The Aging Process

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aging. As these diseases are conquered, far more people will live to their full potential life span and remain active and healthy for life.

A lot is known about the diseases that affect people and cause death. Much less is known about real aging because it involves fundamental cell processes that are quite complex. However, this mystery of life is being unraveled and will offer opportunities in the future that were once considered to be only possible in science fiction. It is hard to improve on the advice given by Seneca (4 B.C. -65 A.D.) to eat moderate amounts of well-balanced foods, get plenty of fresh air, exercise, and live a stress-free life-style.

Your life literally depends upon the ability of your cells to regenerate. They do this in a manner similar to one-cell organisms that simply divide and go on living as two "daughter" one-cell organisms. Before your cells can divide to reproduce themselves, they must first produce a duplicate copy of the genes. One of the most ...

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first years of duplication. For example, ovaries are not activated until puberty arrives. What activates them? Then the ovaries begin to sputter to a stop. What stops ovarian function? The timing of these events depends on the genetic script a person inherits at birth.


Some investigators believe the immune system is responsible for aging. As people get older, two things happen related to this. The body produces more autoimmune antibodies. Sometimes these antibodies attack the body's own tissues as if they were foreign substances or bacteria. In extreme states they cause many diseases, called autoimmune diseases. Other changes occur when the body's immune defenses decrease. The thymus ...

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