Into The Golden Age-Ageing Gracefully -- By Jeffrey Po

A few year ago, I received a congratulatory notice from the Central Porvident Fund Board (CPF) advising that having reached the age of 55 I was eligible to withdraw my hard-earned savings. Three days after my 55th birthday, the permissible sum was deposited into my bank account. I was overjoyed. The moments of elations were however short-lived when during the sunday puja in the Buddhist Library I was reminded (in the Puppha puja - the offerings of flowers) thus:

"Pujemi Buddham kusumena nena. Punnena metena ca hotu mokkham. Puppham milayati yatha idam me. Kayo tatha yati vinasa bhavam"

Translated it means: "Reverencing the Buddha, we offer flowers; Flowers that today are fresh and sweetly blooming; Flowers that tomorrow, are faded and fallen; Our bodies too, like flowers, will pass away".

How charming! It is said that we start ageing from the moment we are born. However many of us become pre-occupied with this bodily and mental changes usually after passing 40 years of age. Ageing is a natural process of life that involves physiological and psychological changes and generally we pass through certain phases. For instance:

* During the 40's - hair line wrinkles form; thinning and whitening of hair; joints stiffen; need reading glasses; chronic bodily ailments surface.

* During the 50's - skin less elastic and is more dry; brown spots appear; muscles weaken and bones become thin and brittle.

* During the 60's - hearing impairment starts; poorer eyesight; taste and senses are less acute

* During the 70's - reaction time slower; failing memory (especially of recent events); mild confusion; digestion slower; circulatory system less efficient.

Familiar words echo in our minds - Parkinson's disease; Alzheimer's disease; hypertension; heart disease; high cholesterol; senility; depression; urinary incontinence; osteoporosis and so forth.

The above seems somewhat akin to Dhammapada verse 147: "Behold this beautiful body, a mass of sores, a heaped-up (lump), diseased, much thought of, in which nothing lasts, nothing persists."

Are we then condemned to the miseries of whatever number of years left before we finally expire from this earthly existence?

Buddhism thinks not. The Sutta Nipata (581) mentions: "So, death and ageing are a natural part of the world. Thus, the wise grieve not, seeing the nature of the world."

Hence, it appears that the wise - those with abilities and possessing sufficient dexterities to comprehend the nature and mechanism of life's process; those skillful in managing their own life; those with talents to avoid life’s many pitfalls and vicissitudes - they are the ones who can age gracefully and attain physical and mental fulfillments during their golden years.

Aisles Meares, an Australian psychiatrist (Why Be Old? - How to avoid the psychological reactions of ageing - 1984) says: "We are all older people. We are all a year older than we were twelve months ago. What are the changes that are coming about in ourselves as one year moves to the next? "

"As a psychiatrist, I see many older people whose lives have become reduced. Sometimes the reduction has been very obvious; at other times it has been minimal, but still sufficient to impair the quality of their living. The more I have seen of these people, the more it has become clear to me that this falling-off in the quality of their lives is not so much due to the ageing process itself but to other factors which can largely be remedied"

Thus, we can all look forward to those "golden years". Old age does not necessarily mean bouts of illnesses and endless health problems (mental and physical). We can still lead and enjoy active and fulfilling lives. Let’s look at some contributing factors.

Unberstanding The Ageing Process : Before the advent of natural sciences, philosophers used to maintain that a person is endowed with a predetermined amount of vital substance, something necessary to sustain him. Upon the final consummation of those substances, the person dies. In time, more theories and postulations arose. Some of them are:

1. The Pacemaker theory of ageing: This theory suggests that ageing and deaths are the result of biological clocks counting down commencing from birth. The neuroendocrine and the immune systems are two such systems and their decline in functions produce changes in the body that result in ageing.

2. The Genetic theory of ageing: Here the theory suggests that genes determine the life span of one’s life. Although genes can either promote longevity or shorten the life span, they can be damaged or modified by free radicals, UV rays and toxins. Thus, the environment affects gene’s performances that in turn cause the ageing process.

3. The Cross-linked theory of ageing: This theory maintains that proteins in our body develop inappropriate attachments (cross-link) to each other and thereby decrease their own mobility. This decreased mobility inhibits the activity of enzymes that break down proteins that are damaged or no longer necessary for the body. The unwanted proteins cause damage and give rise to the process of ageing.

4. The Wear-and-tear theory of ageing: Here, it is said that DNA becomes damaged from toxins and radiation and therefore functions inaccurately or without completeness. This accumulated damage at the molecular level eventually causes cells, tissues and organs to wear out - thus resulting in the ageing process.

5. The Free-radical theory of ageing: In this theory, it is suggested that free-radicals and toxins are produced when normal cells metabolize. They are however cleaned by other substances in the body. However, free-radicals that escaped the cleaning process can cause cellular damage. Prolonged damage then causes the ageing process.

6. The Rate of Living theory of ageing: This theory is based on the observations that animals with the most rapid metabolic rate tend to possess short lives (i.e. elephant-long life; cat-short life).

7. The Somatic Mutation theory of ageing: This theory states that spontaneous changes in gene structure occur in egg or sperm cells and are passed to succeeding generations. While some gene changes are corrected, others mutate and cause body cells to malfunction and eventually die.

Today, no one is able to determine the exact theory that affects the process of ageing. A combination of several of the above seems to be the general consensus.

(To be continued......)