Aging is a natural process. However, many people would like to avert it by all means. Medical advances have greatly increased life expectancy, but this does not avoid mortality.
What is aging?
People often find it difficult to come to terms with the physical changes that accompany aging. Whether plants, animals or humans, aging affects all living things on this earth. People often find it difficult to come to terms with the physical changes that accompany aging. Especially in industrialized countries, where youth and health are part of the culturally set standard of success. The biological process represents the slowing down of all chemical and physical processes in living organisms. Stopping the aging process means increasing one’s life expectancy. Since time immemorial, people have been concerned with the question of their own aging and ways of prolonging their lives. Only recently has science developed to the point where decisive progress has been made in extending life expectancy. Aging is also associated with impairments that can make life quite burdensome and painful. Since today’s population in industrialized countries is quite enlightened and has many options open to it, individuals can shape their lives in such a way that the aging process is delayed. Factors such as a healthy diet, exercise, low stress and a generally positive attitude to life play a role in this. Hereditary factors also have a decisive influence on the speed of the aging process. Thus, genetic research today is even trying to influence hereditary factors in order to cure diseases and stop the aging process.
Function and task
Why we age is not really understood. Nevertheless, the aging of living things is one of the most researched areas of knowledge. This has led to an extreme diversity of opinion on methods to influence aging. Aging is set up by nature to make way for the fresh and young. Aging is not due to a single process. Many different processes run in parallel and interact with each other. Most of them are genetically controlled, so they cannot be strongly influenced from the outside. Aging is the basis of the theory of evolution. According to this theory, only the strongest and most capable individuals of a population survive and form the gene pool for new generations. Biologists today assume that many of the same genes that make the young organism viable are later responsible for its decline. Genetically controlled maintenance systems must ensure, first and foremost, that the individual survives long enough to reproduce. Cells that are not necessary for reproduction thus become expendable after reproduction. After this period, the body still has cell reserves, but at some point they too are depleted by environmental stresses, stresses, and slowed cell regeneration. Various processes trigger cell changes that accelerate or initiate the aging process. In part, the aging process is controlled by organs, but it is also influenced from the outside. In the aging process, inflammatory processes can be detected in the tissues, influenced by harmful substances such as free radicals. They are caused for example by wrong nutrition, too much UV radiation, overweight, lack of exercise and are contained in environmental toxins. We absorb them with our food or through our skin. If free radicals are present in excess, cells are altered or destroyed.
Diseases and ailments
People are looking for ways to postpone the time of death as much as possible. In doing so, they hope to discover methods that can cure diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. While human life expectancy for the longest time of its existence on earth was at most 30-40 years, it has doubled in a few decades thanks to medical progress. As a result, mankind has to cope with more and more age-related diseases. These are mainly cardiovascular diseases, cancer and demential changes of the brain. Although medicine and pharmacology can influence many disease-causing processes, they cannot really avert aging and death. At some point, the body is used up.Nevertheless, there are typical “old makers” that people should avoid if they want to live healthy for a long time. These include free radicals, the most aggressive and persistent factors that affect our entire metabolism. They not only destroy the connective tissue of the skin, they are also responsible for many cancers. Antioxidants protect against the effects of free radicals and are found, for example, in vitamin E, vitamin C, vitamin A and selenium. A prolonged stress level damages the metabolism, because increased cortisol levels, which can be detected in the blood during prolonged stress, attack the immune system. This leads to arteriosclerosis with the risk of heart attack, stroke and diabetes. Lack of sleep also accelerates cell aging. Those who sleep a lot have firmer skin the next day and can enjoy more vitality thanks to a greater increase in growth hormones.
Smoking and alcohol are significantly involved in premature aging. They reduce blood flow to the skin and all organs. This increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and strokes. Probably 30% of all cancers are caused by smoking. Osteoporosis also occurs more frequently with age because the skeleton can no longer store sufficient calcium. Smoking also accelerates this process. Too much sun is also harmful. It produces wrinkles and pigment spots and significantly increases the risk of skin cancer. So if you minimize these factors, you can live a longer and healthier life. Nevertheless, healthy living cannot change the genes that mainly cause slowed cell regeneration and aging.
