The definition of old age is not fixed from a biological, demographic (mortality and morbidity conditions), work, retirement and sociological point of view. But for statistical and public administrative purposes, old age is called that starts from 60 or 65 years.
However, new research from the American Psychological Association (APA) shows that people’s perception of aging has changed in recent years.
Specifically, researchers from Germany and the United States asked 14,000 people “at what age would you describe someone as elderly?” Most 60-year-olds answered from 75 years and older.
According to their study, published in the journal Psychology and Aging, perception differed between generations. The older the participants were, the “farther” they placed the age limit, the study authors point out.
Life expectancy has increased in the last century by 6.2 years thanks to advances in health care and medicine, as well as improved living standards. The research team argues that this plays an important role in the “displacement” of old age as reported by vita.gr
We live twice as long as we did 150 years ago
Richard Faragher, Professor of Biogerontology at the University of Brighton, writes in a study that “in 1921 people did not live to be 105”. “Estimating the limits of longevity has since been criticized because every ‘upper limit’ of life that has been proposed to date has been exceeded,” he explains.
For example, the oldest person who ever lived reached 122 years and 164 days. Jeanne Calment died in 1997 and her record has yet to be broken. Most scientists agree that our current lifespan limit is about 120 years, largely because of the way the human body works.
Can we “freeze” time?
Can we “freeze” time?
A huge new step in the battle against aging and the (many) diseases associated with it has been taken by scientists at Harvard Medical School in collaboration with their colleagues from the University of Maine and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as reported in the scientific journal Aging magazine. Researchers have developed the first chemical approach to reprogramming human cells that can make them feel… again, something that until now has only been possible with powerful – and much more complex – gene therapy.
“Until recently the best we could do was slow down aging. New discoveries suggest that we might now be able to reverse it,” said David Sinclair, professor in the Department of Genetics, co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology and Research of Aging at Harvard Medical School, and lead author of the study.
The Harvard team envisions a future in which the diseases of aging can be effectively treated, wounds heal faster and better, and the dream of rejuvenating the entire human organism becomes a reality.
