Dr. Sunita Kumari
In view of the fact that all human beings do not age at the same speed, three different components of aging have been described to characterize an individual’s age. The first component is chronological age, which means the number of years since birth, or the number of rotations the Earth has performed on its axis and around the sun since a person leaves his/her mother’s womb. Chronological age cannot be altered by any means, and at the same time, it has the least to do with how we feel and function physiologically. In other words, an individual’s functional capacity, well-being or mortality risk does not depend upon chronological age.
The second component is psychological age which is a subjective experience of how old or young we feel. There is a common aphorism, “Old at eighteen and young at eighty” which means some people who are in their fifties or sixties may feel better than they did in their thirties. In prior times they may be unhappy in their lives, uncomfortable with their jobs and were not taking good care of themselves in terms of diet, exercise etc. But now they have started taking care of themselves, learned how to relax and enjoy life and their mental and physical well-being has significantly improved. Therefore, chronologically they may be older but psychologically they feel younger than they did during their previous years. The third and most important component is biological age which is a measurement of how well the systems of our body are doing their job physiologically. Biological age talks about overall health and indicates how rapidly or slowly a person is aging. Psychological age is closely linked to biological age. When the body is functioning in a more efficient, energetic manner, we experience as feeling livelier.
How and why behind the Aging Process (Theories of Aging)
Biological aging is a multifaceted complex process that leads to accumulation of diverse deleterious structural and functional changes at cellular level in all organs and organ systems. The aging process is mainly under genetic control but environmental factors definitely have an impact. The genes that control aging, do so by influencing the cell maintenance and repair. A huge number of theories have been proposed behind aging process, but the most accepted ones are:
Free Radical Damage Theory: According to this theory oxidative stress is one among the major cellular and molecular eventsthat contributes to biological aging and decreased lifespan. Oxidative stress means an imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants, in favor of oxidants that leads to generation of tremendous amounts of free radicals. A free radical (also called as reactive oxygen species) is an oxygen molecule that is missing an electron (unpaired electron). These are extremely hungry molecules and in order to replace their missing electron they haphazardly knock out the electron from any nearby source like proteins, fats (lipids), or DNA molecules. Over the time they damage them and lead to mutations that are responsible for synthesis of abnormal proteins in the cells. Since proteins function as enzymes and hormones, and structural element as well. Therefore, synthesis of abnormal proteins leads to decreased/ defective functioning of cells ultimately leading to cellular aging, senescence, and decay.
Cellular levels of free radical damage increase with age and countless illnesses are linked to free radical damage. Cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, inflammatory bowel disease, glaucoma, retinal degeneration, and Alzheimer’s disease are few of them.
Telomere Shortening Theory: It explains biological aging at cellular level. Telomeres are cap like structures of DNA located at the ends of chromosomes and they enhance the chromosomal stability by protecting their degradation. Telomeres naturally shorten due to the inherent limitations of the DNA replication process leading to a compromise in the cell’s ability to replicate and function properly, ultimately leading to a state where cells no longer divide (replicative senescence). This telomere shortening is a natural part of aging process but it is influenced by various factors. For instance, lifestyle choices, such as smoking, poor diet, lack of exercise and chronic stress have been associated with accelerated telomere shortening, and hence accelerate the biological aging process.
Similar to above two detailed theories of aging, there are others namely,Caloric restriction theory, Inflammation theory (Inflamm-aging), Mitochondrial theory, Gene regulation theory, Disposable soma theory, Neuroendocrine theory etc. but the understanding to all these theories is complex interplay of multiple factors and still an area of active research.
Signs and Symptoms of Aging: Age related changes occur in all tissues of the body and affect the functioning of all body systems. Aging person can have greying/loss or thinning of hair, wrinkling of skin, and age spots. Greying of hair usually starts in thirties but sometimes we may find greying of hair at an early age and even in school going children (premature aging).There may be reduced muscle mass and strength, pain and stiffness in the joints, decreased bone density, decrease in vision, hearing loss, reduced metabolism, fatigue, change in sleep pattern, change in mood, and slow wound healing. It is essential to recognize that while these signs and symptoms are common with aging, they are not uniform for everyone and different individuals age at different rates. Therefore, a person can have biological age very different from the chronological age. Furthermore, advances in medical care and lifestyle intervention can help manage or delay these age-related changes and promote healthy aging.
How to narrow down the bore in the aging clock and have the ultimate combination of mature wisdom and youthful biology?
While presently it is almost impossible to completely halt the aging process, but it can be influenced and slowed down.Various studies have shown that human aging clock is malleable. Although we cannot manipulate our chronological age, we can definitely manipulate the more important measures of our biological and psychological age. Here are some strategies to decelerate aging process: –
Balanced Diet: Take nutritious and balanced diet that contains fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, healthy fats, nuts and beans. A balanced diet contains abundant antioxidants that fight free radical damage to the cells in our body. Therefore, whatever the diet we may follow- vegan, vegetarian, non-vegetarian etc. it is very important to take these food items with special focus on antioxidant vitamins, A, C, and E rich items for each and every meal in order to delay the aging process. Your diet should also include vitamin D rich foods (ensure adequate sun exposure as well). Vitamin D has been associated with modulation of telomere length. Make every effort to avoid processed and packaged food. At the same time reduce consumption of saturated fats and also restrict overall calorie intake. Reduction in caloric intake while maintaining intake of essential nutrients is the most evolutionarily conserved life extension strategy. A balanced diet (good mix of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) will also result in sustained ideal body weight. Also, limit your salt intake and ensure daily intake of adequate amount of water.
EXERCISE: One of the critical needs of the body is to move. Regular physical exercise is one of the most important steps to narrow down the bore of the aging clock. ”Use it or lose it” is directly applicable to our physical body. Exercise has multiple anti-aging benefits. Regular exercise increases telomere length and delays the development of neurodegenerative disorders and also elevates high-density lipoproteins which have anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, ultimately slowing down the aging process. Yogic exercises also reduce the oxidative stress and increase telomere length that helps slow down the aging process. In fact, yoga is simple, easily doable and costless means to reduce all human sufferings.
Practise Mindfulness (Meditate): When we are awake, most of the time our body is in fight-or-flight (stress) mode. The actual purpose of fight- or- flight response is to help a man survive in threatening situations but long-term consequences of activated stress response are cellular damage to the body and acceleration of aging process. Meditation is restful awareness and its purpose is ultimate relaxation. Heartful meditation makes our body and mind to enter in to a restful mode which is opposite of fight- or- flight mode. When we meditate deeply and enter in to the gap between the thoughts (thoughtless state), breathing slows and levels of stress hormone in the blood falls. Regular meditators have wide range of health benefits including less chances of hypertension, heart disease, anxiety, depression, and improvement in many of the biomarkers of aging. Their immune function also gets enhanced and they have reduced susceptibility to infections.
Have Adequate, Restful And Timely Sleep: Everything in the world moves through periods of activity and rest, including our physiology. Therefore, our body also needs a downtime to heal and rejuvenate itself. The world has day and night rhythm, as well as seasonal cycles. We should try to align our biological rhythms (sleep-wake cycle) with the rhythms of nature. Our biorhythms when not aligned with the nature leads to wear and tear in the body and mind leading to acceleration of the aging process just like a jet lag leads to concentration problems, mood disturbances, and digestive problems. Getting 7 to 9 hours of timely sleep can make a significant difference in with what speed we age.
Maintain a youthful enthusiastic mind: If our mind is old our body will reflect that. Many studies have shown that our biological age correlates better with psychological age rather than chronological age. A youthful mind is a mind that is constantly growing. As a popular saying goes, ‘People don’t grow old, when they stop growing, they become old’. Learn something new every day and keep stimulating your mind to growev ery day. This way brain will continue creating new connections among its billions of neuronal cells. With every thought, every feeling and every sensation, our nervous system undergoes subtle changes in physiology and generates chemical messengers that regulate our body. These biochemical communicators continuously mold the molecules that comprise our cells, tissues and organs. We influence our health and well-being through the choices we make. Our mind and body are closely interwoven so that changes in one influence the other even in a fraction of a second. Our brain is an extraordinary dynamic organ that is continuously reshaping itself. Our brain contains billions of neurons (brain cells) and each of these neurons has more than ten thousand connections with other neurons throughout the brain. These connections undergo constant transformation reflecting our moment to moment changing experiences. All experiences take place in the mind and our mind is extremely non stationary. So, it is clear that we need to enhance the way we think and feel. Through our understanding, by our interpretation and choices we can increase the quantity and quality of human life, adding both years to life and also life to our years.
Practise Empathy and Love: Love is the essence of life and we can slow down our biological age through love. Love is as essential as food and water. Love is not just a psychological experience but it can transform our biology as well. Babies fail to develop normally if they are deprived of their mother’s love (maternal deprivation syndrome). The experience of love has tremendous life supporting effects on our physiology. Scientific studies have shown that just by observing the acts of compassion our immunity is improved or enhanced. In an experiment done in Harvard University, it was found that college students increase the production of their salivary antibodies when watching a film of Mother Teresa comforting a child, where as their antibody levels were depressed when watching a war scene or horror movies. Every impulse of experience is transformed in to the chemistry and electricity of our body. There is no exercise better for the heart and mind than reaching down and lifting the people up. It is important that what thoughts we are feeding in to our mind because our thoughts create our beliefs and experiences. We have positive thoughts and negative thoughts too. We should nurture our mind with positive thoughts; kindness, empathy, compassion, peace, love, joy, humility, generosity etc. The more we feed our mind with positive thoughts, the more weare able to slow down the aging process.
Happiness: Don’t forget to get the daily DOSE of happiness. DOSE refers to Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, and Endorphins respectively. These are ‘feel good’ hormones that produce happy and euphoric feelings, and take us away from fight or flight mode. Regular exercise, high fiber diet, spending time outdoors, healthy sleep habits, yoga and meditation, listening to music, hugging and physical touch with near and dear ones etc. boost the level of these feel-good hormones in our body and gives immense happiness.
Stop Smoking, Alcohol and Drugs: Smoking accelerates the aging process by dual mechanism, through production of oxygen free radicals (oxidative stress) in the smoke, and also through weakening of antioxidant defense system of the host. Alcohol affects the functioning of vital organs and makes them age faster. Heavy drinking is linked with cirrhosis (permanent damage to the liver) leading to loss of detoxification function. Intake of excessive alcohol increases free radicals in the body and also causes sleep disruption. Alcohol also depletes the body, of antioxidant vitamins, especially vitamin A. Even moderate drinking can lead to fatty liver disease. Therefore, no amount of alcohol is safe. Drug addiction and substance abuse also accelerate aging process and the mechanism is oxidative stress, excitotoxicity and mitochondrial dysfunction that leads to degeneration and death of neurons.
NOTE: Remember that while above strategies can help decelerate aging, the process is a natural part of life. Embrace healthy habits as part of overall lifestyle and focus on promoting physical, mental and emotional well-being. Each person’s aging journey is unique, and maintaining a positive outlook, we can definitely add few more years of youth to our life and constitute to a more fulfilling and enjoyable aging process.
(The writor is Assistant Professor,
Department of Physiology, AIIMS Jammu).
