Normal aging - a Myth

What do we understand by normal aging ?

Normal aging is a myth. Aging is a variable phenomenon that affects different individuals differently. The gradual wear and tear of any machinery depends on how well it has been maintained and taken care of. Till our youth the organs are growing and the regenerative capacity of our body organs is very active. But post youth the normal consequence of growth is the regenerative capacity decreases drastically because of genetic programming of cell death and the external environmental influences, which may hasten the process. The cell death lead to decreased capability to handle the environmental stress in return. The way we live, our diet, physical activity and the stress both physical and psychological causes a string of events in our body that would in the long run would determine the rate of decline in our normal functions. Added to this would be the illnesses that start appearing in the in the middle age and increase the burden of aging on the life quality.

What are the various changes that occur with aging?

Various organs show different physiological changes during aging. The table below summarizes the changes in a nutshell.

Organ	Aging changes
Skin	Skin becomes less elastic and more lined and wrinkled. Nail growth slows. The oil glands gradually produce less oil, making the skin drier than before.
Hair	Gradually become thinner. As hair pigment cells decline, gray hair growth increases
Face	Wrinkles, facial hair, bags under the eyes, double chin, longer ears, thinning cheek.
Hearing	High-frequency sounds become  harder to hear and changes in tone and speech less clear especially after 50.
Vision	Lenses in the eyes become less flexible (presbyopia). Night vision and visual sharpness to decline.
Nose	Ability to smell declines after age 65, amount of reduction varies widely between individuals.
Height	By age 80, it's common to have lost as much as 2 in. (5 cm) in height, posture and compression of joints, spinal bones, and spinal discs.
Body Weight	Weight declines between age 55 and 75, due mostly to loss of lean tissue, muscle mass, water, and bone.
Fat	Fat content and distribution change, storage increases
Sleep	Less sleep at night, and you may not sleep as deeply as you did when you were younger. Frequent midnight and early morning awakenings.
Brain	Gradual loss of brain tissue ( 5-10% by age 90), slow reaction, faltering memory, insomnia. Mental and physical responses to specific stimuli become slower.
Heart	Thickening of heart wall, gradual loss of effectiveness as a pumping machine.
Lungs	Lose elasticity and capacity (40% between ages 20 and 80), increasing difficulty to oxygenate blood.
Joints	Cartilage becomes cracks and frays, cushioning fluid gets thinner, tendons and ligaments are less resilient.
Bones.	Loss of bone cells accelerates at about age 35, bones become porous and brittle in the demineralizing process. Osteoporosis is common in women.
Metabolism and body composition.	Over time, the body typically needs less energy, and your metabolism slows. Hormone changes in the aging body result in a shift to more body fat and less muscle mass.
Abnormal Growth	Cancers, hyperplasia, and macromolecular aggregates become common.
Arteries	Cholesterol and calcium buildup, walls thicken, arteries harden, high blood pressure, risk of heart attack.
Blood	White blood cell and red blood cell count decrease.
Kidneys	Weight & volume of the kidneys shrink, marked reduction in the cleansing of impurities from the blood.
Bladder	Connective tissue weaken, lower capacity to store urine, and reduced efficiency of emptying content.
Prostate	Reduction in semen making after 60, enlargement in size may cause difficulty to urinate.
Reproductive System	Women go through menopause at ages of 45 - 50, reduced level of estrogen affects the whole body. Men's reproductive change with age is more like a reduction than a cessation.
Breast	Mammary (milk secreting) glands reduce in size, as does the breast.
Hormones	The level of several hormones, e.g., GH, DHEA, IGF falls with age, may be a major cause on ageing.
Immunity	Body's power to combat infection declines; auto-immune responses increase.
Muscles	Loss of muscular mass, partly due to un-use, other causes include loss of blood flow and energy supply.
Nerve	Demyelination - loss of myelin covering of nerve fibers, which is characteristic of neurological disorders.
Voice	Voice becomes weak and muffle
Tongue	Sense of taste loses only gradually with age, with equal reduction of all flavors.
Teeth	Teeth gum recession
Thermoregulation	Response to changes in environmental temperature becomes impaired.

What is Healthy aging?

Healthy aging is a way of lifestyle that may partially neutralize the deleterious effects of aging leading to a productive life for a longer life span. Even though genetic influences cannot be completely neutralized but the environment we create around us do influence the gene expression even when we are not able to appreciate those changes immediately in our body. Even minor changes in our lifestyle may lead to a happier and more satisfactory old age.

What is the role of preventive healthcare in healthy aging?

Preventive healthcare means actively intervening in the process of aging to look for illnesses, disabilities and stressful conditions so that they may be rectified at an early stage by lifestyle interventions. Preventive healthcare is a mindset that dynamically evaluates a lifestyle in terms of its long-term consequences both good or bad and finding where the problem lies and thereafter looking for the achievable solutions according to the individuals circumstances. This in the long term would decrease the load of chronic diseases in the old age and decreasing the economic burden due to health concerns of an individual and thence of a society.

More detailed overview of the different organs would be taken one by one in the next few posts.

Till then, stay healthy and stay ageless...

Dr Sweta Singla

Consultant Neurology

KVSC

www.kvsc.in 

AGING & the elusive search for ELIXIR

As we grow, from the infancy to childhood and thereafter progressing to youth, we have a natural eagerness to grow. We anticipate increasing stamina and maturity wherein we will be strong, energetic and would have loads of stamina to achieve our goals. But as we grow older, we want the time to stop in this elusive youthful state and want to defer growing old, as aging is commonly associated with illness, decreased stamina, loose skin and thin hair etc. And at a time like this, we wish we could get our hands on some elixir that would keep us in the state of youthfulness. We want to stay physically and mentally agile and remain beautiful as we once were in our young age.

The next series of articles in our blog would discuss various issues dealing with aging. What we understand by it? What are the normal changes associated with it?

What can we do holistically about decreasing the impact of aging or let’s say to keep our mental and physical machinery in a good state for longer time? In the next few articles, we will unfathom the mystery that is aging and how we can slow the process, thereby decreasing its impact.

Bringing you a GOOD HEALTH WISH.

Dr Sweta Singla

Consultant Neurology

Kalpavriksh Superspeciality Center

01128082828

www.kvsc.in