Why do we grow old? Why do we age? Is aging a disease? Today, we examine some biological
aging theories that explain why some scientists are beginning to believe that aging is a disease…one
that it might be possible to cure.
Hey, this is Lance, and I started this channel to share what I’ve learned on my quest
to turn back the clock on aging. If you enjoy this channel, or the videos on it, them please
hit the subscribe button below. And be sure to hit the like button and leave a comment
as well.
In today’s video, and in the other videos in this series, we’re going to tackle the
subject of biological aging…at the cellular level. We’re going to taking a look at why
many of the researchers into the field of longevity are beginning to look at aging as
a disease. In the follow on videos in this series, we’ll also be taking a look at the
top 12 causes of cellular aging, and then we’ll take a deep dive into a few of the
more important ones…and what you can do about it.
OK, so up to now, in my videos, I’ve been talking about things that you can do to turn
back the clock on aging that affect the whole body. Things like losing weight, optimizing
your hormones, exercising and practicing good nutrition. But now I’m going to change direction
a little bit and talk about aspects of aging that effect every person on the planet, regardless
of how much you exercise, how much you weigh, or how good you eat. There are processes happening
within the human body, at the cellular level, that cause us to age, and these processes
are programed into our DNA. And until fairly recently, there hasn’t been a damn thing
that anybody could do about that.
Researchers into human longevity have noticed something interesting about the aging process,
and that is that nobody dies of old age. People who are elderly and pass away, die of chronic
diseases that are associated with old age. Diseases like cancer, heart disease, stroke,
arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s and auto-immune diseases. And this has lead
researchers to classify “aging” as a disease itself…and to look at aging as something
that might possibly be cured.
But first, I want to make note of the differences in the definitions of “age” and “aging.”
“Age” is simply a statistical measurement of the number of years that you have been living
on this planet since your birth. “Aging” is a process whereby the human body goes into
decline, where health functions slow down or actually dysfunction, and where the human
body gradually becomes more and more susceptible to chronic disease.
Now, I believe that everyone thinks of aging and dying as being inextricably entwined.
People keep getting older and older until eventually they die. It’s a single process
that ends in death.
But I believe that aging and dying are two separate processes, and that they shouldn’t
be connected. Think of it like this. Everyone dies of one of two possible causes. They either get
killed, through trauma, or they get sick. And eventually, if they don’t get killed
first, everyone will succumb to some form of chronic disease and die.
As we’ve improved our medical technology, we’ve decreased the risk of dying at an
early age. We’ve reduced the risk of getting killed…because we can treat most trauma
before it kills you. And we’ve learned how to successfully cure most diseases. In under
developed countries, where medical care is not as good, they have a much higher percentage
of people who die at any early age, than in industrialized nations where they have a higher
percentage of people living into their old age. This is the phenomenon that drives “life
expectancy”. Life expectancy is the average age that the average person is expected to
live, based on the time, place and level of technology that person lives in. We’ve all
heard of the terrible life expectancies of our ancestors, where a life expectancy could
be measure in 2 or 3 decades…where a person was old at 40.
But infant mortality and death due to trauma and lack of medical care is what drove down
those life expectancies. A human in the dark ages was programmed to live just as long as
a modern human. It’s just that they’d get killed before they could get there. But
the age of life expectancy is not the age that is programmed into our DNA. That age
is called “the maximum lifespan,” and it’s the maximum age that humans are expected
to live to, if nothing else goes wrong first. I just want to make clear that “life expectancy”
and “maximum lifespan” are two very different, and very distinct, things.
Everyone dies. And the longer it takes for that to happen, the more you age. But aging
isn’t what kills you. However, as you age, as your body goes into decline, as your cellular
processes start to malfunction, you do become more and more susceptible to chronic diseases
that will eventually kill you. And if you’re lucky enough not to get killed or succumb
to disease, you will eventually reach your maximum age.
Now, like I said earlier, we have to separate aging from dying. They are not inextricably
entwined.
Aging is something that happens to you while you’re waiting to die, it’s a progressive
process that happens as you get older, that will, if not stopped or slowed down, eventually
put you at an increased risk of getting whatever chronic disease is going to kill you. If you
could slow, or even stop, the aging process, you could extend the time that you remain
at low risk of getting ill, of getting sick, of catching whatever chronic disease is going
to eventually kill you.
So, I’m curious…drop me a line in the comments below if you agree with my theory
that aging and death are not a single process, and that they should be looked at separately.
So, this is why researchers into longevity are looking at aging as a disease. They’re
looking at all of the cellular processes that begin to slow down or dysfunction, and they
looking for interventions that will reverse this trend.
So when I talk about turning back the clock on aging, I’m talking about two things.
First, I’m talking about interventions and therapies that will not only extend that amount
of time in which you are healthy and at low risk for catching a chronic disease, but also
about improving your health and keeping you fit and mobile during that period. And second,
I’m talking about extending the maximum age, as a result of remaining fit, healthy
and mobile for an extended period of time. Our maximum age is not a number that is programmed
into out DNA, so much as it is a programmed process where we become more vulnerable to
chronic disease as we accumulate a lifetime’s effects of aging. I believe that if we can
clear out those effects, we can extend our maximum age.
In the last couple of decades, some amazing things have happened in the world of medicine,
and the most important of those was the mapping of the human genome. That has led to an every
increasing cascade of new discoveries, new therapies, and new treatments in the fight
against aging. We’re at last beginning to arrive at an understanding of how the human
body ages, the processes that contribute to that, and how to combat some of those processes.
OK, that wraps it up for this video. We’ve taken a look at why I believe that aging and
dying are two separate and distinct processes and why researchers into the field of longevity
are starting to look at aging as a disease that can be cured. In the rest of the videos
in this series, we’ll take a deeper look at some of the more important causes of cellular
aging, and what actions you can take, right now, to slow them down.
As I post the rest of the videos in this series, I’ll add links to them in the description
below.
If you enjoyed this video or found it informative, then please, hit the subscribe button below.
Leave a comment, and tell me what you think about my take on aging and death. Hit the
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And as always, thank you so much for watching.