Aging: Basic Concept

Today, people are living longer than ever before due to advances in education, technology, medicine, food distribution, and sanitary conditions. So, nowadays, it is not unusual to meet people who are in their 70s, 80s, 90s, and some who are close to 100 years old. However, “adding the years to life,” does not mean that we are also able to “add more life to the extra years.” In other words, living longer does not always mean we will also have better or a good quality of life in later years. Some older adults in late life are healthy and independent and are still very involved in their family and community lives. Then again, it is not unusual to see older persons who can get very ill and are not able to get themselves out of bed. Aging is a lifelong process of growing up and growing old. It begins at conception and ends with death. So, in this sense, we are all aging from the time of birth. In our younger years, aging is called by other names. For example, in our infant years, we call aging “growth and development.” In our teenage and young adult years, we refer to aging as “maturation.” After age 30, our physical body begins to wear out and our functioning declines. This is called “senescence.”