![]() This would allow each of us to then eventually die of pure aging, feeling well one day, and then dying suddenly the next – perhaps in our sleep. The ultimate outcome of biogerontology would be treatments that liberate older people entirely from pathology, yet allow them to age naturally. The aim of this research is not to slow aging or increase lifespan, but to increase healthspan, and to add life to years, not years to life. Their priority should be to understand how aging gives rise to age-related disease in order to find ways to protect older people from late-life illness. There are scientists that try to understand the biological basis of aging. Such research is worlds apart from the folly of trying to resist aging. Treating these diseases is the duty of doctors, and finding new treatments for them a major priority of medical research. Thus, although aging itself is not a disease, it is associated with an increased burden of disease. Older people do tend to get ill more often and to develop serious diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. There is a right length of life: 3 score and 10 years (i.e., 70) to want more is unseemly, greedy, and selfish.Īging is not a disease, but rather a normal and natural process. ![]() Conversely, to refuse to accept aging is a sign of weakness of character, of egotism, like a rich man who tries to avoid paying his taxes – and, of course, it is folly. Thus, one should endure aging and bow out gracefully with stoicism and dignity in accordance with nature’s wishes. In this way, aging assures the survival of the species. Aging also serves a function in nature: to weed out old and worn out individuals thereby freeing up resources for younger generations. From the Judeo–Christian perspective, it is our just punishment for Original Sin, specifically that of Eve, who ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil – cherchez la femme. Although aging seems frightening at first, and it is tragic that we all have to die, in the end it is for the good. Disease: A View from TraditionĪccording to traditional views, aging is part of the natural order of things that one should not resist. I will then describe how its elimination yields a clearer picture of the greatest cause of human illness and death. In this essay I will discuss the distinction drawn between aging and disease, starting with an account (in the form of a mild parody) of various traditional but largely false ideas about aging, some of them supported by this misunderstanding. Here a salient example is the widespread and, arguably, false view that aging is distinct from disease and therefore not appropriate for medical attention – and even something benign and wholesome ( Kass, 1983 Callahan, 1994 Fukuyama, 2002). Yet when it comes to aging this salutary process of rationalization is still in its early stages. Such a process of rationalization has profoundly affected the field of medicine, and the way we view many health-related issues, such as surgery, hygiene, infection, vaccination, abortion, contraception, homosexuality, and many others. A more realistic view of things, though it can initially cause controversy by upsetting traditional views and practices, ultimately enables more effective and more ethical action. Thus, there is a variety of recent findings providing optimism that successful cognitive aging, howsoever defined, will be attainable by more older adults in the future.Is our understanding of aging still in the dark ages? Over the course of the last centuries a gradual process of enlightenment has taken place in many different areas of human understanding, in which traditional views have been overturned by new knowledge borne of reason and the results of scientific investigation. A number of behavioral and environmental interventions, including dietary restriction, physical activity, and cognitive stimulation, are promising avenues for extending the cognitive healthspan associated with normal aging. Functional and structural neuroimaging suggest multiple pathways to successful cognitive aging, by way of brain reserve and cognitive reserve. ![]() Nevertheless, there are a number of biomarkers, at the genetic and cellular level, that provide indicators of cognitive health in aging. Successful cognitive aging is a multi-dimensional construct that lacks a consensus operationalized definition, and has been variously conceptualized in an ipsative, normative, or criterion-referenced manner. In this chapter, we review the definition and biological, psychological, and environmental determinants of cognitive health in later life. Given the rapid rate of population aging, basic science and public health efforts have increasingly focused on the determinants of successful cognitive aging.
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