October 1 was International Longevity Day or International Day of Older Persons and I want to use this occasion to raise awareness around an important issue that literally each and every one of us face or will face. It’s aging.
A lot of people ask me why I care so much about the aging field and longevity. Let me tell you.
This first picture is that of my beautiful grandparents when they were old but still functional.
This second picture is noticeably different – they look more frail and my Grandmother started developing a brain disorder which eventually took away her speech, brain processing and her life.
And this deterioration in health and onset of age-related diseases with age (could be cancer, Alzheimer’s, other brain disorders, frailty etc.) was not unique to my grandparents. I’m sure a lot of you have seen some elders in your life suffer from it too. Most elderly people ultimately suffer from age-related diseases – it’s just a matter of when the disease arrives and your chances of getting these diseases only keep increasing with age. That’s sad. It’s sad because it signals that eventually each of us has to suffer in old age. And it truly hurts to watch that suffering.
But what if we didn’t have to suffer in this manner? This is where the aging field could truly rescue us.
Now, what is the aging field trying to do? We are trying to reduce this suffering felt by the elderly and their loved ones. We are trying to reverse some of the damage in our bodies to make the elderly feel healthy again. Even if you don’t want to live too long, I’m sure you want to be healthy in your later years. And it’s not that easy to prevent these aging disorders unless we come together to solve this problem. And it means each one playing their part in whatever capacity works for them – starting companies, doing research, raising awareness, donating etc.
There are brilliant scientists and companies doing work in this field to bring back our youthful states when we are older. It is tremendous work all of us could benefit from and if it works, we can all be healthy for longer. Isn’t that something truly wonderful?
I certainly want to be healthier for longer. I certainly want to spend quality time with my grandchildren. I certainly wish I could have spent more time with my grandparents. And this is why I’m so excited about supporting the field of aging and longevity. And I hope I can get you excited too.
“Because at the core of it, longevity science will enable deeper and longer human connections.”
SOURCE: LONGEVITY SCIENCE CAN REDUCE SUFFERING
P.S. If you want to learn about some of the work being done by these brilliant scientists in the longevity field, subscribe to my YouTube. It’s new and I’d love your support! I’ll be releasing interviews with aging researchers with the intention of bringing their work from the lab to the public.
If you’re interested, make sure to subscribe so you are notified when the interviews get released. I’ve already recorded some interviews so they should be out soon, but in the meantime, you can watch a persuasive speech I gave on a controversial topic “You’re Never Going to Die.” In the video, I explain aging using a banana analogy and it’s a fun watch – enjoy!
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