At Harvard Law School’s Hemenway Gymnasium, age does NOT act as a hinder for competitiveness.
Goelet Professor of French History, Patrick Higonnet aged 72 and his opponent, History Professor Dan Smail, which is 30 years younger, do twice a week join on the tennis court to squash balls against the wall. Higonnet, confirms that Smail does often play a bit better. Past generations were severely worse-off. They would, at his age, only be able to watch the game. But Higonnet is still active and does commonly turn out to be victorious.
The advancement in medical science intertwined with a healthy lifestyle is offering many people, such as Higonnet, healthier and active days.
It is true, that there have always been people who have had enjoyed unprecedented health and longevity, but today the number of healthy olds is increasing at a historical rate. The American government is already forecasting that the growth of the aging population will detonate in a few decades. In 2009, there were 70,490 centenarians, and by the mid-century the number is predicted to reach around 600, 000.
It is obvious that such a radical demographic change will have some effects on community life. Harvard researchers are already investigating into these potential changes in medicine, business education, law and public health.
Different topics related to aging are evaluated throughout faculties of the University. This range from biological mechanisms to stress caused by the retirement systems.
Harvard researchers have made enormous contributions to longevity. In the past Joseph Murray’s introduced studies on organ transplant, and John Enders’ remarkable discovery on tissue culture enabling science to fight polio. Besides, the Harvard Center for Health Communication has hosted a number of campaigns to support researchers to find ways to fight type II diabetes and obesity by having a healthy diet.
Delving Into the Aging Process
Nowadays, Harvard researchers are no longer emphasising on one-disease at a time. There are hundreds of researchers working in various labs to unravel the causes of aging itself. At HMS Paul F. Glenn Laboratories for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging, David Sinclair, a Pathology Professor of Harvard Medical School is devoting his time to comprehending aging.
Professor Sinclair has conducted ongoing research on sirtuins which is a substance that plays a fundamental role in avoiding aging. Research in this field has advanced significantly, since the 1990s, now it is known that 7 SIRT genes make up the structure for sirtuins.
Recently, Sinclair pinpointed that at Glenn Lab’s main emphasis is to understand how aging-related physiological changes can produce a disease. The type of disease is more or less irrelevant; the focus is simply on the mechanism leading to the diseases themselves. Scientists, researchers and gerontologists are hoping that by aiming at alleviating the causes of age-related illnesses, aging itself might be stopped.
A broad focus on aging as a disease can help to prevent several if not all of its aliments.
Calorie Restriction has shown to contribute to healthiness. Interestingly, SIRT genes are the guiding force of the protective attributed derived from a calorie low diet. Sinclair said that drugs having the potential to alter these pathways are in development and might be launched on the market within the next five years.
Nonetheless, Sinclair, do not really believe that extreme life extension will be introduced in the near future. However, gradual health improvement can definitely make it possible to live healthy to 90 years.
David Canning, who is a professor of economics and international health at the Harvard School of Public Health, says that longevity itself will cause challenges such as pressure on medical and retirement systems.
Yet, Canning says that these are positive problems to deal with. It is also good news, as in the past if people managed to live up to their 60s. They were commonly extremely sick but with increased longevity people are health in their 60s.
Going Towards an Aging Population
The HSPH’s center does, however, not study the demography of aging. Population and Development studies do under the Program of Global Demography of aging examines four main aspects of global aging.
These four global themes of aging are:
1. Changing Pattern of disease & death
2. Comprehending the social determinants of population health and aging
3. Medicare and Basic Health Care Financing
4. Comprehending the Demographics & economic consequences of aging (emphasising on topics like social security and retirement systems)
This program gathers information not only from HSPH but also from Harvard Kennedy School, Faculty of Arts and Science as well as the Medical School.
The program’s deputy director, Canning says that aging population have various effects on the development of countries. For instance, in developed nations, wealth is associated to an aging population. This gives governments’ also higher power to deal with increasing retirement cost and the volume of sick people. On the other hand, developing countries are also having an aging population, and for them the future isn’t that bright. The accumulation of wealth is growing slower than their aging population. This is likely to produce negative effects in the long-run such as an aging population which will be supported by weak social security and retirement systems.
The phenomenon of an aging population is often considered within a negative spectrum, surrounded by current ideas on health care, retirements and the labour markets. According to Canning, these pessimistic views on an aging population have been grounded by ancient institution and by people who had a shorter lifespan. The first thing to do is to make it clear that having a longer and healthier lifespan is something good and not a scourge.
Expenses Involved With Longevity
The Pension and Capital Stewardship Project, conducted at Harvard law school is also in line with the labor & Worklife program. The main objective of the project is to evaluate how to raise revenue to pay for an increasing in human lifespan. For instance, pension systems as well as retirement plans are reviewed, and the management of these funds is examined. Ideas on how to improve the way trillions of dollars are invested is being studied through working papers. Larry Beeferman who is the project directors says that researchers are investigating, international and national ways to deal with retirement funds.
The Harvard Business School Students might be investing into something that won’t affect them in the short-run. However, faculty members consider that it is important for them to contribute to the future system.
For instance, most companies are leaving pension plans behind while opting for retirement plans. The retirement plans do not provide monthly benefits but rather a one-time pay cheque. So through retirement plans employees will have to manage the fund themselves. It is very complicated to manage these funds as there are two fundamental uncertainties; first, people do not know how long they will live and secondly, market fluctuation prevails.
The easiest pension plan that these employees can opt for might be to search for an annuity immediately. They secure $100,000 annuity with a monthly payout of around $ 500.
Another important aspect is to understand how people enjoy the money as they live longer. Lawrence-Lightfoot who is the Emily Hargroves Fisher professor of Education at The Harvard Graduation School of Education (HGSE) devoted 2 years simply to visit people around the country to understand what they did with the extra time.
What is done with Time?
For instance, Lawrence-Lightfoot found some 40 people across the country aged between 50 and 75 years. She considered them as people who had reached life’s ‘third chapter’. The chapter is also present in her 2009 book where she explains how people who are no longer attached to full-time obligations, like raising families, are living. Many of them are financially stable and enjoyed life while seeking for new opportunities.
People who actively engage themselves on new challenges are usually better off. They embark on a culture of youth and remain active and vibrant in comparison to those who prefer to relax on the shoreline.
For instance, the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement (HILR) tries to help people after retirement. It is a peer-learning institute that seeks to make retirees act as both student and teachers. Most of the classes are conducted through seminars. Leonie Gordon, who is the director, says that the discussions held are informative and lively. However, there are no exams and degrees involved in the classes.
According to Gordon, the institute has seen its 520 active members aging. From being on an average age of 34 years while now 25 percent of the members are above 80 years.
Gordon says that “We see people living out their lives in a strong, intellectual way,” and the next time these people read Dostoyevsky in their 60s or 70s they are likely to find it different from what they comprehended in their 20s. Life should be a journey of wisdom with full health.
Mon, Nov 22, 2010
Anti Aging, Gerontology, Longevity