Bio Gerontology: The Expectancy Of Life

The study of lifespan development is extremely crucial in most fields, and especially so within the field of psychology. It is important to remember that the brain and the body do not read the books, they make the books. In other words, researchers and scientists have to study and explore various aspects of life and the human body before we are able to make sense of it all.

The authors are thus led to conclude that “to date, no convincing evidence showing the administration of existing ‘anti-aging’ remedies can slow aging or increase longevity in humans is available.” And the SENS Research Foundation Web site admits: “No currently-available medical intervention or lifestyle choice has been shown to affect the basic human aging process.”"

As we grow in to adulthood, many things start to change in our life. Aging is an unavoidable process, beginning at conception and ending with death. The process does not proceed at a uniform rate all over the body. As we age, the organ systems of individuals age at different rates. Our body gradually slows down in early adult life. These changes are not apparent until perhaps 50 years of age as they are not perceptible.

There are many broad theories that aim to explain why and how we age. These theories generally compete with each other and typically only focus on one or a few aspects of aging. To truly have a comprehensive aging theory, one must look to multiple theories, both biological and social. For my theory, components from the free radical, immunological, modernization and continuity theories are utilized.

When discussing changing demographics, the author states "Last year, 4 million people in the United States were over the age of 85 … By 2020, the Census Bureau estimates that 7 million to 8 million people will be over age 85" ("A Brief History of Universal Design" 6). I found this stat remarkable; with societal advances our nation will over double the amount of people reaching age 85. I would ask the author if this feat is all due to changes in medicine, sanitation, and diet or if our average lifespan can advance naturally as time progresses.

It is only reasonable to think that if we decrease the aging factors the result will be a slower aging so let's discuss some ways to achieve that.

Human beings are known to deteriorate naturally with age in a process called aging, which is a psychological change in the human body leading to senescence. When human beings age, the biological functions of their bodies, resistance to diseases, and their ability to adapt to stress declines (Aldwin & Gilmer, 2013). The causes of aging have remained uncertain for a long time, and the process of aging has remained a biological puzzle. Nevertheless, scientific researchers that have set their sights on explaining the causes of aging have attributed the primary causes of aging to both programmed factors and damage-related factors.

Aging is something that affects us all. Seconds to days to months to years… our bodies steadily age. With that aging many health issues begin to affect our bodies. Time taking its toll on all of us. Along with the health issues one must face as they age, they also must deal with the effects that those issues have on one’s quality of life and their ability to live independently. It is important to address the problem with aging one, because of the basic effects that aging has on all of us, and two, because of how the effects affect one’s independence and quality of life.

There is no doubt that everyone knows about the biological, mental and physical changes that we experience as we age, which is known as aging. Aging is the process of “the process of change in the properties of a material occurring over a period, either spontaneously or through deliberate action” (“Definition of AGING,” n.d.). Evidence has proven that we age the most rapidly during the earlier years of life, as we mature from infants to sexual mature adults. As note by Moody & Sasser, (2015) the changes occur more slowly after physical maturity, but it never stops. From this point on with every passing birthday most of our

During the beginning of the twentieth century, infectious diseases were the leading cause of death worldwide. Three diseases in particular in the United States caused 30% of deaths; tuberculosis, pneumonia, and diarrhoeal diseases. However, by the end of the twentieth century, in most of the developed world, the mortality from infectious diseases had been replaced by mortality from chronic illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, and stroke.

Different authors and researchers define aging differently. Aging has been defined by Balducci(2007) as a loss of “entropy and fractality.” Loss of entropy implies a progressive reduction in an individual’s functional reserve, whereas loss of fractality implies a progressive reduction in the ability to coordinate different activity and negotiate the environment”. Yet another definition which would encapsulate the wider meaning of the term aging is “aging as a multifaceted phenomenon associated with decrements in cellular and physiological functions, increases in the incidence of numerous degenerative diseases and diminished capacity for responding to stress (Beckman and Ames, 1998).

The body of a human physically and mentally changes as we grow older. Once a person reaches adulthood, they begin aging causing the body to transform during the time of reaching maturity and the individual’s death. Physiologists have discovered that organs such as the heart, brain, kidneys, or lungs decrease in function as an individual’s life span increases. A younger individual’s body can fight off diseases better than an elder person. This is all due to the fact that as cells age, they function less as well.

diseases replace infectious diseases as the primary cause of mortality7. The first stage is the Age

The secret of youth has been looking for a long time. Many researchers have been experimenting to find ways to slow down the aging process.

Senescence, being the biological term for aging, is unstoppable so far in scientific discovery. It is known that humans are constantly aging over the course of their life, but there are many theories regarding what exactly causes aging. 2 of the main theories are that aging is a process that our cells have programmed within them, and that aging is the cumulative effect of damage to our bodies over the course of our lives. Ultimately, aging is down to many more factors than just these, like changes in our genome and mitochondrial dysfunction. Often, as the body gets weaker, these problems manifest themselves as disease and the body loses its ability to contest physical stress – increasing the rate of mortality. There are also diseases that speed up the aging process, like Werner syndrome, when people in their teens go through accelerated aging.