Theres a popular myth in our culture that chronic disease is a natural consequence of aging, that the longer we live, the more chronic ailments well get and the more severe they will become as we age. This is simply not true. Chronological age comes down to something called organ reserve. Its like a savings account of extra biological capability that we can draw on when we need to — say, when we confront trauma, injury, or stress. As we age, we lose organ reserve. There’s simply less in the account, which means there is diminished function to draw on in times of need. The rate of speed at which we lose this reserve is what more or less shapes our individual process of biological aging, and it has been shown that people lose organ reserve at different rates and therefore age differently. We all know 50-year-olds who are biologically 70. They feel old, look old, act old. Its also possible to be chronologically 70 with the biological age of the average 50-year-old. If we could reduce the loss of organ reserve as we grow older, we could slow our biological aging and reduce the amount of unnecessary chronic illness we experience. Not only could we increase average life expectancy, we could also lengthen our time of vigor and shorten our time of infirmity or disability. How do we do it? Lifestyle behaviors.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 12:00:57 +0000
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