When Does Our Body Start Going Down Hill And Why?

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When Does Our Body Start Going Down Hill And Why?

When we enter our 60’s it feels like all at once things start going wrong with us, with some people even earlier than that. But in reality, with many of us, our bodies start breaking down in our late 30’s, depending on how we take care of ourselves.

First of all, let’s see what happens to our bodies as we age:

 Cells, organs, and tissues:

  • Cells become less able to divide
  • The telomeres—the ends of the chromosomes inside every cell—gradually get shorter until, finally, they get so short that the cell dies
  • Waste products accumulate
  • The connective tissue between the cells becomes stiffer
  • The maximum functional capacity of many organs decreases

Heart and blood vessels:

  • The wall of the heart gets thicker
  • The heart muscle becomes less efficient (working harder to pump the same amount of blood)
  • The aorta (the body’s main artery) becomes thicker, stiffer, and less flexible
  • Many of the body’s arteries, including arteries supplying blood to the heart and brain, slowly develop atherosclerosis, although the condition never becomes severe in some people

Vital signs:

  • It is harder for the body to control its temperature
  • Heart rate takes longer to return to normal after exercise

Bones, muscles, joints:

  • Bones become thinner and less strong
  • Joints become stiffer and less flexible
  • The cartilage and bone in joints starts to weaken
  • Muscle tissue becomes less bulky and less strong

Digestive system:

  • The movement of food through the digestive system becomes slower
  • The stomach, liver, pancreas, and small intestine make smaller amounts of digestive juices

Brain and nervous system:

  • The number of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord decreases.
  • The number of connections between nerve cells decreases
  • Abnormal structures, known as plaques and tangles, may form in the brain.

Eyes and Ears:

  • The retinas get thinner, the irises get stiffer
  • The lenses become less clear
  • The walls of the ear canal get thinner
  • The eardrums get thicker

Skin, nails, and hair:

  • Skin gets thinner and becomes less elastic
  • Sweat glands produce less sweat
  • Nails grow more slowly
  • Hairs get gray and some no longer grow

Symptoms

We each age at different rates, and to different degrees, and yet we experience many common effects of aging. Some common signs and symptoms of aging include:

  • Increased susceptibility to infection
  • Greater risk of heatstroke or hypothermia
  • A slight decrease in height as the bones of our spines get thinner and lose some height
  • Bones break more easily
  • Joint changes, ranging from minor stiffness to severe arthritis
  • Stooped posture
  • Slowed and limited movement
  • A decrease in overall energy
  • Constipation
  • Urinary incontinence
  • Slight slowing of thought, memory, and thinking (however, delirium, dementia, and severe memory loss are NOT a normal part of aging)
  • Reduced reflexes and coordination and difficulty with balance
  • A decrease in visual acuity
  • Diminished peripheral vision
  • Some degree of hearing loss
  • Wrinkling and sagging skin
  • Whitening or graying of hair
  • Weight loss, after age 55 in men and after age 65 in women, in part due to loss of muscle tissue.

Boy, I can hear what many of you are thinking, “How depressing, is this what I have to look forward to.” Don’t worry, It’s not as bad as it sounds, most of us adjust pretty quickly to the changes in our bodies. The best way to handle getting older is through proper diet and plenty of exercise, which you have heard me say a zillion times, that’s the only way to combat old age. 

 

 

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