It is time to check in on aging again. I think I’ve been aging quite rapidly lately actually; something to do with being a parent! Oh well, I can reverse the process so it’s nothing to lose sleep over. That’s a fairly bold claim isn’t it? Let’s take a closer look at aging.
We noted in Part 2 that aging is neither linear nor uniform. Various illustrations drawn from the casual observations of everyday life were sufficient to make these points clear. Or, at least, I hope so.
This rather begs the question though; what actually is aging? So in this article we’ll explore some ideas about that and consider various ways the aging process may be understood.
My little WordWeb dictionary defines the noun aging as:
- The organic process of growing older and showing the effects of increasing age
- Acquiring desirable qualities by being left undisturbed for some time
Presumably the first applies to people and the second to wine but it is tempting to leave some grumpy people alone for a long time to see if they develop any desirable qualities! However, such jocular notions aside, we can notice that aging is defind as an organic process which results in recognizable effects.
At a superficial level these effects are the very ones that people observe leading to those thoughts that someone is looking much older all of a sudden, or seems to be aging fast, or looks quite young for their age, and so on.
These are sometimes based purely on superficial appearance, but sometimes also on observations of function. So for example, we hear people say or observe evidence of things like: "I can’t get around like I used to", "I don’t have the energy to stay up late anymore", "I can’t carry heavy things like I once could", "my eyesight isn’t as sharp as when I was young", or in the other direction "those oldies have got more go in them than we do", "they were dancing like spring chickens", and so on.
If we dig beneath the surface we can make some useful observations. For example, aging is:
- so common it is assumed to be normal
- defined as a process but sometimes appears more like a series of events
- observed in physical function
- observed in mental function
- observed in social function and associated with socio-cultural norms
Item one is interesting. There is that notion of "normal" again. Like when dealing with the concept of health, normal can be understood in various ways, such as statistical and functional, to keep it simple. But it is the word "assumed" that is really interesting. The learned assumptions about aging are what enable people to make those observations of occasions when something is different, like when older people are seen doing things usually the provence of the young. Just keep this in mind for later.
Item two we have already considered when talking about those periods when aging seems suddenly to happen quickly. Even my little WordWeb dictionary uses the example phrase: "The death of his child aged him tremendously". As we already know from Part 2, aging follows a non-linear pattern. Does this mean that it is a process that can be arrested or at least slowed? If so, what about reversed?
Items three and four we see evidence of frequently enough. These are the usual signs of aging. They are so well studied and documented that statistical norms can be provided for many different functions ranging from blood pressure and upper body strength to subjective experience of time and speed at mental arithmetic. If aging can be stopped or reversed, this database of age-based normal functions provides a set of standards for measurement comparisons. These items describe the basis of the idea that aging is an organic process.
Item five is really very significant. This is the area where we encounter notions of age appropriate behavior. How often have you heard, or even said, act your age. So often people who act younger than society expects are harshly criticized. Social expectations are very strong forces and unfortunately they tend to work in the direction of aging people. In some cases I’ve observed, this has been based on jealousy or resentment. This item extends the organic basis of aging to include a social basis.
That’s enough for today. In Part 4 we will briefly consider one physical theory of aging and one socio-psychological theory of aging. Then we shall explore the ideas of slowing, stopping and reversing the aging process.
