We are moving towards an increasingly aging society: we will be many and very old, and these circumstances pose a huge challenge on several levels: on the one hand, science and medicine can help us age better and combat some of the ravages of the passage of time . In turn, politics and public administrations must seek mechanisms to guarantee the access of the elderly to health and care, as well as to facilitate their integration into the community.
Aging was one of the main themes of the first days of Science in Parliament, a citizen initiative that aims to make science one of the sources that advises and helps politicians to make decisions that, ultimately, affect all citizens. We take the opportunity to speak with Susana Gaytán, researcher and professor of Physiology at the University of Seville.
For Gaytán, aging is natural and therefore we should not talk about ‘curing’ aging or finding a vaccine for it. What we need is to age well, and this can be done both from lifestyle and medicine. Mediterranean diet, physical exercise and a good network of social relationships would be the three key pillars that help us to have years of good shape. “They are factors that make our body, designed to age well, do it properly,” says the expert. “You have to work on two aspects: the social and the economic. We will be many and living a long time. We have to integrate aging into society and make it useful. “
Medicine to age better
On the other hand, medicine is, of course, also a great ally in the face of the challenge of old age. “Understanding how neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s progress and identifying them before they cause irreversible damage will translate into better public health,” says the researcher. Another promising field of study is that which concerns inflammatory processes (osteoarthritis, arthritis), which worsen the quality of life of the elderly as their mobility is restricted.
And what about issues like cryogenization? Can we live forever? Gaytán believes that it is necessary to be cautious and realistic: with current technology, cryogenization is not possible. On the other hand, our body is not designed to be immortal, and in fact there are already predictions based on data that estimate what is the maximum life expectancy for which we are genetically programmed … do you dare to say a number?
