What Is Aging?

Growing old is a universal aspect of the human condition… for now.

Time and time again, the globe’s best and brightest have wondered deeply about what characterizes this process — and whether there is anything we can do to reverse it to no avail.

Entropy is the concept that, over time, energy spreads. Our universe, according to this concept, will inevitably experience heat death as the energy from its creation spreads so far and wide that the chemical processes we know of today will be impossible.

All living things need to experience some chemical stability in order to stay alive, physically together, and capable of reproduction. This chemical stability has one requirement: energy.

Homeostatic disequilibrium is a biochemical necessity for all life. Over the course of time, however, our body’s ability to maintain it falters. Luckily, there are compensatory mechanisms that take place when this happens. Consider these to be like backup generators when you run out of power. They may work for a short time or if you are in a pinch, but won’t help you out long term. As we grow old, more and more of these “back up generators” need to kick in. This creates a cycle where your body ages faster and functions less effectively. As the cycle repeats itself, this cascade of dysfunction will eventually bring an organism closer to death.

Aging has been correlated with some of the following activities in science:

These things will happen to us all inevitably and to the extent that our bodies will one day become incapable of maintaining the homeostatic disequilibrium required for life.

This transition of the body from disequilibrium to equilibrium stems from a long chain of chemical reactions that, over time, results in aging and biochemical entropy. Nothing known to science has been able to safely stop this from happening in humans. With mice, however, that is an entirely different story. Perhaps, one day, the therapies which effectively curb the aging process in mice will be successfully translated to humankind.

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