All About Aging
What is the 'aging process'?
Why are we considered senior citizens at the age of 65?
Age 65 was actually first defined in 1888 by Otta Van Bismack, who was the prime minister of Germany at that time. He was a little bit annoyed at all these legislations being stopped by people above him. All these bureaucrats. So he decided to come up with the idea of retiring them all, and so he defined 65 as the retirement age in Germany and that has been picked up universally.
What does 'life expectancy' mean?
Life expectancy can be defined in many ways. What most people think about of life expectancy is life expectancy at birth, which in the United States right now is on average about 78 to 79 years, but you can also have a life expectancy at age 65, 75, 85. It depends on the age you're defining it at.
What is considered 'normal aging'?
Normal aging is in the eye of the beholder. A biologist would say, "normal aging is aging devoid of disease," for example, with a minimum amount of disease. A sociologist might say, "normal aging is aging successfully in the community." A psychologist could say, "normal aging is aging in a way that is psychologically effective for you, and psychologically functioning well."
What is 'usual aging'?
What is 'successful aging'?
I was part of the McArthur Foundation, and our title was "The Foundation Study of Successful Aging." Successful aging was defined by the different specialists in the group. The psychologists considered successful aging as aging successfully in terms of your psychological functioning, without serious depression, without serious anxiety - doing well in a psychic way. A sociologist would define successful aging as functioning well in the community; being happily married, having good relationships with your family, having many friends, and having a good, strong, robust social network. The biologist would define successful aging as having very few of the devastating diseases of aging - aging without, for example, Alzheimer's disease, without problems with balance, or without a serious depression. It's the eye of the beholder.
Can I slow down the aging process?
How can I determine whether an anti-aging product is worth the money?
Be very wary of anything that says "anti-aging" on it. Right now, unfortunately, the anti-aging area is occupied by people who do not have good intentions towards you. They really want to make a fast buck, so I'd stay away from anything that says "anti-aging" on it.
Which genetic factors affect aging?
A number of genetic factors affect aging. For example, whether you are born with the wrong genes, born with genes for premature diabetes, born with genes for premature heart disease, or born with genes that affect your immune system. These would in fact be devastating to your aging process. On the other hand, are you born from parents who lived a long time or grand parents who survived for a great time. These are positive things that you have, positive genetic influences.
Which environmental factors affect aging?
In all likelihood, the environment is much more important than your genes. Let me give you an example. Your big environmental issue is exercise. Are you sedentary or do you exercise? No factor can affect the aging process more than this issue. If you exercise, you can really impact on the aging process. If you're sedentary you can die earlier with many more conditions and diseases, and possibly be disabled much earlier. The other thing that can affect it is nutrition - what do you eat?
What cellular changes are associated with aging?
Which bodily changes are associated with aging?
How are aging and disease related?
There's normal aging, which are the normal changes of aging, and superimposed aging , which are diseases that become more frequent with aging. Why geriatrics are so important is to distinguish the normal changes of aging from the diseases. For example, if you come in with an eye problem, and a normal doctor may say, "Well, doesn't sound like much of an issue; it might be just normal aging", but the geriatrician might say, "Well, let's test the pressure in your eye; maybe you have glaucoma", which does become more frequent with aging, "or maybe there's a cataract we could do something about." So, I think the critical issue for geriatrics is distinguishing normal aging from disease.
Does everyone age at the same rate?
What impresses me as a geriatrician is that there may be two 60 year olds and one looks 45 and one looks 75. People age very differently. It's hard to guess the chronological age past 60 or 70, but it's really not that important. The issue is your biologic age. It is how well are you doing, and how well are you functioning. That's the critical issue, and not how old you are.
What does 'biologic age' mean?
Biological age means that someone is really aging maximally, and that they haven't been effected by very many diseases, that they're exercising and eating right, and they're doing everything they can to maximize their age potential.
When do you say 'elderly person,' 'senior citizen,' or 'older adult'?
I don't like the terms 'senior citizen' or 'golden age'. The one that I prefer is that you're chronologically endowed.
What are the most common myths about aging?
The most common myths about aging is that you're not sexy any more, you're not sexual any more, that you are mentally impaired, that you are not functioning as well as a younger person can function, and that you don't have good judgement. Those are a few of the myths.
