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by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.
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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Appearance and Aging

Monday January 13, 2003

I recently decided to do something about growing older in general and middle-age in particular. I decided to deny the former (or at least put it out of mind) and argue that the latter does not or at least should not exist. This may not be an effective strategy -- only time will tell. Unfortunately, that's not all time will do. The consequences of losing time, that is, experiencing decades and decades of years containing huge hunks of time, are preposterously unsettling. Something should be done about it. I propose doing just that. I recommend a wellness lifestyle for everyone who is or who thinks he/she is getting older. Chances are, it's true. Don't leave youth without it -- a wellness lifestyle, that is.

This might be a good time to review what science can tell us about the aging process. Once the facts are clearly stated, then I can get on with the good stuff, namely, my opinions about aging. The first thing to understand is what causes changes we associate with aging, as well as other things that are part of the process whether we associate them with aging or not!

The good news, or maybe this is the bad news, is that much about aging is unknown to science! Really. Like, how come Dick Clark is still doing American Bandstand? Yet, that is not a scientific question, and I suspect that the REAL Dick Clark has been dead for at least 40 years. His popularity remains so high with everyone who danced on American Bandstand as a teenybopper going all the way back to the original television broadcast in Philadelphia in 1917 that Hollywood moguls keep hiring Dick Clark look-alikes to play the role. This enables continued sales of Dick Clark dolls and other merchandise. As each Dick Clark actor begins to appear too old for the part, he is replaced by another, younger Dick Clark look-alike and the band plays on. Anyway, Dick Clark is just one of the mysteries of aging unknown to science. Scientists do know that aging has something to do with your genes, the environment and your lifestyle. I could have told them that and saved taxpayers a lot of expensive, time-consuming research.

Modern science people who work at the National Institute on Aging do have at least two terms for all the theories everybody else has about aging, and all theories are shoehorned into one of two categories, programmed aging or aging due to damage/errors.

The first group, the programmed theorists, believe that aging is basically fixed via a set timeline. Eventually, the immune system will decline and/or hormone production will fall off or somehow, no matter how many miles you jog or how much carrot juice you drink or how well you manage stress and so on, things within will break down. Disease is programmed like a time bomb. You are doomed. Eat, drink and be merry.

The second group of scientists holds to error theories. Here, aging is viewed as occasioned by environmental factors. These also damage the body, interfere with normal function and before long, you're gone.

Cells and tissues just wear out over time, helped along by byproducts of cell metabolism called "free radicals" that inflict mortal wounds on normal cell function (protein synthesis, for one example) leading to broken-down organs. Once the organs go, you follow. Included in the list of environmental agents responsible for all this are sunlight and toxins of many kinds.

Naturally, the purpose of all these theories is not just to explain aging but also to find ways to mitigate its undesired effects. Eventually, scientists hope theories will lead to techniques or interventions that slow the aging process, extend human life and, most important of all for wellness purposes, keep you active and healthy for a very long time. How long? That is a topic for another day.

For now, take care, enjoy, and look on the bright side of life.

Domain: physical
Subdomain: appearance and aging

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