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Ageing - S17

Human beings take a long time to mature. Physical growth is over by twenty but personal qualities are hardly tried by then and seldom ripen before thirty. From then until fifty most people can combine wisdom, experience and physical agility in reasonable proportions. By then however a contrary tide is beginning to creep out, retarded by health but not quite abolished. Your vigour begins to ebb somewhere in your thirties however prudently you draw on it. From then on keeping yourself in good shape takes more effort than before.

We know quite a lot about the chemical mechanisms that cause physical ageing. Accumulative poisons — such as aluminium, fluoride, cadmium, lead, mercury, pesticides and other xenoestrogens — contribute progressively to ageing as their levels in the body rise. Even without obvious external injury, your tissues are remorselessly hammered by free radicals — violent splinters of chemical glass (Leaflet P81) — that spoil the youthful perfection of your body chemistry by smashing a delicate structure here, making wrong linkages there. Abuse of alcohol and tobacco, and excessive reliance on drugs of any kind, take a gradual toll. Your immune system (Leaflet S11) still works hard to keep damaged tissues repaired but this takes more time and effort now; joints (Leaflet S08) begin to stiffen a little, skin begins to wrinkle. Why this sluggishness should develop is not obvious but evidently the natural cycles of decay and rebirth are paramount. Physical immortality is simply against the rules.

By careful attention to all your needs you can appreciably extend the time this process takes. On the other hand abuses quickly hasten it, whether these are self-willed or imposed by circumstances. Consequently after forty your physical ageing is no longer so closely related to years as to the wear and tear you are putting up with. The age others guess you to be from your bodily appearance is a fairly reliable guide to the state of progress.

In health you age overall, in balance; all your parts wear out together. A full spectrum of functional capacities continues to serve you well into old age, even though their vigour may dwindle. The plus side is that you are now much wiser and freer of the physical constraints that burden younger people. The essential you (Leaflet S22) remains intact and can still twinkle brightly just like you did as a child. Your mind can grasp at truths youngsters have not yet dreamed of, and you will eventually drift happily off to explore the stuff of those dreams full time (Leaflet S18).

You can enjoy all this if you take your faculties seriously now. It is a pity to let ageing become an anticlimax, just because you did not appreciate your powers and opportunities in middle life. Old people’s homes cater for that but cannot really improve it. You can prevent it altogether.

What to do

  1. Supply your body well by eating good, simple food (Pamphlet F1 it only costs a fortune if you buy convenience packages (Leaflet F17). Avoid sugar (Leaflet F12) and white floury things (Leaflet F02). These can seriously undermine your blood vessels and heart (Leaflets S10, Q05, P14). 
  2. Keep your body clean, efficient and vigorous by attention to your breathing, exercise, rest, drinking and bathing (Leaflets S02 3 4 5 6 S07). 
  3. You can boost these by supplementing your diet (Leaflet F03) with Vitamin C (Leaflet F04) which limits the damage free radicals do, and with Vitamin B (Leaflet F05) which keeps your metabolism and nervous system alert. Look at the recipes for mineral intake (Leaflets F07, F16) and look after your bones (Leaflets S15, P77). 
  4. Read Leaflet P46 if you are a bit slow, overweight and always cold.
  5. If you know you already have chronic or regular symptoms of one sort or another get them sorted out, however trivial they seem. You do not always need to involve your doctor in this — look through the titles in our Coping With Problems section for the ones that apply, and write to us if you cannot find the right one. Small problems are easily reversed but soon become bigger and harder to shift if they are neglected. 
  6. Keep your emotional life satisfactory. Your emotions are the instincts that guide your relationships with other people, just as your appetite guides your eating. These relationships will get more important as you get older so look after them. Be honest with yourself and with those around you. Try always to be kind and generous, and to choose the right moment and the right way to say things. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. 
  7. Keep up your self-respect. The main rule in life is that every living thing matters: take a pride in yourself. It’s part of keeping yourself together: look after your outlook and your body will look after itself much better. 
  8. Never abandon life until life abandons you. There is always some purpose for you to pursue, things to take a meaningful interest in, puzzles about life to reflect on and try to solve. That goes however little vigour you seem to have left — put it to a purpose and your life keeps its meaning.
  9. Don’t be afraid of dying or of death — find out more about it and you’ll discover there’s nothing to be afraid of (Leaflet S18).