Effects of Aging on Your Body

1. Effects of Aging

Senescence is a word that means aging. As a person ages, visible (and sometimes non-visual) changes occur in the skin, muscles, and skeleton.

• Skin: Collagen and elastin are proteins that give skin strength and elasticity (the ability of skin to bounce back to its original shape when pressed or stretched). As a person ages, these proteins change, and less of these proteins are produced by the body, causing skin to wrinkle. Also, skin becomes more dry due to the breakdown of oil glands.
• Height: Intervertebral disks become more compact as a person ages, causing them to lose some of their height.

• Muscle: Loss of mass and strength.
• Bones: Cells become less efficient at generating new tissue.
• Organ Function: Organ systems begin to decline and become less efficient as the body ages.
• Hair loss: Hair loss is a sign of aging, but some people may lose their hair more quickly or may lose more hair than others; this heavily depends on genetics.
• Body cells: Body cells will divide 80 to 90 times before they die. Telomeres are caps on the ends of DNA. As cells divide, they lose a little bit of the telomeres "cap" until only a few remain and the cell dies.

did you know

How a person ages can also be affected by their genes and the amount of accumulated DNA damage. Genetics play a role in how a person ages. Height loss, wrinkles and/or hair loss may be more evident in some people than others depending on their genetics.

terms to know

Senescence

The technical term for aging.

Collagen

The most abundant protein in the human body, collagen is a large fibrous structural protein found in many connective tissues.

Elastin

A thinner, “stringier” protein than collagen, elastin allows tissues to be stretched when pressure is applied to them and resume their shape once pressure is relieved.

2. Conditions Associated with Aging

Three conditions associated with aging are:

• Alzheimer's disease: A disease that affects the brain and becomes more and more likely to occur the older a person gets. Alzheimer's disease results in memory loss and the decline of normal mental functions.
• Menopause: This marks the end of a menstrual cycle and fertility (the ability to conceive and bear children) for women. Menopause for women usually happens around age 50. This is around the time a woman will have her last menstrual cycle, marking the end of her fertility. The ovaries are producing less estrogen and less progesterone. Menstrual cycles stop occurring, and the woman is no longer able to have children at this point.
• Andropause: Often sometimes referred to as "male menopause". Males will have a decrease in testosterone levels but can still have children into old age. On the other hand, women after menopause are no longer able to have children.

terms to know

Alzheimer’s Disease

A form of dementia that is caused by a degeneration of neurons and synapses of the cerebral cortex; this degeneration causes memory loss and other complications as the disease progresses.

Menopause

The cessation of menstrual cycles in females that marks the end of her fertility.

Andropause

Referred to as “male menopause”, andropause is when testosterone levels, libido, and fertility decline with age; however, males are still able to conceive a child (unlike women).