtained advances in successfully staying young forever? In Bill Gifford’s book “Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (Or Die Trying)” he explores these ideas of life and aging further. In this novel, he goes on a journey to try and debunk the mysteries and questions behind the new science of aging. He gathers information from tests and scientists from around the country to discover what really works to prevent or delay aging and what is just a hopeful hoax. He helps us figure out why we age and why aging
The World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that health conditions associated with the ageing process are arthritis, stroke, heart disease, cancer and diabetes. These health concerns can be avoided...
Life longevity, a controversial subject that everyone has been trying to figure out. A subject that has most of the American society obsessed with the idea that we are capable of living many more decades and the other half of society feeling that it’s a bad idea for the society. When it comes to the findings of life longevity there's still not a certain answer to what causes it, as of now there's only assumptions. This research has been going on throughout many years and has been one of the hardest research to crack down. Not even the centenarians knew what was the secret that kept them living such a long life, many would say it was elixirs that they took, others believed there
Aging occurs in every species. Over time a change occurs on a cellular level in a person’s body, which causes degenerative effects on the brain, muscles, organs, bones, hormones, and DNA. In 1991, the book Evolutionary Biology of Aging, offered the following definition of aging: a persistent decline in the age-specific fitness components of an organism due to internal physiological deterioration.1 Aging affects the body physically and mentally. Many people dread getting older due to the numerous changes the body goes through. The geriatric population experiences many pains and is inflicted with various diseases. There are a few who are lucky enough to not get diagnosed with a life altering disease, such as Alzheimer’s, type II diabetes, high blood pressure, macular degeneration, or some form of cancer. Studies have shown that genetics play a vital role in the aging process.
There are a number of benefits to be found from thinking about ageing as a lifelong process and not just one that affects older people. This essay will define some of these benefits whilst backing up this reasoning with reference to the K118 material. It will then explain briefly which experiences I have had personally which have led me to responding to the question in this manner.
Many countries globally are faced with unprecedented demographic changes from high mortality and fertility to low mortality and fertility, giving rise to an ageing population. Population ageing is profound and enduring, and has major consequences and implications for all facets of human life. With a larger proportion of older people, one of the major concerns is health and health care. The health of older persons generally declines with age and some illness are more likely to be associated with older people. One of such illness is dementia. As the life expectancies of the general population have dramatically increased since the turn of the century, more and more people are at risk of developing a dementia (National Institute of Aging, 2000).
SÍTAR, M.E., YANAR, K., AYDIN, S. and ÇAKATAY, U., CURRENT ASPECTS OF AGEING THEORIES AND CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO MECHANISMS. .
middle of paper ... ... Works Cited Berger, K. S. (2010). The 'Secondary'. Invitation to Life Span (Second Edition).
Centenarian longevity is very much based on the internal physiological functioning and health input and output of these individuals. Physiological functioning including the immune system functioning has seen to be maintained and even increased for these longevous human beings. Neutrophilic functioning for fighting infection, and gluthathione and catalyst activity are also maintained through the century years. These results show high correlations between the levels of centenarians, and those of young adults. Genetic-wise, the longer the telomere, the longer the lifespan, due to cell division. Polymorphic genes regulate the immune system and other surrounding structures, maintaining its functions. Furthermore, health-conscious individuals are more likely to maintain a longer life, and reach the century age. This is due to maintenance of functioning by adapting healthy routines throughout their lifetime, even through old age. In conclusion, maintenance of the body and physiological aspects similar to young adults at old ages show a great increase in surviving and living beyond 100 years.
Loue, S. and Sajatovic, M. 2007. Encyclopedia of aging and public health. New York: Springer.
Researchers have found out that the aging of cells is a result of damage in the molecules which make up the cells, such as proteins, lipids, DNA and RNA. These building blocks of our cells get damaged over time, this causes the cells to function less well. The cells in their turn build up the different tissues in the human body, therefor if these cells operate less well the entire human body will be affected by this in the form of aging.
Technology in terms of medicine has also increased the life expectancy of the average person. With new technological advancements in surgeries, medicines and treatments the average life expectancy is still on the increase. A recent study shows that the average life span for 2004 of a United States Citizen is 77.4 years old. This has increased significantly from 1900 where the average lifespan for a male was 48.2 and for the female 51.5. Thanks to technology we can now live longer.