Thoughts on Ageing

Abstract

Ageing is a process along the Time-Age axis that characterises the degree of wear and tear of the body. An eminent scholar of gerontology, F. Bourlier, has argued that “if in the future we wish to better understand the causes and effects of ageing at the molecular, cellular, organ, organism or population level, we must not use a single technique, but all those which, from biophysics to sociology, will enable us to approach the effects of Time on Life from several angles.” From a biological point of view, every living organism has a dual purpose: its own survival and the reproduction of the species. With age, the functionality of some analysers also decreases significantly. The process of ageing is thus included in the programme, without its beginning and end being clearly defined. It follows from this view, which is almost unanimously accepted by gerontological authors, that a person cannot die a natural death under present conditions, but that death is always caused by some disease process. Cross-linking prevents molecules from moving freely, and the molecules thus linked form inactive units, which disturb the physiological state of proteins and nucleic acids, resulting in a loss of function. From this we can draw an extremely important conclusion about the ageing process: all the movements that a person repeats constantly throughout their life can be easily reproduced in old age.