Taking Control of Biological Aging
By Irene Pastore, CFT, FT, SFOA

Based on myths, common stereotypes, and misconceptions, prevailing media images of seniors reveal our hopeless expectations of the human aging process. For many, “old, and “senior”, are synonymous with disease, disability, and frailty. Images of older adults using walkers, canes, and motorized scooters depict the weakness and dependency of old age. Discouraging images reinforce bleak expectations. While there are many seniors who conform to these conventional images, there is an older population far removed from the stereotypical rendering of advanced age. Spirduso, a medical researcher, identified six categories of older adults, based on functional ability.

Spirduso's Hierarchy of Physical Function of Older Adults 75 and Over

Chronological age is defined as the amount of time that has passed since the year of birth. Because there is a wide range of functional ability among older adults, medical researchers are now using biological function to measure age, rather than birth date. Biological age is a more complex measurement. It defines aging in terms of decline in biological functions, and gives a more accurate picture of fitness level than date-of-birth. Stiff joints, decrease in bone density, reduced muscular strength, decreased bone mass, slower reaction time, less efficient respiratory system, and decline in cardiac output are indicators of decline in biological age. Graying, or thinning hair, sagging skin, and wrinkles are cosmetic in nature and are not used as an indicator.

The speed of aging among older adults is far greater than in younger adults. Because of the functional disparity among older adults of the same age, researchers have concluded that age in years has little to do with biological age. One 70 year old may be a super athlete, strong, and sparkling with vitality, while another of the same age requires a walker, and assistance with ADLs.

Why do some older adults deteriorate faster than others? Medical evidence indicates that sedentary lifestyle and poor nutrition influence the rate of decline in human health. Decrease in biological functions isn't something that happens suddenly. It's a process of slow depreciation that begins throughout one's lifetime. When the body isn't properly cared for by taking adequate nutrition, and sufficient exercise, it breaks down from neglect and disuse. Biological decline becomes noticeable when disease symptoms associated with sedentary lifestyle appear (type II diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and sarcopenia).

For those who have already reached this point, there is hope. Researchers at Tufts University Center on Aging have identified 10 Biomarkers of Vitality. Through regular exercise and nutrition, the biomarkers may be altered to decelerate and/or rejuvenate the symptoms of biological decline. Real fitness is more than cosmetic. True health is being free of disability and disease. There are studies that prove change is possible – even for those who have been leading a sedentary lifestyle, and are well past the half century mark.

Ten Biomarkers of Vitality

Dr. Robert Butler, former director of the National Institutes on Aging, believes the human lifespan to be 110. In his book, We Live Too Short, and Die Too Long , Walter M. Bortz II, M.D., theorizes that the maximum human lifespan is 120 years. The centenarian population is rising. According to the Census Bureau, there will be approximately 620,000 centenarians in the United States by 2050.

As we approach our old and super-old years, there is a choice to make. Do we want to spend those years frail and incapacitated, or strong and independent? Diseased and disabled elders are a financial burden on their families, and society. Changing oneself changes cultural beliefs about the realistic expectations of advanced age. If more seniors entered the physically elite and physically fit categories, disparaging images might be less common, and our society would be more hopeful about getting older.