Aging Process Natural Aging Process

There Is No Such Thing As A Natural Aging Process

During the course of your life you are bound to meet numerous elderly people. With any luck you will also reach what is considered to be old age. You may have noticed that people of advanced age differ enormously when it comes to what they are able to achieve physically and mentally. There are eighty year old who are so crippled by arthritis and other physically debilitating health conditions that they can scarcely move and are forced to shuffle along at a snail's pace. Then there are eighty year olds who are still rather active and walk several miles per day. Similarly some elderly people do not seem as mentally astute as they once were while others don't miss a thing. If there were such thing as a natural aging process surely we would all age at the same pace, but that does not happen. That is because there is no natural aging process. The rate at which the organs, cells and tissues of your body decline very much depends on how you live your life.

A Misplaced Assumption

Health conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, cardiovascular problems and even senile dementia have got nothing to do with a natural aging process. However, often people who develop these conditions dismiss them as being part of the natural aging process because they are more common later on in life. The truth is that degenerative health complaints have more to do with inactivity than they do aging. If you don't move your muscles and bones or exercise your heart they will begin to lose their ability to function efficiently. The same thing is true of your brain. If after retirement you spend your days sitting on the sofa passively watching television instead of exercising your brain and keeping involved with your family and community, you are at higher risk of developing a disease like Alzheimer s.

Improve Your Quality Of Life

Regardless of how old you happen to be you can slow down the aging process by amending your life style. All that is required is a healthy diet, regular exercise and a busy mind. Forget the idea that there is a natural aging process and there is nothing you can do to change it. There are elderly people out there who live fuller more active lives than some twenty year olds. Whenever there is a story about an amazingly active senior citizen in the media, they are inevitably asked what their secret is. All of them claim that the key to longevity and health in old age is to keep the mind and body as active as possible.