Welcome back to Age Wise, exploring the science of improving physical health and mental wellness at every stage of life. This week, I’d like you to ponder an age-old topic that often seems to devolve into a two-sided debate over whether…
aging is a natural course of life that can (but does not always necessarily) contribute to illness and disability, or
aging is a disease and a primary cause of illness and disability
Science writer Sarah Sloat interviewed scientists on both sides of the debate, for an excellent article this week in Technology Review, revealing that the World Health Organization recently considered replacing the word for the diagnosis of “senility,” with the term “old age.” Some experts argue this would only further ageism:
If age alone were presumed to be a disease, that could lead to inadequate care from physicians… Rather than pinpoint exactly what’s troubling a patient, a problem could simply be dismissed as a consequence of advanced years.
From the other side, this argument:
The best way to combat ageism is to tackle aging: facing the problem head-on by devising treatments to slow its progress.
Philosophers have been arguing for thousands of years whether aging is a natural process or a disease to be cured. One thing is abundantly clear: At least in the U.S. and many other societies, aging is viewed by the self, subconsciously or otherwise, as a declining state of being, a wasting away that needs to be primped and padded, glossed over and smoothed out, ultimately, dismissed by others and hidden from view. That’s a load of B.S., of course, as most folks realize when they become old and wise enough to embrace their advanced years and the advantages it brings.
What are those age-wise advantages? A better sense of what’s important in life, hopefully a little less daily pressures to do, do, do, and go, go, go and statistically speaking, much greater happiness.
Earlier this year, I looked into the underpinnings of the debate, considering if aging can be cured at all (it cannot; we will all die) and whether aging should be considered a disease from a medical perspective (it should not, because that would imply everyone has the disease, which is, well, kinda stupid from a medical standpoint). In a separate article, I challenged the “constant barrage of misleading and insidious anti-aging articles and advertisements frame ‘getting older’ as a terrible yet somehow miraculously avoidable aspect of the human condition,” and the billions of dollars spent to try and “cure” life’s natural progression rather than embrace it, a simple act which, by itself, promotes better well-being and longer life.
Here’s what I believe to be the logical way to think of aging as it relates to the many diseases and maladies that do, indeed, become more likely as the year go by, from the National Institute on Aging:
“Aging is not, in and of itself, a disease. However, aging is the major risk factor for developing many major chronic diseases. Furthermore, many diseases appear to accelerate the aging process — which is manifested as declines in functionality and reduced quality of life.”
Here’s the most important take-home message: You can’t stop aging, but you can certainly slow it down and lower the odds that it will contribute to chronic disease or untimely death, by adhering to smart behaviors, like eating well, getting plenty of physical activity, staying socially active, and ensuring good sleep. Or you can do whatever you want and speed up the process. Either way, unlike the Queen of England, you’ll ultimately die of something, and it won’t be just aging.
What do you think?
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