Within a century, billions of people had to know how to be old. And perhaps not so long ago, more elderly people and even more than ever before, were able to see their grandchildren grow up. However, the price they have to pay is, for example, a rise in heart disease, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis, arthritis and everything we associate with aging and getting older.
In fact, we as human beings are supposed – if I say it right – in our modern age to stop trying to make us live longer and instead, we should focus only on extending health instead of extending life!
Here, health and longevity are often confused. After all, don’t people live longer precisely because they are healthier? Instead, aging brings new health challenges that are all too familiar to anyone who has taken care of an elderly relative or is getting older. This certainly takes us to another curve, which is that if people are living longer, maintaining their health in the long term will require focusing on healthy habits that begin in childhood.
So perhaps we should be somewhat optimistic, because somehow science has now absorbed the idea that we can slow down our biological aging process, of course not for the purpose of making us live longer, but for the purpose of prolonging a healthy life. However, yet I find myself here and emphasizing – on the saying that We have been accustomed to it since childhood – that prevention is better than cure. Not to mention that eating a healthy and varied diet, getting plenty of sleep and exercising regularly are reliable ways to make your life stretch, no matter how much and more enjoyable.
At the end , this story may have a happy ending. If medical interventions to slow aging lead to additional years of reasonable fitness, life may extend in an optimistic way, with most men and women living longer and in good health. Without a doubt, the most exciting work currently being done in medical science is about bringing later years to life, rather than just adding time at the end. Of course, the belief that death should be postponed for the longest possible period does not exist in nature or in our human life and it is all with the knowledge and command of God.
Dr. Yousuf Ali Al Mulla . A physician, a medical innovator and writer.
