What, exactly, is ageing all about? It ís the subject of hot debate among scientists. Some see it as an unavoidable process that we can only slow down by postponing ageing-related diseases as long as possible. Others see it as a specific biological process that one day we may learn how to switch off.
For decades, it was thought that ageing was a way of getting rid of a generation of people who had already reproduced and so were no longer useful to the survival of the species. But in 1956 US scientist Dr.Denham Harmon came up with the theory that ageing wasn’t simply a sign that our time was nearly up. It was the result of the build-up of faults in the body. And these faults are caused by damage from unstable molecules called free radicals. Free radicals are by-products of normal bodily processes like breathing, eating and drinking which are unstable as they lack an electron, so they career around the body looking for spare electrons to bind with. In optimal health, the body simply mops up free radicals and makes them harmless. But if the body’s self-repair capabilities weaken, free radicals, and the damage they cause, can accumulate, leading to serious diseases, muscle and bone wastage, reduced skin elasticity weakened sight and hearing and slower mental reactions. Everything we associate with getting old. But this can be slowed down by eating more vegetables they contain antioxidants which bind with free radicals and make them harmless.
One of the newest theories is called the cross-linking theory of age or the glycosylation theory of ageing. It’s all about how glucose (sugar) binds to protein, causing damage. It’s thought that a lot of skin-ageing and heart problems may be due to cross-linking. One theory is that sugars binding to DNA may cause damage that leads to malformed cells and thus to cancer. Excessive cross-linking is thought to the reason why people with diabetes (who often have excess amounts of glucose in the body) tend to age quicker. So simply cutting back on the sugar in your diet may help keep you younger for longer. Recently, we’ve learned more about the role our DNA plays in the ageing process. Our DNA is our individual blueprint, passed to us from our parents. It means that we are born with a unique code and a predetermined tendency to certain types of physical and mental functioning that regulate the rate at which we age.
Inheriting a gene that increases your risk of developing a certain disease does not mean you’re destined to get it. Scientists all over the world are studying these and many other theories in the hope that one day, we’ll find a foolproof way to stop the ageing process. But until that day there is much you can do to influence the rate at which you age simply by adapting the way you live your life.