71. On Hope for the Future of Ageing. 

Dearly Beloved,

When I had a birthday party to celebrate reaching the age of seventy years the invitation was headed with the passage from Psalm 90:10

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

That Psalm was written thousands of years ago and since then we humans have been trying to understand why there is a sudden deterioration in the human physical condition after the age of seventy. Modern science has struggled to understand this phenomenon and it was thought that it was due to an accumulation of genetic errors, specifically the erroneous replication of amino acids in the nucleus of cells that allows accurate replication of cells – so gradual deterioration of the quality of cells would result. Recent research has shown that something much more dynamic is going on.

If I have understood it correctly, the body contains a multitude of different cells and the most important of these are stem cells which are undifferentiated but which are capable of changing to a specific cell type and step in where there has been cell death or tissue damage. These cells can become skin cells, or liver cells, or pancreatic cells, and perhaps most important of all contribute to our immune system helping us to ward off disease and cancer as they spot and eliminate mutated or damaged cells.

It has now been discovered that the problem arises because some cells are more aggressive in their replication, so that by the age of seventy years they start to dominate and there is less variety amongst the stem cells in the human body capable of doing their restorative work. Much of this new and important work has been done in Cambridge, just a catapult's throw from St Clement's!

Of course it immediately leads to the question, how can we act to encourage a greater diversity of cells in the body beyond the age of seventy which will slow the ageing process? And work is now being undertaken to answer that question.

Meanwhile -- sometimes there are minor miracles. At about 68 years of age I attempted to do that Russian, Cossack dance which is executed crouching down and shooting one's legs forwards. My optimism was rewarded with an injury resulting in lower back pain and all my orthopedic surgeon friend said was “serves you right”. However four years later I fell off my bike (because I did not realise I had a loose saddle). I hit the ground hard. The fall instantly healed my lower back pain and two years later it has not returned. (Do not try to replicate this.) I have yet to attempt to replicate the Cossack dance.

God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform!

Peace and love to you all and no lower back pain to any!

Paul.

Photo: John Worth

A 58 year old woman (Josephine) performs a bow stall in heavy surf at Woolacombe Bay, Devon, UK.

The original scientific paper and research institutions involved can be found here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04786-y




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