Why do people NOT stay young?

By Evangeline T. Capuno

During a beauty contest held in a historic hotel in Manila a couple of years back, the host asked one of the contenders: “How do you see yourself 10 years from now?” With so much confidence, she replied, “I am now 18, plus 10. I will be 28!”

Her answer may be funny but there’s more truth to it. Every day, we grow older. Old age means nearing the average lifespan of human beings, and thus, the end of the human life cycle.

Euphemisms and terms for older people include advanced adult, elderly, senior citizen, and pensioner. Older people have limited regenerative abilities and are more prone to disease, syndromes, and sickness than other adults.

“Aging is a gradual, continuous process of natural change that begins in early adulthood. During middle age, many bodily functions begin to gradually decline,” writes Dr. Richard W. Besdine, of Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, for MSD Manuals.

Life, they say, begins at forty.  And at this time, people tend not to discuss age. As someone puts it, “Old age is a mental attitude as well as a physical problem. People shudder when you discuss old age.” Oliver Wendell Holmes points out: “A person is always startled when he hears himself seriously called an old man for the first time.”

“Many people think old age is a disease, something to be thwarted, if possible,” said T.C. Myers. “But someone has said that if any period is a disease, it is youth. Age is recovering from it.”

People don’t become old or elderly at any specific age. But mostly people equate old age with retirement. For government workers, the optional retirement age is 60 (which is also applied to those working for private sectors) and the compulsory retirement is 65. For those in the military and police services, the mandatory retirement age is 56, or 35 years of service.

However, there are several ways of telling a person that he or she becomes old, according to Dr. Besdine. It can be chronological age, biologic age, or psychologic age.  

Chronological age is based solely on the passage of time. If you were born in 2000, for instance, then your age is 23. “Chronological age has limited significance in terms of health,” Dr. Besdine explains. “The likelihood of developing a health problem increases as people age, and it is health problems, rather than normal aging, that are the primary cause of functional loss during old age.” 

Biologic age refers to changes in the body that commonly occur as people age. “Because these changes affect some people sooner than others, some people are biologically old at 65, and others not until a decade or more later,” Dr. Besdine says. 

Psychologic age is based on how people act and feel. For example, an 80-year-old who works, plans, looks forward to future events, and participates in many activities is considered psychologically young.

“People are wondering whether what they are experiencing as they age is normal or abnormal,” Dr. Besdine states. “Although people age somewhat differently, some changes result from internal processes, that is, from aging itself. Thus, such changes, although undesired, are considered normal and are sometimes called pure aging.”

Senescence – that’s what scientists call the process of aging.  According to Marquette University professor Sandra Hunter, aging is rather simple: “Cell death… eventually leads to systems malfunctioning and whole-body death.” Take the case of muscle fibers and nerves connected to them; they gradually die, leading to a loss of strength that starts at age 50 and continues steadily thereafter.  “A deeper question for scientists is, why do the cells die?” asked Popular Science.

Scientists have come up with several theories, and most likely a combination of them explains the aging process. 

One theory talks of oxidative damage. “Normal cell processes release harmful molecules called oxygen free radicals.  Substances in the body called antioxidants neutralize some of them, but a few free radicals escape unscathed and damage cells. Oxidative damage is linked to such diseases and conditions as heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer’s,” the science magazine explained. 

Another theory focuses on cell death on genes, which limit how often the cells can replicate. Three American researchers – Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak – won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2009.  They were cited “for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.” Telomeres are clusters of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) that cap the chromosomes of complex organisms, protecting the rest of the genetic code during cell division. “As cells age, these caps grow smaller, exposing the DNA to breaks and mutations that can lead to cancer or cell death,” the mgazine expounded.

Here’s another fascinating theory: “Certain genes might also control the life span of an entire organism. Research on worms shows that when scientists mutate genes related to the aging process, they can extend a worm’s life to four times its normal life span. If similar genes exist in humans and can be changed the same way, people could live, theoretically, to 300 years old.”

In the Philippines, the elderly population is steadily increasing in number. The website, ageingasia.org, reports: “In 2000, there were 4.6 million senior citizens (60 years or older), representing about 6% of the total population. In two decades, this has grown to 9.4 million older people or about 8.6% of the total population. The World Population 2019 projects that by 2050, older people will make up around 16.5% of the total population.” 

The elderly need care and support. “An ageing population increases the demand for health services,” the website says. “Older people suffer from both degenerative and communicable diseases due to the ageing of the body’s immune system. The leading causes of morbidity are infections, while visual impairment, difficulty in walking, chewing, hearing, osteoporosis, arthritis and incontinence are other common health-related problems.”