There is a growing belief that efforts should be made to extend life as much as possible, provided that the quality of life is maintained.
Dr. Leonard Hayflick, the multi-awarded cell biologist, with thirty years of pioneering research in human aging, reveals some of his fascinating findings:
• Hearts do not naturally get weaker with age.
• Middle-aged people who are slightly overweight live longer than people who are very thin or very heavy.
• Short-term memory declines with age.
• Physical performance can improve as a result of lifestyle changes, such as doing daily exercises. Although physical performance may increase and some diseases might be delayed, eliminated or slowed, there is no evidence that the basic causes of aging are affected by increased exercise.
• Kidney and pulmonary functions decrease with age. In healthy men, the decline of pulmonary functions is a significant risk factor for coronary heart disease.
• Weight declines between age 55 and age 75, due to loss of lean tissue, muscle mass, water and bones. Bone loss is greater in women.
• Lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell, have a diminished capacity to kill cancer cells beginning at age 40. Other white blood cells that fight infectious diseases, called neutrophils, also become less efficient with advancing age.
• Aging results from the interaction of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors.
• Age changes are highly individualized.
• A sign of aging is the decline in reproductive capacity.
• If vascular diseases and cancer---the two leading causes of death in developed countries---were to be delayed or eliminated, it will directly increase our life- span.
• In 1900, the leading causes of death were infectious diseases; their virtual elimination in developed countries has since resulted in a 25-year gain in life expectancy.
• According to biogerontologist Jaime Miguel of Spain, the basic cause of age changes is not wear and tear but the more fundamental process of free radical formation.
(JP's note: "Free radicals" will be discussed in a future blog entry).
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