Have doctors and scientist find out the real reason why people age?

[nec209]

Not in terms of body organs starting to go bad, illnesses, cancer and diseases so on, because that is more complicated. But why people look old like gray hair, thin hair, skin and body looks really old.

 

Yes I know rich people see cosmetic doctors and pay lots of money and may look 10 years younger!! But still this not holy grail, I don't see rich people, movie stars and pop starts looking like they are in their 20's!!! Yes they see cosmetic doctors and pay money but at the most they look 10 years younger not some one in their 20's

 

So what really makes some one look old? Why no cream, pill, laser surgery or some other thing to make 60's and 70's look like 20's?

 

What going on causing the gray hair, thin hair, skin and body looks old.

 

I know smoking, space radiation hitting the earh and sun exposure can lead to looking bit older than normal for your age. But we not going start living underground in hard concrete steel shelter.

 

One theory is people start dying when they turn age 18 and it takes all these years to looke old and get sick.

 

 

[CharonY]

Bits and pieces. There is a huge body of literature out there implying a variety of pathways and mechanisms that contribute to aging. However, there are enormous gaps in our understanding and we are far from having a unified view of all the various findings. Things like cell-cycle control (including telomerases) seem to be important, as well as oxidative stress responses, certain regulatory pathways (most notably IGF-1) and so on.

However, most is derived from simple metazoan and/or cell models, which do not easily translate to phenotypes in humans, such as greying of hair and so on.

 

On the other hand the mechanism underlying certain phenotypes, such as greying of hair, i.e. the reduction of melanin production is somewhat known independently of aging. But it is not quite clear why one causes the other.

 

 

One theory is people start dying when they turn age 18 and it takes all these years to looke old and get sick.

 

This is not much of a theory, is it. I postulate that things go downhill from the first division.

Edited November 21, 2016 by CharonY

[nec209]

I read there are some anti aging drugs and gene modification going on now in clinical trials now!!! But I'm not going to try any thing even if there are some major breakthrough if you live to say 120 or 150 and look like a really old person like gray hair, thin hair, bald hair and skin that makes you look like a 70 old.

 

What is point of living so long and prolonging life if you look so old and not like a 20 old or 30 old?

[HB of CJ]

Excellent question. Good answers already given. Folks who can afford it probably don't start to worry about their appearance until their appearance becomes an issue. Like said, aging is very dynamic and complex. Cells just wear out. This includes skin, muscles, nerves and the rest of it that shows up visually as getting real old. Eventually.

 

Interesting. Seems life on Earth has a death wish built into it. The very nature of our DNA and RNA replication guarantees mistakes will be made. Over time and many cell divisions, new cells, organs and systems are just not quite what they used to be. Errors are multiplied. Eventually enough that the entire body shuts down. Death.

 

Why? Nothing is perfect. Entropy. Our environment on Earth pretty much guarantees that over time and many cell duplications, little stuff becomes big stuff. We receive many zingers from nature. Comic rays. Ultra violet solar radiation. Toxins and poisons in our food and water. Genotypes. Evolution? Over time they take the toll.

 

I have an associate, (used too anyhow) who was researching the aging process. Hints at such has indicated, (maybe) that mother nature has pretty much guaranteed the aging process. Nobody knows how yet. Enzymes triggered by hormones or natural selection that MAY be responsible for messenger RNA errors. Dunno yet fur sures.

 

Respectfully.

[Sriman Dutta]

People grow old with the passage of time and a number of changes start to take place in the human body. The hair turns grey or white because of the loss of the melanin pigment. The skin wrinkles as there is loss of moisture and oil secretion from the skin. Moreover, there is gradual loss of calcium from bones, making them weak. Hence old people are generally infirm. Another important change that occurs is the depletion of the sex hormones from the body. The loss of testosterone in males and oestrogen and progesterone in females have a significant effect on their physical appearance. The stoppage of menstrual cycle in a woman at an approximate age of 45-50 years marks the beginning of old-age.