Aging is a complex process characterized by the accumulation of molecular and cellular damage, leading to gradually diminished physical and mental capabilities, an increase in disease risks, and ultimately death.
One theory of aging suggests it is caused by DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) strands being reduced as cells divide, known as “telomere erosion.”
What Causes Aging?
Aging is an inevitable part of life, but there are factors that can accelerate it. Premature aging occurs at any age and is identified when signs of getting older come before their time should have come to pass. Common contributors include environmental and lifestyle influences; rare genetic syndromes can also accelerate premature aging.
Normal aging begins with cell disintegration. Over time, tissues like epithelial and nerve tissues begin to break down as their constituent cells lose the ability to divide and multiply and accumulate damage that reduces their health. Furthermore, production of proteins that control cell function diminishes, leading to accumulation of nonfunctional proteins called “aggregation,” a major cause of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
There are various theories as to what leads to cell aging. According to some theories, free radicals damage cells and decrease their functionality over time; others think it could be caused by changes in hormone production from the endocrine system; still others believe advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which accumulate over time in your body and damage proteins and fats that make up its composition.
According to another theory, the aging process may be caused by shortening and DNA damage that leads to cell death – known as senescent cells – which accumulate over time. Recent research has demonstrated that eliminating these dead cells from mice’s bodies can delay their aging and extend lifespan significantly; scientists are now exploring ways of using targeted organs and tissues that produce these senescent cells to increase human lifespan as well.
Scientists also believe that the aging process is affected by intercellular communication among different tissues and organs, via hormones, cytokines and metabolic products that pass between organs or tissues – this interaction may influence cell senescence as well as oxidative stress development that ultimately shortens lifespan of cells.
How Long Will It Take to Reverse Aging?
Scientists have long dreamed of discovering a fountain of youth, yet reversing aging may take years of research and testing before we can reach a point where our bodies could begin turning back the clock on themselves biologically.
Scientists aiming to reverse aging would need to find molecules capable of restoring aged cells back to their youthful functions, while being tested in the lab before being made available clinically. For now, lifestyle changes can help slow or even reverse aging; one study found that an eight week program with changes to diet, sleep, exercise, relaxation exercises and supplements led to a decrease in participants’ biological ages.
One drastic approach would be to directly target the mechanisms that cause aging in cells themselves. Researchers have begun exploring this avenue by investigating how broken or dysfunctional nuclear envelopes influence cell behavior; when damaged or dysfunctional envelopes begin to act like old and senescent cells, researchers can restore function through genetic restoration to reverse cell senescence and turn back time on cell aging.
One potential way to slow aging is to address the processes that cause various diseases as people age, but this requires more advanced tools to assess aging as well as follow-up evaluation of treatment to see whether it has had the desired effects.
Belsky’s team has recently developed the biological age speedometer. This new tool measures how fast cells in participants’ blood are aging – an effective way of measuring treatments’ efficacy. Keep in mind that biological age differences appear long before any age-related diseases do, so any effective means of slowing or reversing aging must begin early on in life.
Preserving or restoring brain cells’ ability to form new connections could prevent cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s. But its effects won’t appear until test mice reach their biological end point (usually around 80 or 90 in humans).
What Are the Potential Benefits of Reversing Aging?
As we age, we become more vulnerable to age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. These diseases affect various organs and may cause symptoms ranging from vision loss to muscle weakness – not only are their devastating health effects felt directly; estimates estimate global spending on these diseases to exceed US$40 trillion within 10 years! Targeting ageing itself instead of treating individual diseases that come with it could reduce costs significantly by prolonging healthy lifespans and thus lengthening our healthy lifespans.
One approach to combatting age-related diseases is improving how organs repair themselves. Researchers are currently exploring approaches that reprogramm cells back into younger states. Their efforts stem from discovering that certain Yamanaka genes can convert fully mature cells into induced pluripotent stem cells with many characteristics similar to embryonic stem cells – this process has shown promising results in animal models, yet the question of its efficacy in humans still looms large.
Reversing aging involves inhibiting the production of cellular pollutants that accumulate with age. These molecules are by-products of normal cell metabolism and can damage DNA, proteins and other biomolecules while increasing your risk for cancer or other diseases. Reversing aging could involve creating drugs to block their production or help get rid of existing ones.
Scientists are also working on methods of tracking an individual’s biological age over time; this is essential as biological age differences can develop years before age-related diseases appear, so in order to effectively combat or reverse aging treatments would need to begin well in advance of such conditions.
An example is Dr. Nir Barzilai of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City’s Institute for Aging Research who led a team that created a blood-borne molecule capable of disrupting key epigenetic regulators like NFkB. Recent findings from this team demonstrate how blocking this protein can partially reverse some features of cellular aging in mice by restoring neurons’ ability to strengthen connections within an area called the hippocampus – this feature, known as synaptic plasticity, is essential for learning and memory development and by restoring this ability people may remain cognitively healthy and independent for much longer.
What Are the Potential Risks of Reversing Aging?
Although we’ve long accepted aging as inevitable, an increasing number of scientists are beginning to consider it differently. Their optimism has been propelled by advances in molecular reprogramming, gene editing and other techniques which allow researchers to reprogram cells back to a younger state. While scientific advancement can move quickly, we must ensure it occurs safely and with thorough testing – as pursuit of longevity raises important ethical, social and economic considerations that cannot be disregarded.
Aging is the result of numerous cellular and genetic changes that lead to gradual decline in health and an increase in disease risk, yet these changes vary among individuals significantly and do not follow a linear progression. Dr. Barzilai was inspired to research ageing after witnessing its heterogeneity during his work as a medical resident – patients whose bodies looked like those aged 75 often died before then while those appearing younger may well outlive those that look old at that same age.
These variations in lifespan are partly a function of organ decline rates varying, such as those for bones, muscles and brain deterioration – these rates being affected by diet and lifestyle choices as well as bad habits like smoking or not engaging in recreational physical activity enough. It may be possible to delay aging through adopting healthier practices like adopting a balanced diet with nutritionally-dense foods while increasing physical activity levels through sports like golf and tennis.
However, this approach will likely have only limited effects on our health and lifespans. For us to have any serious impact on aging processes within our cells that occur simultaneously with ageing processes like this one, research on gene therapies and cell reprogramming must continue at an urgent pace.
This approach could offer the means for whole-body rejuvenation, treating not just symptoms but also their root causes of illness and injury. Delaying ageing could result in improved healthspans and longer lifespans – and ultimately this would benefit society by having its members contribute their contributions more fully as healthcare costs decline as a result of longer lifespans and contributions from all corners.
