Ageing
Physiologically, ageing leads to a deterioration of the body that affect many organs as well as decrease the function of many systems due to a slowing of the metabolism. Environment and life style affect the body concomitantly with advancing age and disease. Lifestyle habits such as exercise, diet, cigarette smoking and alcohol use also affect the aging process.
The ageing process often causes deterioration in brain function. Some neurons gradually die in the brain; however, others will grow to compensate for the age-related deaths of their neighbours. There are also age-related neurological and psychiatric disorders. Neurological symptoms in the elderly are common, such as impairment of memory, decreased cognitive or intellectual functions, deterioration of mobility (e.g., change in gait), altered sleep pattern, decreased sensory input, (visual, acoustic, taste, smell, etc.), and autonomic nerve system imbalance. These can sometimes lead to more serious conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia.
Physiological changes of in the structure of the eye often result in decreased visual acuity as well as blindness. Ageing also increases susceptibility to conditions such as age-related macular degeneration.
Physiological change in the ageing individual produces decreased elasticity in the arteries and increases in increased blood pressure. The elasticity of the heart muscle also tends to decrease. Diseases of the heart that are also age-related include hypertension, coronary disease, congestive heart failure as well as heart block or arrhythmia.
Decreased muscle mass, bone density and lubrication of the joints causes stiffness of the joints, osteoporosis, frequent fractures of the hip and bone/joint functional impairment. Pressure on the joints over the years can cause deterioration of the cartilage between the bones, leading to problems such as osteoarthritis, which involves stiffness, pain and loss of joint mobility.
Age is a primary risk factor for cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, 77 percent of all cancers are diagnosed in people age 55 and older. Cancer begins with an abnormal cell that divides to become two abnormal cells. Those cells then double again, becoming four abnormal cells. This division continues to produce a clinically significant tumour. The doubling process may occur quickly over weeks or may take place more slowly over extended periods that can last for years. Before the initial cell becomes cancerous, it has to undergo a number of genetic mutations. In some cases, these changes occur spontaneously as a cell is dividing. In other cases, a cell is damaged by some substance, or carcinogen, and passes those changes on to its “daughter” cells when it divides.
These changes can take a long time to unfold, which means they usually do not manifest until a person is older. In addition, the longer a person lives, the greater the chance that the person will develop such genetic mistakes in the cells that are not easily repaired by the body. Many scientists believe this fact is responsible for the increasing incidence of cancer as a person ages.
Conditions related to ageing included in your health predisposition test are:
Age-related Macular Degeneration- a disease which affects the central part of the retina, causing a gradual loss of vision.
Alzheimer’s Disease - a condition whereby healthy brain tissue degenerates, causing a steady decline in memory and mental abilities serious enough to interfere with daily functioning.
Cancer – Cancer results when body cells grow in an uncontrolled manner, causing harm to the body when damaged cells divide uncontrollably to form lumps or masses of tissue called tumours.
Cardiovascular disease- is a term that refers to any of a number of specific diseases that affect the heart itself and/or the blood vessel system, especially the veins and arteries leading to and from the heart.
Osteoarthritis - a type of arthritis that is caused by the breakdown and eventual loss of the cartilage of one or more joints.