Life is good and we want to live forever. Though immortality is impossible, at least, we can live healthy lives even past 100 years. The longest lived person in recent times, whose birth records had been verified, is a French woman, Jeanne Calment, who died at age 122 years in August 1997. To be certain, Calment is not an oddity. People living even beyond 100 years is, in fact, increasing in number.

But nobody likes to stay 100 and looks like Calment. Though she stayed relatively healthy near the end of her life, she became blind and her physical structure wasted away just like any old person.

 We want to live long lives provided we retain our youthful vigor. This is the vain cry of humanity, and the cry may not be after all in vain. Latest research shows that human life span may not be pre-programmed after all. Human tissues, and correspondingly, cells age either because of cell damage or shortening of telomeres in the chromosomes.

The cell is damaged by the accumulation of toxins and stress in the usual metabolic work it carries, and by the toxic substances that surround or absorbed in the cell’s body. Telomeres are the protective segments of the cell’s DNA. A typical cell is capable of 40 to 50 divisions or replications. As the cells continue to divide, telomeres shorten to zero point which causes the onset of the atrophy and eventual death of the cell. This is the DNA-programmed theory of aging as contrasted to the oxidative stress theory of aging discussed previously.

There are other theories of aging, and probably, all theories work in concert to insure that no single person on Earth escapes the ravages of aging. Whatever, it has been established that a person may reach beyond 122 years of age. Is the life span of a person programmed? Apparently, to a certain extent, yes, and this is most apparent  in lower animals. One can fairly predict the lifespan of a dog to be 10 years, and a housefly at 3 days. Somewhere in the genes of a living organism is stored all the information about itself including its lifespan. This theory is applicable also to humans but because of the many interplaying physiological and environmental factors that affect the longevity of a human  being, the genetic theory of lifespan may be viewed merely as potential rather as a rigid and limiting rule.

As a matter of fact, researchers have yet to understand fully the dynamics of and measure the potential of the human regenerative and natural healing capacities to counter, or offset the physiological, and cellular degenerative processes. There is also the great potential of telomeres to be repaired or replaced to allow the infinite division of cells.

Scientists have gradually uncovered the causative factors of aging on one hand and that which contribute to long life alongside the preservation of youthfulness. The causes may be molecular, cellular, genetics as pointed above. It may be environmental or attitudinal, or, the combination of all the foregoing. Lifestyle, too, to include positive mental attitude, proper diet and nutrition, and exercise is likewise vital to longevity and youthfulness.   

On what a person can do, I’d like to go directly to exercise because this is the most  misunderstood and less exploited area of life and youth extenders, especially, for Filipinos. Many believe that a game of tennis or lifting of heavy objects done on regular basis would suffice to promote health and fitness and prolong one’s life. Though, this premise is partially correct, it does present a complete formula for effectively addressing long term health, vigor, and longevity of a person.