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Blog two
Word count: 628
Title: Road to Valhalla
Subhead: The cell is an imperfect machine.
Road to Valhalla
Can we conquer aging? Is there an upper limit to longevity? Will only the "Chosen" be able to afford this road to Valhalla…Where the mighty young Viking shall rise again? Is there a biological predestination similar to John Calvin's belief about the fate of the universe throughout space and time?
Social Security has predicted life expectancies to reach 77 years for men and 83 years for women. Other studies have suggested that life expectancies to reach a natural limit of 85 years. S. Jay Olshansky stated in "A realist View of Aging, Mortality, and Future Longevity, that: "Biological determinism has never been part of our biodemographic paradigm…" There is no upper limit that a cell or an individual can live, there are no biological clocks. So what causes the damage that we precede as aging?
The answer is in the cell. Mistakes are often made in the folding of proteins. Mitochondrion, while producing ATP, often makes free radicals. Telomeres also play a role on the longevity of a cell. The cell is an imperfect machine.
Stem cell therapies and growth hormones can cost thousands of dollars a month. Is the ageless life only for the rich? Who will pay the cost to the general public? As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, who will pay for healthcare? Many jobs offer health insurance at a small cost to the employee. However, they don't pay for anti-aging therapies. National Health Care of the Socialist countries don't pay for anti-aging therapies. Aging is not thought of as a disease.
Many people fear of losing their mental vitality, as they get older. They overemphasize their fear when they forget even the simplest things, such as misplacing car keys, or forgetting to stop by an ATM for money, or do their homework on time. They fear that Alzheimer's disease is happening to them. Some may lose sleep worrying about Alzheimer's rather than the lack of sleep that may make them more forgetful! This heightened anxiety could be resolved by doing simple mind exercises such as playing chess, or using mnemonics to help remember people's names, phone numbers or addresses. Another trick is to say the person's name three times while picturing them naked.
Memory is important, but it should be known that the mind also forgets on purpose, needless information, like what you ate the last Tuesday before New Year's Day in 1964. (I had pancakes, just joking!) However, I do remember things like JFK being shot, the news reports of the people who died in Vietnam, landing on the moon, and other historical events. But, they are not as important to me as remembering watching "The Mickey Mouse" show in Birmingham, AL at grandma's house, or visiting Niagara Falls, or going snow camping, or learning to swim in the icy Lake Michigan or climbing out of a second story window onto a snow bank next to the house. There are many memories: the first Viking ship, the first aurora, seeing a fish frozen in the river while ice-skating, and so on… I even dream in color, some of those old memories. My grandma died at the age of 86 from pneumonia, but her mind was as sharp as a tack. So maybe that is in the genes.
Longevity Divide hopes to increase the lifespan by seven years with the use of research. Overtime, the cost of the medications used to fight aging will come down so that the "average Joe" can also afford the therapies. Diseases like Alzheimer's, Charcot-Marie-Tooth and other genetic disorders will be a thing of the past. Just like the young warriors who are slain and reborn in the halls of Valhalla, someday, we will have the technology to create an ageless society.
