Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Guest Opinion: Human Aging There's Less To It Than We Thought, John W. Rowe

Bridgewater Review

Hearing and memory losses, cognitive decline, easily fractured bones, crankiness and depression are often considered to be inevitable accompaniments of the aging process. Yet many losses which have traditionally been thought of as age determined are, on more careful examination, turning out to be merely age-associated. Many of the declines we associate with being elderly can be explained in terms of lifestyle, habits, diet and other psychosocial factors which are not a necessary part of the aging process