Is aging a disease? Is aging inevitable?

Guest Column: Dr. Prabhudev

Bangalore, Dec. 23: The longest life may fade and perish but one moment can live and become immortal. 90 will soon be the new 40. It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.

With age, financial needs increase but the capacity to generate and keep money diminishes.

Aging brings an increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, and dementia. 80 percent of older adults have at least one chronic health condition and 1 in 3 older adults has limitations in activities. Many seniors fear falling.

Take Care of Your Body, it’s the only place you have for you to live. Science has come up with a dizzying array of solutions but aging appears to have it stumped.

Turn Back Your Age.

Healthy aging is continually reinventing yourself as you pass through landmark ages of 60, 70, and 80 and beyond. Good health adds life to years. When you make meaningful daily choices about sleep, stress, diet, and brain health, your physiological age becomes younger than your calendar age. Believe it or not, living to 100, 120, or even 130 years old will become increasingly common over the next decade. Live longer, younger, and better.

Your body- is the only place you have to live all your life. Take Care-it has to last a lifetime. Doctors could have all the tools they need to “cure” aging banishing diseases that come with it and extending life with gene therapies, stem cell therapies, immune stimulation and a range of other advanced medical techniques. Aubrey de Grey, has developed a series of biomedical rejuvenation strategies to reverse human aging.

Is immortality within reach?

Some people think that technology will help us cure diseases, build new organs, and essentially reprogram our bodies’ faulty software. 20 years is all it’ll take for this exponential boom in computing power to help us live long.

Aging is something that kind of sneaks up on you.  I am Just 40 with 30 years of experience! I have no idea how I made it this far, but I am very grateful.  Had I known I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself! Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you have not committed.  How Old am I? I was 30 a while back, but all of a sudden 70! I have grown to 70 too soon and smart too late. When I look in the mirror, I keep wondering who that “old” person is – Do I have any regrets?  Yes a few!   I wish I had been less of myself. I wish I had been a better friend, better husband, and a better father. I wish I was a better human being.

The take home!

Humans are born to die.

 People believe that it is inevitable that they will gradually crumble into dust.  Their lives become increasingly unbearable, boring, passionless, and painful. Certain aspects of health might decline with age. It is not inevitable. As we have discovered, a positive psychological outlook on aging can benefit the physical aspects of aging.

Even if we could live for ever, should we? Is there a neutral option- we can all take action today to extend our lifespan. These seemingly small actions can have significant life-changing results through fitness and healthier eating and healthy ageing! We can take today to live better and a bit longer with the precious remaining days we still have on this Earth. The paradox is that it’s only because we die that we can know what it truly means to be immortal.

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