What is individual ageing?
Ageing is defined as a biological process which involves a number of structural and functional changes that appear over time and are not a result of illnesses or accidents.
When does it begin?
At birth?
Some specialists believe that ageing begins at the very moment of birth (or at conception) when the biological clock programmed by the genetic make-up of each species starts ticking.
When we’re 26 years old?
Other specialists who consider purely physiological aspects suggest that ageing starts when we are about 26 years old, when the reproductive potential in both men and women starts to decline.
When we’re 50 years old?
Gerontologists tend to state that said process might begin when we’re about 50 years old.
When we retire?
In the socio-political context, 1919 was the year when the retirement age in Spain was first set at 65 years old. Over time, this leads to a convergence between retirement age and the onset of old age.
All
answers
are correct!
The differences are the ones set by us, citizens, scientists, politicians, etc. when we refer to ageing as processes of a different order.
Did you know that ageing might start with the embryo?
One study conducted by an international team led by the University of Cambridge measured the length of telomeres in blood vessels of adult laboratory rats born from mothers who were, or were not, fed antioxidants during normal or complicated pregnancies.
The team found that adult rats born from mothers who had less oxygen during pregnancy had shorter telomeres than rats born after uncomplicated pregnancies. This may demonstrate that people begin to age even before they are born. Telomeres are the caps at the end of each strand of DNA that protect our chromosomes, like the plastic tips at the end of shoelaces, and they are an essential part of human cells that affect how our cells age.
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