Lifestyle Choices

In common with all other life forms, the human body goes through a natural cycle of decay. This normal deterioration is inevitable, but need not necessarily be uncomfortable. Discomfort and a poor quality of life mean that ageing is taking place too quickly. Ageing is a process; being old is a sentence. The ageing process should be like of brandy: the better the ageing process is managed, the better the end product.

Being old

Growing old is like marching slowly into enemy territory — before you know it, the first signs of the enemy are there. These differ from person to person and there are many medical reasons why some people grow older faster than others. Growing old can also be accompanied by debilitating ailments and diseases. It is tragic when people have worked a lifetime to make a good living but are eventually too incapacitated to enjoy the fruits of their labour.

The ageing of the population also has socio-economic implications. The longer you live, the greater the chances of exceeding the limits of your financial income. As adults we should be aware of this and also teach our children to live meaningfully what will probably be long lives with multiple careers.

Thousands of people will have to start studying or receive training at an advanced age. For this, one will need a clear mind, not to mention the necessary energy and enthusiasm.

Ageing a disease?

Although growing old is regarded by most biologists and scientists as a genetic, inevitable, natural and universal process, some doctors still feel that it should be classified as a disease. Indeed, 90% of adult illnesses are the result of degenerative ageing processes. If we can understand and prevent or treat the causes of these and, in addition, prevent other diseases, then aging could indeed be seen as the overriding disease. This is already the view of the National Institute of Health in the United States.

As soon as it has been recognised as a disease, governments and medical aids will be able to draw up plans for arresting or slowing down the ageing processes. This would eventually result in a saving for the health providers.

New Hope

Almost all adult illnesses are the result of the degenerative processes of ageing. These include heart disease, most cancers, Type 2 diabetes, strokes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, autoimmune diseases, glaucoma and Alzheimer’s disease. Conditions such as these can be largely prevented or at least controlled — often just with lifestyle adjustments.

Anti-ageing medicine (AAM) is a new medical discipline. It is being recognised increasingly as the area of health care that will in future make a significant difference to the older population of the world. AAM practitioners focus on health span, not life span.

If you have had your cholesterol tested, take a cholesterol- reducing drug, have undergone a mammogram, had your bone density tested or take hormone replacement (e.g. thyroid hormone, testosterone, oestrogen, melatonin or dehydro-epiandrosterone (DHEA)), then you are already involved in AAM. This kind of medicine is based on the early detection, prevention and reversal of age-related illnesses.

The aim of AAM is quality of life and a youthful appearance rather than beauty. If you are healthy and youthful inside (in body and spirit) it will radiate from you. Why have the face and eyes of a 20-year-old if you cannot remember your husband’s telephone number?

A researcher at Reading University in England recently began experiments in which he implanted a silicon disk in his arm and then recorded on his computer the signals that his brain sent to his finger to make it move. When he sent the signal again from the computer to the disk, his finger moved of its own accord. It is believed that; in the future, it will be possible to link computers to your brain. You will then be able to send ideas by satellite to the other side of the world. Going one step further is the prospect that we will one day be able to store all the information in our brains on computer, so that in the event of an accident or other eventuality it can be fed back into the brain again.

Biological Age

Part of the management of the ageing process involves determining your biological age. The age reflected on your birth certificate is your chronological age, while the age at which your body and your brain are functioning is your biological age.

There are various places in the world, including South Africa, where such estimates can be made. Certain physical functions, such as auditory response time, muscle movement time, memory and a number of other so-called biomarkers, are measured and the results compared with those of other age groups. You may be 45 years old according to your birth certificate, while your body may be functioning on the same level as that of a 30- or 35-year-old. If you are old before your time, something can be done about it.

If you are biologically younger than the age given in your ID book, then you know you are doing the right things. You could then be retested after 18 months.

Many people are afraid of finding out their biological age. View this as a positive starting point, almost like the little red cross (”you are here”) on the floor plan of a shopping mall that helps you to find the place you want to go to.

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