What Causes Human Aging?Human aging has often been thought to be an unavoidable conclusion. Everyone ages so you just need to accept that. But do you?
Many are beginning to believe that aging as we know it is not an inevitable consequence of the passing of time. Instead, aging may be the result of lifestyle choices and environmental factors. This may sound farfetched but the philosophies behind these ideas are sound, if not yet fully proven. Understanding the nature of aging allows you to approach old questions in a new way. First, why do people age? Second, is aging unavoidable? What Causes Aging?This seems like a silly question, doesn't it? As time passes, people get older. That does not address the question though. Getting older and actually aging are two different things.Everyone gets older but not everyone ages in the same way. Some do so gracefully. Others seem to age at accelerated rates. Why is there a difference? Many believe that aging is actually a sign of damage at the cellular level. It is thought that this cellular damage is caused by influences outside the body and is not a necessary consequence of the passage of time. Lifestyle factors, more than a person's actual number of years alive, may decide how much they physically age. Is Aging Unavoidable?If this is true then aging is certainly unavoidable. It may be avoidable entirely or it may only be avoidable to an extent but this line of thinking indicates that much of what people call aging is avoidable. Take antioxidants, for instance.Antioxidants halt the spread of free radicals and can render these free radicals harmless. Free radicals, left unchecked, cause oxidative damage to cells. Basically, they age cells. If they are stopped before they can damage cells then the cells are not damaged and do not age at an accelerated rate. By minimizing the amount of free radicals in the body and counteracting what free radicals are present with antioxidants, in theory a person could slow what would otherwise be seen as a normal rate of aging. The right healthy lifestyle could slow the body's aging. A person could be alive for the same number of years but not age nearly as much. It is important to consider aging and our immune system.
Human aging is a fascinating topic. What was once thought of as a natural, unchangeable process is now being re-evaluated. Consider this. You may be aging more or less each year than someone else just based on your lifestyle choices. You could make different choices.
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