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Aging as a Natural Process

mrjan | August 29, 2011 | 0 Comments

Aging is a natural process, but all of us age faster than we should. This accelerated aging is pathological, and in this sphere scientists are conducting studies to discover the factors that cause premature aging and to determine measures that can counteract pathological aging. This is not in the realm of theorizing but is a field of investigation that is both practical and fruitful. Just consider that at least half of a person’s liver is replaced every seven days and that the constant changes of the body need not be of a deteriorating nature. The study of the aging process is gerontology; the care of the aged is geriatrics. Gerontology is of particular interest to health science, and people in the health field are most interested in the positive aspects of gerontology—the extension of the prime of life.

Aging as a Normal Process: The distinguishing characteristic of life is that a living organism is capable of autocatalysis; that is, a living organism produces its own enzymes that accelerate the chemical action commonly referred to as living processes. These enzymes are proteins in the diet. It is obvious that physiological aging must be centered in chemical changes associated with the living process. Facility in synthesizing protoplasm is a key factor in retaining the prime of life.

Most of man’s knowledge of aging is expressed in descriptive terms, but scientists have discovered some basic biological factors associated with aging. Cellular proteins exhibit changes in aging. Labile proteins are associated with youthfulness of tissue, although even college students will have both stable and labile proteins. Skeletal muscles contain both stable and labile proteins, but with aging stable proteins are increased. There is an associated decline in the solubility of tissue proteins. Folding in the solubility of tissue proteins, folding of the proteins in tissues appears to occur, and this results in a chain effect that typifies aging tissue. The ability of colloids to bind water is decreased in an aging person and accounts for the wrinkled tissue typical of old age. Louis Pillemer and co-workers, at Western Reserve University, have isolated a protein substance (properdin) from the blood serum of lower animals and man that is important in maintaining resistance to infectious and noninfectious diseases. The production by the body of this protective substance declines with age. With this decline, interference with normal chemical action takes place, with the possible effect of hastening the aging process. Increases in sodium, lipids (fats), and calcium have been reported to occur in aging, and the ability to retain potassium declines. All of these aging changes could theoretically be attributed to the loss of the ability of cells to produce the enzymes essential for life processes.

Aging as a Pathological Process: Any interference with normal biochemical activity hastens aging. Usually it is not one single major factor but the cumulative effect of several minor factors that hastens aging. If this is recognized, it may well be that what we today think of as normal aging is in reality merely a lesser form of pathological aging. Certainly every adult represents a degree of pathological aging in some aspects, perhaps in most or even all. This is true even of those individuals who have a rate of aging much slower than typical. Today we regard as pathological aging that which is accelerated so greatly that it is generally recognized by the individual’s associates.

Premature pathological aging may appear in various guises or combinations of characteristics. A marked slowing down in tempo of all activities, abnormally slow recovery from fatigue, illness, or injury, particularly from wounds, pronounced loss of physical strength and endurance, poor muscle tone, stooped posture, unsteady gait, decline in sensory function, particularly of vision, inability to retain sufficient body heat, leathery appearance of the skin, and changes in life interests are all typical characteristics.

Repeated insults to the body are the cause of pathological aging. Toxins, chronic low grade infection, critical illness, arthritis, rheumatism, degenerative diseases of the cardiovascular-renal system, malnutrition, inactivity, injury, tension, stress, pain, exhaustion, irregularities, and indiscretions all hasten the aging process. To prevent these insults to well-being and to correct them when they occur is to prevent premature aging as well as to promote health.

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