What's the Problem with Aging?
, by Dylan Arrazati, 2 min reading time
What's the Problem with Aging?
As we get older, some of our cells stop working properly. These "tired" cells are called senescent cells. They're like little troublemakers that create problems for other healthy cells around them. They can do this by sending out harmful molecules that cause inflammation and damage organs. Usually, our immune system can clean up these troublemaker cells when we're young. But as we age, our immune system isn't as good at this job, so these bad cells stick around and make us age faster.
How Can We Fix This?
Scientists have found special substances called "senolytics" that can target these troublemaker cells and get rid of them. This can help with all sorts of aging problems, from making our skin look better to keeping our hearts healthy. Some of these substances are even found in plants and are being concentrated into medicine-like doses.
There's another type of special substance called "senomorphics" that can also help. Instead of getting rid of the bad cells, they target the harmful molecules these cells are sending out. By doing this, they can also reduce inflammation and organ damage.
What's the Benefit?
Research has shown that using senolytics can improve aging in several ways. For example, they can help reduce cholesterol, keep our arteries clean, and even slow down how our skin ages. They might also help with joint pain and boost overall health.
Studies are also looking into using senolytics to help with brain health, muscle strength, and a variety of age-related diseases. In other words, these substances are like a multi-tool for aging problems, working on many things at once instead of just one problem at a time.
What's Next?
The cool thing is, using both senolytics and senomorphics together seems to work even better in slowing down aging. Researchers are super excited about this and are doing more studies to see just how effective these substances can be in making us live healthier for longer.
So, in summary, these new discoveries are like finding a new set of tools for slowing down aging. Scientists are still studying them, but it looks very promising for helping us age more gracefully.