AGE AND AGING

Age and Aging

Age and Aging

Introduction

All the different stages of life are characterized on the basis of their specialties and specific traits, which are associated and linked to one particular stage only. This includes traits like carefree attitude and innocence in childhood, which is then followed by addition of burden and hardships of life with the passage of time and finally resulting in a weary and tired outlook by the time a person reaches old age.

The last stage of life has been extensively studied and researched, because of the different and varying traits linked to it and the difficult to handle behavior that individuals adopt at this stage of life. It has been observed that traits including bad temper, poor health, loss of memory and isolation are particularly associated with old age, which is complete deviation from the traits that exist before this stage. The following paragraphs would highlight the specific characters of old age in the light of free radical theory, which focuses on the specific characters of this stage of life. The paper also attempts to offer a critique of the notion that sixty-five years of age is the appropriate economic, psychosocial and physiological marker for old age in 21st century. The support for the critique has been drawn from the continuity theory of normal aging.

Discussion

Free Radical Theory

The free radical theory, also known as free radical theory of ageing (FRTA) was first presented by Denham Herman in 1950s, and was extended to include other clauses as well in the 1970s revolves around the basics of ageing, and states that the basic reason behind ageing of individuals is the accumulation of free radical cells over the passage of time. Following the details, free radical is any atom or molecule that contains an unpaired electron in the outer shell, which is ready to make bonds with other atoms. On one hand, some of the radicals including melanin are not reactive and thus not harmful for living beings, but others prove harmful for human beings and also posses' oxidative qualities (Douglass, 2003, Pp: 52) .

Basically, the free radical theory of physiology deals with the free radicals, such as superoxide, but since it has been expanded to take into account other oxidative damages as well, including that caused by the reactive oxygen species (hydrogen peroxide and peroxynitrite). The same model has also been implemented on organisms such as yeast and Drosophila, and it has been observed that causing reduction of the oxidative elements can cause increase in the life span of individuals, and the experiments performed on mice also support the idea. However, experiments on other living beings have shown varying results and the question whether reduction of oxidative damages reduces or increases life span still remains an unanswered question.

The Theory and the Process of Ageing

Keeping in view the above mentioned description of the theory, it must be considered that the process of ageing is more linked to the physical changes in body, and thus the psychological changes are mostly induced ...