Aging Is Mathematically Inevitable And We Can’t Stop It

There are no fountains or magical springs that can wonderfully fill our tired bodies and hearts with new energy.

The desire of eternal youth is indeed very old. Since ancient times, people have been focused on developing and preserving youthful vigor, stopping the continuing age clock, and extending their lifespan.

It’s a myth that has been known in many cultures for millennia, and represents a popular motif in various mythologies and religions.

According to scientists, the idea of living forever simply does not add up because aging is a natural part of life.

U.S. researchers came to this conclusion by applying mathematical rules to basic biological processes involved in aging.

“Aging is mathematically inevitable – like, seriously inevitable,” said Professor Joanna Masel, from the University of Arizona.

“There’s logically, theoretically, mathematically no way out.”

Current theories leave open the possibility of eternal youth if the body could be taught how to eliminate poorly functioning “ageing” cells. One way of achieving this may be to encourage “survival of the fittest” cell competition, which unfortunately isn’t that simple, according to Masel and her colleague Dr Paul Nelson.

“As you age, most of your cells are ratcheting down and losing function, and they stop growing, as well,” said Nelson, lead author of the study.

“But some of your cells are growing like crazy. What we show is that this forms a double bind – a catch-22.

“If you get rid of those poorly functioning, sluggish cells, then that allows cancer cells to proliferate, and if you get rid of, or slow down, those cancer cells, then that allows sluggish cells to accumulate.

“So you’re stuck between allowing these sluggish cells to accumulate or allowing cancer cells to proliferate, and if you do one you can’t do the other.

“You can’t do them both at the same time, ” Nelson explans.

We are multi-cellular organisms and as Prof Masel says “..we’re all going to die; lots of things are obvious because they’re so familiar to us, but really, why is it that we age? Aging is an inevitable process that can be slow down but it cannot be stopped. However, both these problems are impossible to fix.

“Things will get worse over time, in one of these two ways or both: Either all of your cells will continue to get more sluggish, or you’ll get cancer,” researchers say.

“And the basic reason is that things break and it doesn’t matter how much you try and stop them from breaking, you can’t.”

Research is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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