October 1st marks the International Day of Older Persons, celebrating old age and highlighting the positive effects of engaging the socioeconomic participation and talents of older persons, in contrast to the negative impact of age discrimination. Ageism, the bias in any shape or form against an individual purely on the basis of their perceived advanced age, is widespread and embedded deep in our cultures. How many of us have never in our lives applied the phrase ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks’? How many religious deities have supposedly validated themselves by overcoming old age and death? To most of us, old age comes with multiple and heavy negative connotations, the result of an inevitable, degenerative, and universal human experience. And all too often written or unwritten rules prohibit the chance for persons of a perceived advanced age to reintegrate into employment or socioeconomic processes typically available for younger persons.  

What constitutes an old person remains, however, rather elusive in strict scientific terms. That is because the biological phenomenon of ageing, and the progression of senescence, is not identical for every one of us. In other words, there is great heterogeneity between individuals, and sometimes between entire populations, with regards to the involved biological processes. Some centenarians are fortunate enough to enjoy healthier lives than people half their age. And of course we all know people in their 70s who are more willing and able to adopt change and develop their skills or thinking than are other people who are in their 20s or 30s. Therefore applying blanket thinking, or blanket rules, with regards to age may help societies function legally (e.g. driving age, etc.), but can also often be wrong and contradict simple biological realities.  

Nevertheless the eventual decline of our mental and physical capacities that comes with ageing is indisputable, and this has great personal and social implications. Recent research into the biology of ageing has greatly improved our understanding of the molecular mechanisms mediating this decline, and their underlying cause-effect relationships. Thus, changes in our proteome or genome stability and regulation, energy homeostasis, nutrient sensing, intracellular signaling, and stem cell biology, are key mediators of the ageing process. Thankfully, most of these aspects can be actively influenced to an extent by our daily choices, such as lifestyle or nutritional decisions. Other changes, however, can be the result of as-yet unavoidable wear-and-tear. New research institutes into the biology of ageing have sprung up in recent years aiming to uncover and remedy some of the underlying biomolecular causes. Yet despite great progress much more work will be needed so that we can add more healthy and functional years to our lives. Nonetheless this increase in healthspan is already underway, and its social impact in the coming decades will remain enormous.  

The United Nations notes, in agreement with most recent comprehensive demographic analyses, that by 2050 there will be more people globally over the age of 65, than there will be under the age of 18. The number of persons over the age of 65 years alone will have doubled globally by the year 2030. This colossal population shift is the success of centuries of improvements in hygiene and sanitation, medicine and health care, nutrition and social welfare, employment conditions and retirement rights, social mobility and access to various technologies, among other things. Nonetheless, it presents challenges that have to be met through the eradication of ageism not only as a concept from our collective thinking, but practically through the development of employment and socioeconomic models that will be able to harvest the skills, talents, and wisdom of older persons. As R. L. Frost noted, “the afternoon knows what the morning never suspected”, a reference to our entire life’s struggle for accumulating knowledge with the purpose of hopefully putting it to good use. It would be regretful if as societies we fail to harvest the collective accumulated wisdom and experience of our older citizens.  

By Dr. George Soultoukis

© 2017 Equanimity Psychological Services EPS

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About the Author

Dr. George Soultoukis received a BSc. in Molecular Biology from University College London, and graduated with a PhD in Genetics from the University of Cologne at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing. He is an active molecular biology researcher and has published several peer-reviewed articles on the biology of ageing, with a focus on nutrition, energy homeostasis, and metabolic health.