UNDERSTANDING AGEING
Key messages
Ageing is a normal biological set of processeswhich does not cause major problems till the nineties
The principal effects are reduction in the maximum level of ability and loss of resilience or reserve
Ageing starts in childhood but does not become the dominant biological process till the late thirties, the decline observed by most people before that age being due to loss of fitness
Most major problems experienced by people as they live longer are due to loss of fitness, disease and ageist beliefs and attitudes
The principal effects are reduction in the maximum level of ability and loss of resilience or reserve
Ageing starts in childhood but does not become the dominant biological process till the late thirties, the decline observed by most people before that age being due to loss of fitness
Most major problems experienced by people as they live longer are due to loss of fitness, disease and ageist beliefs and attitudes
Once upon a time life seemed very simple. There were three phases to life -childhood and learning, work and then retirement . In the old days retirement was relatively short until the grim reaper came to call but life is very different now. There has been a dramatic increase in life expectancy at birth from 70 when the NHS was founded in 1948 to about 80 now, a little bit longer for women than for men and, sadly, much less for people who are less well off .
It is however essential to consider not only life expectancy from birth but life expectancy from the age of 65 a person who is 65, or 60, would be wise to assume that they were going to live to ninety and that they should therefore take steps not just to live as long as possible but to live well as long as possible. All round the world attention is switching from life expectancy to health life expectancy or , to put it another way, from lifespan to healthspan
There is now scientific evidence how people can achieve this, not by taking more drugs but by understanding better what is happening to us and taking action to
To help you achieve this is the aim of the Optimal Ageing Programme through which you will learn how to think about your future and develop a plan to live longer better
There have two important changes in our understanding of what happens to us.
Firstly the period of retirement is no longer just a few years.
Secondly, many people think that if they take action to live longer all this means is that they will be disabled and dependent and isolated and depressed for longer
However there is now strong evidence from research that there are many steps that you can take to reduce your risk of developing dementia and frailty and becoming a burden on your children. You need a bit of luck to avoid the diseases we cannot prevent, for example rheumatoid arthritis. It is the aim of the Living Longer Better programme to provide the knowledge , encouragement and support perhaps to live longer but certainly to compress the period of dependency on other people
WHAT IS AGEING
We now know that ageing is a normal biological process or, perhaps more accurately, a set of processes. Ageing starts even in childhood where some tissues age and die and are not replaced, for example in a gland called the thymus gland. Most people however confuse ageing with the combined effect of ageing and loss of fitness which will be discussed in a separate episode.
The effects of ageing may be summarised as having two main impacts.
Firstly there is a decrease in the maximum level of ability of the individual, for example the maximum heart rate. There is no stable phase of life. There is a period of growth and development . Then there is a phase of decline.
The age at which this turning occurs is for most people in their 20s but this is not the result of ageing but to some social change the most common being getting one’s first job because most jobs now simply involve more sitting and therefore loss of fitness, as we will discuss in the next module. To understand the process of ageing it is helpful to look at the life course of people who have kept themselves fully fit, because they are professional athletes, as shown in the diagram below
However it is also important to remember that Roger’s performance might be influenced not only by ageing, his level of fitness and his injuries but also by his attitude. Can he really have the same sense of purpose and drive turning up tho the O2 arena for the 17th time that he had in his first few appearances
Secondly as a result of the normal biological there is a loss of resilience or reserve, a term that is increasingly used. For example if a person aged twenty breaks a leg and spends two weeks in bed they will lose ability but regain all the function that has been lost. Someone aged eighty with an exactly similar fracture will take longer to recover and may never recover the level of ability that they had before the fracture occurred. Your reserve is a little like a deposit account in a bank.You can live life with a current account if you are thoughtful but now and again things happen which mean that you have to draw on the deposit account.
Ageing is obviously important because the loss of reserve means that people affected by ageing are less able to respond to challenges such as
The adverse effects arise not from the ageing process itself but from the mistaken assumption that ageing is to blame for everything that happens to people after the age of 60
How to talk about living longer better
Most people, including most clinicians have a muddled concept which they may refer to as ‘ageing’ or ‘growing older’, terms they may use as synonyms. The core mission of our work is to help people see there are four processes that take place – ageing, loss of fitness, disease and the development of beliefs and attitudes. So too does a condition newly defined by the medical profession – frailty
These terms are often used loosely and wrongly, for example people talk about ageing when they mean growing older. in addition all generalisations are risky because people who are aged 70 or 80 or whatever differ from one another in many more ways than they resemble one another. One useful way to talk about these complex issues is simply to talk about living longer, for example " the longer you live the more active you need to become"
Key messages
Ageing is a normal biological set of processeswhich does not cause major problems till the nineties
The principal effects are reduction in the maximum level of ability and loss of resilience or reserve
Ageing starts in childhood but does not become the dominant biological process till the late thirties, the decline observed by most people before that age being due to loss of fitness
Most major problems experienced by people as they live longer are due to loss of fitness, disease and ageist beliefs and attitudes
The principal effects are reduction in the maximum level of ability and loss of resilience or reserve
Ageing starts in childhood but does not become the dominant biological process till the late thirties, the decline observed by most people before that age being due to loss of fitness
Most major problems experienced by people as they live longer are due to loss of fitness, disease and ageist beliefs and attitudes
Once upon a time life seemed very simple. There were three phases to life -childhood and learning, work and then retirement . In the old days retirement was relatively short until the grim reaper came to call but life is very different now. There has been a dramatic increase in life expectancy at birth from 70 when the NHS was founded in 1948 to about 80 now, a little bit longer for women than for men and, sadly, much less for people who are less well off .
It is however essential to consider not only life expectancy from birth but life expectancy from the age of 65 a person who is 65, or 60, would be wise to assume that they were going to live to ninety and that they should therefore take steps not just to live as long as possible but to live well as long as possible. All round the world attention is switching from life expectancy to health life expectancy or , to put it another way, from lifespan to healthspan
There is now scientific evidence how people can achieve this, not by taking more drugs but by understanding better what is happening to us and taking action to
- Adapt to the ageing process
- Prevent disease and cope with it well if it does occur and
- Maintain and increase mental and physical fitness
- Continue to be positive and have a sense of purpose
To help you achieve this is the aim of the Optimal Ageing Programme through which you will learn how to think about your future and develop a plan to live longer better
There have two important changes in our understanding of what happens to us.
Firstly the period of retirement is no longer just a few years.
Secondly, many people think that if they take action to live longer all this means is that they will be disabled and dependent and isolated and depressed for longer
However there is now strong evidence from research that there are many steps that you can take to reduce your risk of developing dementia and frailty and becoming a burden on your children. You need a bit of luck to avoid the diseases we cannot prevent, for example rheumatoid arthritis. It is the aim of the Living Longer Better programme to provide the knowledge , encouragement and support perhaps to live longer but certainly to compress the period of dependency on other people
WHAT IS AGEING
We now know that ageing is a normal biological process or, perhaps more accurately, a set of processes. Ageing starts even in childhood where some tissues age and die and are not replaced, for example in a gland called the thymus gland. Most people however confuse ageing with the combined effect of ageing and loss of fitness which will be discussed in a separate episode.
The effects of ageing may be summarised as having two main impacts.
Firstly there is a decrease in the maximum level of ability of the individual, for example the maximum heart rate. There is no stable phase of life. There is a period of growth and development . Then there is a phase of decline.
The age at which this turning occurs is for most people in their 20s but this is not the result of ageing but to some social change the most common being getting one’s first job because most jobs now simply involve more sitting and therefore loss of fitness, as we will discuss in the next module. To understand the process of ageing it is helpful to look at the life course of people who have kept themselves fully fit, because they are professional athletes, as shown in the diagram below
However it is also important to remember that Roger’s performance might be influenced not only by ageing, his level of fitness and his injuries but also by his attitude. Can he really have the same sense of purpose and drive turning up tho the O2 arena for the 17th time that he had in his first few appearances
Secondly as a result of the normal biological there is a loss of resilience or reserve, a term that is increasingly used. For example if a person aged twenty breaks a leg and spends two weeks in bed they will lose ability but regain all the function that has been lost. Someone aged eighty with an exactly similar fracture will take longer to recover and may never recover the level of ability that they had before the fracture occurred. Your reserve is a little like a deposit account in a bank.You can live life with a current account if you are thoughtful but now and again things happen which mean that you have to draw on the deposit account.
Ageing is obviously important because the loss of reserve means that people affected by ageing are less able to respond to challenges such as
- A drop in environmental temperature
- A period of prolonged bed rest or
- A trip or stumble
- Infection by corona virus
- loss of fitness
- disease, some but not all of which is preventable
- A person’s and society’s beliefs and attitudes are the fourth key factor that affect us all as we live longer
The adverse effects arise not from the ageing process itself but from the mistaken assumption that ageing is to blame for everything that happens to people after the age of 60
How to talk about living longer better
Most people, including most clinicians have a muddled concept which they may refer to as ‘ageing’ or ‘growing older’, terms they may use as synonyms. The core mission of our work is to help people see there are four processes that take place – ageing, loss of fitness, disease and the development of beliefs and attitudes. So too does a condition newly defined by the medical profession – frailty
- Ageing a normal process , starting as the dominant theme from about 30 The effects of ageing are a loss of maximal ability eg pulse rate and a loss of reserve or resilience, that is ability to respond to challenges.. Biologists use the term senescence which can be considered to be a synonym for ageing,
- Loss of fitness, resulting from inactivity and having an impact from the age of the first car or the first sedentary job which often occur together, usually in the early twenties the effects loss of fitness are a loss of maximal ability eg muscle strength and a loss of reserve or resilience, that is ability to respond to challenges. These are very similar to the effects of ageing which is one reason these two process are often confused.
- Disease an abnormal process, sometimes related to ageing but more often due to lifestyle and environmental problems
- Growing older, a social process, influenced by personal beliefs and social culture
These terms are often used loosely and wrongly, for example people talk about ageing when they mean growing older. in addition all generalisations are risky because people who are aged 70 or 80 or whatever differ from one another in many more ways than they resemble one another. One useful way to talk about these complex issues is simply to talk about living longer, for example " the longer you live the more active you need to become"