Ageing and Diseases

The relationship between inheritance and longevity is well known. People exposed to environmental toxins, smoking or heavy drinking and those with poor diets are likely to have greater age-related changes taking place in their cells. Life-style factors are therefore important in limiting environmental effects.
Although the changes of ageing happen at cell level they affect every tissue and therefore every organ of the body. Four particular groups of tissue, when affected by age changes, can have major effects on body function because they are involved with all the organs and systems in one way or another are:


• Connective tissue and bone, 


• Blood vessels,


• Nervous tissue and


• Immune tissue.


Connective Tissue and Bone
Connective tissue provides the supporting structure for all organs. With age their constituents also alter. Less elastic tissue is laid down and the water content is less which leads to ageing skin wrinkles.
Bone turnover is also altered so that less calcium is incorporated into the bones making them more fragile and thus increasing the risk of osteoporosis.


Blood Vessels
Problems with blood vessels and circulation are in part due to the connective tissue that makes up the walls of the vessels, which become less elastic and therefore less efficient carriers of blood. Since the functioning of all tissues is dependent on good blood circulation, any malfunctioning in the blood vessels and blood got widespread effects.


Nervous Tissue
Some decline in nervous system function is due to poor blood supply; however, it is also in part due to ageing effects on the system itself.
According to the research studies, ageing can bring about deterioration in the manufacture of the neurotransmitters, which is required for the conduction and the transmission of the information across the nerve fibers.
One common problem of ageing is poor bladder function. This can be due to inadequate nervous control of the bladder’s detrusor muscle.
Older patients are at increased risk of falls. This all is due to the poor coordination of the different body parts to maintain stability. And this again is due to the improper functioning of the nervous tissue.


The Immune System
White blood cells, which produce the macrophages that counteract the disease producing micro-organisms, are the central component of the immune system and although the number of these cells stays fairly constant throughout old age, the relative proportion of the different types of white cells changes. This makes older people less able to fight off infections and possibly makes them more susceptible to autoimmune and other infectious diseases