There are theories about effects a person biological and the amount of time available to them. One popular theory that may affect the length of a biological clock is the grandmother effect. This theory includes the belief that the presence of a grandmother increases the life span of both her adult daughter and her grandchildren. Another theory to address the question of how much time is given to an average person is the theory of procreative success; this means that animals only live long enough to ensure the success of the next generation. Even though grandmothers help with the survival of their daughters’ children, the grandmother effect does not influence genetic longevity; procreative success is what determines a human’s biological clock. …show more content…
Yet there are very few studies showing that children with present and active grandparents actually live longer lives in old age. In actuality, Kachel, Jean-Jacques, and Premo claim, “to date, important assumptions of the grandmother hypothesis remain undemonstrated and important questions remain unanswered” (384). The approach taken here is a grandmother’s helpfulness does not affect the longevity of her and her children’s offspring. There is a difference between having an impact on society and having a social role with evolutionary significance. Kachel, Jean-Jacques and Premo explain, “Despite the fact that the help provided by grandmothers significantly reduces the mean interbirth intervals of their adult daughters and significantly increases the survival of their matrilineal grandchildren in our model, grand-mothering has no effect on the evolution of longevity” (398). This is confirmation against the notion that grandmothers increase longevity in grandchildren. The results of the study comply with the ideas of Carnes and Olshansky, “A common misconception is the alleged assumption that longevity, and the mortality that defines it, is programmed within the genome of organisms”
There are various genetic changes that people can experience the ill effects of that will presumably never be finished unless we effectively mediate and genetic engineering the cutting edge to withstand these issues. Case in point, Cystic Fibrosis, a dynamic and risky sickness for which there is no known cure, could be totally cured and annihilated with the assistance of particular genetic engineering, so it can almost never aging effect humans.
It is a known fact that people are living longer today and with older age comes many obstacles for which the elderly overcome. Such obstacles as; physical changes, mental changes, changes in income, friends, family, and at times their way of life. As the baby boomers are getting older, some find that their social life has declined because most of their friends have died. Moreover, some of the boomers are maintaining their lifestyles as though nothing has changed, while others are in the midst of significant changes in their lifestyles and their way of life. The purpose of this discussion board is to compare and contrast two social theories about aging and how it relates to the role of the caregiver. Furthermore, I will discuss the one new
The final stage is the “family in later life”. During this stage, individuals must accept the shifting of generational roles, as they become the grandparents. They must be able to let go of some power to their offspring as they find their new place in the family system. Dealing with this change while facing potential decline in health, financial security, and loss of spouse can be stressful. Grandparenthood can be a reward substitute (Carter & McGoldrick, 1988, p. 20).
Scientist have seen that telomerase expressing clones have no difference in karyotype but have a long lifespan by 20 doublings. With this research, cells have been seen to have a very youthful looking state for much longer. A last area of study is the hypothalamus of the brain. This part of the brain controls reproduction, growth, metabolism, and aging. This is where many of the age related diseases occur. The study of this area can lead to many advancements in age related diseases that can help people live longer. Though this area of study does not have many advancements it holds promising results. Though there have been numerous advancements, many people ask the question whether people need to live longer because of an already over populated Earth.
When it comes to life span development you have to understand what it is and where it comes from or even how it got its name. As it was said by Boyd and Bee that life span development is the name that psychologists have given to the physical and cognitive changes that occur throughout a person’s life (Boyd & Bee, 2009). So I will be first explaining the life span of development, along with summarizing two different theories of life span development, and then the last one is just explaining how heredity and the environment interact to produce individual difference in the development.
The notion of a biological/social clock is interesting because every single person has their own interpretation of what it means to them. My social clock is not going to start dwindling until I reach my late thirties. I want to enjoy my twenties and learn from them as much as I can. If I reach my late thirties and
Humans undergo several stages during their lifetime including growth, development, reproduction and senescence. Senescence is defined as the deteriorative biological changes that organisms experience as they age eventually leading to death. These changes include low metabolism, a weak immune system, memory loss, poor vision and loss of hearing. Senescence begins in humans during their post-reproductive years. However, gerontology research has shown that individuals who reproduce late have longer life spans compared to individuals who reproduce early. Nonetheless, it does not indicate that senescence is inevitable. All organisms experience senescence,
17). The generation of baby boomers is named so due to an extremely high birth rate following the return of WWII soldiers. These people, born from the mid-1940s to about 1964, are now either a part of the older generation, or only a few years from it. People tend to believe that the historical cohort’s large population is the only reason for an increased amount of older people in society. In reality, as the article points out, increases in longevity can also be attributed to advancements in medicine, along with knowledge about the spread of disease and general health (MacArthur Foundation, 2009). This myth contributes to the negative stereotyping of aging because those who believe this myth do not see the importance of an aged population. What some individuals do not realize is that generations living longer can provide endless wisdom, experience, and advice to the younger population. Instead of utilizing the increasing life expectancy, people tend to judge older individuals as having physical and mental decline, when in actuality, this is entirely untrue. This false belief is the second myth discussed in the
On the basis of this one factor, would you expect their life spans to be longer or shorter? Longer
For this week of the course, the assigned article for this assignment is titled "Good genes are nice, but joy is better". This article is the second in a series on how Harvard University is studying the issues of aging. The author of the article is Liz Meneo, a Harvard staff writer. The original date of this article is 11 Apr 17, and it can be accessed at: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/04/over-nearly-80-years-harvard-study-has-been-showing-how-to-live-a-healthy-and-happy-life/
the average persons lifespan depends on his or her genes. “The other ninety percent is
Scientists who study the lifespan know that neither heredity nor environment alone can account for the full range of human development.
The way God created us as humans is a life cycle where eventually late adulthood comes with the biology of aging. Santrock (2013) describes five different theories of why humans age (p. 541). The evolutionary theory explains that aging is more of a natural selection process, and diseases occur in the elderly because they “would have been eliminated” if they were in younger people (Santrock, 2013, p.541). Cellular clock theory describes how cells get tired of dividing after they have been reproducing for so long (Santrock, 2013, p.541). Free-radical theory explains when “cells metabolize energy the by-products include unstable oxygen molecules known as free radicals” (Santrock, 2013, p.541). The unstable oxygen molecules can damage DNA and other structures inside the cell (Santrock, 2013, p.541). Mitochondrial theory describes how aging occurs because of the mitochondria essentially wearing out and becoming less efficient (Santrock, 2013, p.542). Mitochondria are the cell’s “power house,” and they convert energy inside the cell (Bailey, 2008). The last theory, hormonal stress theory, illustrates the effects of stress, especially long term stress, on aging (Santrock, 2013, p.542). Stress released hormones which depress the immune system making people more susceptible to disease (Santrock, 2013, p.542). There are many theories about why human’s age, and all of them may be true, but regardless aging is inevitable and so are its effects.
Telomeres are directly correlated to the aging of a human body. Although some people might think that shorter telomere lengths are detrimental, the natural shortening of these telomeres are essential to healthy and normal aging. It is natural for cells to divide through mitosis, but each time cells are split telomeres are lost through the process. This is why the telomere maintenance system was evolved to protect the ends of chromosomes (Prescott, Kraft, & Chasman, 2011). Every time a cell is divided, its telomeres are weakened, and stress can accelerate this weakening, and biologically age the person. As a
Aging is the process of becoming older, as we age, multiple mutations occur that concern all the processes of aging well as it compromising a number of different genes. There are many theories of biological aging, such as the Cellular Aging Theory, Immunological Theory, and the Wear and Tear Theory. The Cellular Aging theory describes the process of aging in which cells slow their number of replication, thus giving each species a “biological clock that determines its maximum life span” and how quickly one 's health will deteriorate(Hooyman, 42). After a certain number of years, each cell which follows an apparent biological clock starts to replicate itself less, thus the specific individual or species slowly deteriorates. This theory gives