We Are Not Aging, We Are Evolving

Written By: Saarah Dhilfer Allahudeen, Class of 2026

This blog is about aging, the changes our body undergoes and how we can acceptit with grace with some valuable measures to slow the aging process.

WHAT IS AGING?

No one knows how and why people change as they grow old. Think of aging as the way our bodies evolve over time which includes a variety of processes that the human body undergoes as it ages, compared to what is commonly called signs of ageing such as grey hair and wrinkles.

EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES OF AGING

Aging makes us less healthy, so why should such a deleterious process evolve? The answer is that aging has not evolved because it's beneficial, but as a side effect of something else. This is wound up from two conventional theories of aging proposed by evolutionary biologists Peter Medawar and George Williams back in the 1950s and 1960s. According to Peter Medawar’s theory of ‘mutation accumulation’ , until the first reproduction, the power of natural selection remains high. Then it's going to get weaker with age. It means that reproduction is the primary goal of an organism and until then, natural selection will preserve cellular processes which are essential to survival. As soon as an organism reproduces, there is no evolutionary pressure to maintain its existence. The cell's processes decline, the organism ages and ultimately dies.

George Williams’ theory of ‘antagonistic pleiotropy’ states that natural selection can favor gene variants with beneficial effects early in life, even if the same variants have deleterious effects later. These genes have little evolutionary impact because their deleterious effects occur in old age after the reproductive stage.

  WHAT’S HAPPENING IN YOUR BODY AS YOU AGE?

 Cardiovascular system

Most common ones are that the blood vessels can stiffen, blockages can build up, and the system may become prone to inflammation, resulting in increased risk of heart attacks, heart failure, and other cardiac dysfunction.

What you can do to promote the health of your heart:

• Healthy heart diet- whole grains, fruits and vegetables, fat-free and low-fat dairy products, and proteins from fish, lean poultry, or plant- based sources like beans, nuts, and seeds, and is limited in salt and added sugar.

• Avoid smoking

• Staying active by introducing physical activities into your daily schedule

• Getting adequate sleep

• Control your stress by meditation or breathing exercises

Muscular skeletal system

Muscles may become rigid with age and may lose tone. Bones becomes more fragile and brittle. The total height decreases primarily because the trunk and spine shorten. The breakdown of the joints may lead to inflammation, pain, stiffness and deformity.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO NURTURE THE HEALTH OF YOUR BONES AND MUSCLES?

• Get adequate amount of Calcium (RDI- 1300mg for adults) and Vitamin D (RDI- 600 IU/ 15mcg)

• Include weight-bearing exercises such as jogging, climbing stairs in your daily routine

• Maintain a healthy weight

• Quit smoking, as it lowers bone density

• Practice and maintain the right postures as it helps to transfer weight and stress equally throughout our skeletal system. This reduces the tension on specific joints, thereby preventing premature tear and damages. 

Digestive system

Even though aging doesn’t have an impact on the digestive system as much as other organs in the body, it is a risk factor for some issues, including colon cancer, acid reflux, stomach sensitivity to medications and a decreased absorption of some vitamins, the most common being constipation due to the structural changes (atrophy) in the large intestine.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PREVENT CONSTIPATION?

• Increase your intake of fibre through diet

• Drink 1.5-2 litres of water daily to hydrate the body

• Don’t ignore the urge to have a bowel movement

Integumentary System

Our skin becomes rougher, more transparent; due to thinning of epidermis, more easily bruised as our blood vessels become thinner, more fragile, and slacker due to loss of elastin.

Also, hair growth slows down. Hair strands become smaller and have less pigment. So the thick, coarse hair of a young adult becomes thin, fine and bright.

HOW TO PREVENT PREMATURE SKIN AGING?

• Use a sunscreen with iron oxide and an SPF of 50- that prevents visible light, which causes pigmentation problems and blue light, which causes skin aging, similar to UVA light.

• Avoid repetitive facial expressions as it leads to the contraction of underlying muscles. Hence these lines become permanent when you're constantly contracting the same muscles for several years. It can help reduce the lines caused by squints if you wear sunglasses.

• Wash your face twice a day and after you've been sweating.

• Apply a moisturizer every day

Anti-aging hair care tips:

• Moisturize hair

• Check the labels on your hair care products

• Avoid style heating

• Hair washing has to be done according to one’s hair type

• Wear tight-fitting swimming caps when swimming

• Stress control

Sensory organs

Your senses get weaker, as the amount of stimulation required to make the brain aware of the sensation increases. Hence the ability to focus on nearby objects, following a conversation in a crowded room, loss of taste and smell is prevalent. 

HOW TO PROTECT THE SPECIAL SENSES?

Eye health

• Consume foods rich in Vitamin A, C and E.

• Take regular breaks from your screen every 20 mins.

• Wear sunglasses to block UV lights

• Get an eye examination annually

• Maintain normal blood pressures- quit smoking, manage diabetes.

Ear health

• Wear ear plugs in noisy places

• Try to keep volume less than 50% in quite areas

• Don’t clean the ears using a cotton bud as you may be pushing some earwax deep inside and this may damage your eardrums.

• Keep your ears dry to avoid infections

THE ART OF GRACEFULLY AGING

Ageing is inevitable, but you're free to make choices that will improve your ability to live an active life, to do things that you enjoy and to spend time with your loved ones.