What processes cause aging?

I found both the oxidative and browning theories to be very thought provoking.  I became especially interested in the idea of oxidation and how breathing and metabolism was essential blamed for our aging and therefore death.  I find it ironic that we die without oxygen or food, although we die with it as well.  I suppose this could be related to water as well.  Not enough: you die from dehydration, too much: you die from drowning.  Although the difference in this situation is the quantity.  If you consume 'the right' amount of water throughout your life time you continue living whereas if you consume 'the right' amount of oxygen or food you are still in the process of dying because of it.

I also thought the idea of comparing the organism's size and life expectancy was intriguing.  I had always understood that there is a balance between progeny size and complexity.  For example bugs lay many eggs at a time, they aren't too complex(compared to humans), and they reach reproductive maturity relatively quickly.  With humans a single birth is considered normal, humans are fairly complex, and it takes a long time for human babies to reach maturity.  While this concept had previously been explained to me as a mechanism to maintain a relatively stable population size, I hadn't thought of it as the amount of time an organism could ward of the effects of oxidization and metabolism.

Why We Age

I thought the reading brought up a really interesting idea about the cause of aging.  As we have been defining aging in class we have mentioned that everyone is continually aging, and that it looks different for each individual.  However, as we have reviewed several characteristics of aging we haven't really uncovered the reason behind aging.  The author mentioned "the good-of-the-species theory" which some people feel is the cause of aging.  This theory is utilized frequently in research, take fruit flies for example.  They have a short life span and reproduce many offspring quickly, enabling them to adapt to their environment quickly.  These aspects of their life cycle are beneficial in creating a well adapted species to their environment in a relatively quick time frame.  In the wild it is beneficial for the aging population to die in order to enable the younger generation to utilize the available resources.  Although their life cycle may promote quick generations times and adaptation, this does not describe the reason we age, it describes why it is beneficial.  I would have to agree with the author that "the good-of-the-species theory" does not address the question of why we age.  After contemplating this idea I am not sure there is a  black and white answer of why we age.  In my opinion it is similar to the question why do humans exist.  Although these are intriguing questions, I am not confident a concrete answer can be found.

Learning About Aging

Hi everyone, my name is Mackenzie and I am looking forward to learning how to work better with the elderly and making wise choices now to age gracefully later.  I am especially interested in learning how different aspects (genetics, behavior,  and environment, among others) combine to yield different results.  I am looking forward to learning with you guys :)