How OLD are you really ?

A few days ago I came across an incredibly interesting and thought provoking article about a girl who even though she was chronologically 16 years old, still had the body and mental capacity of an 11 month old toddler. For all intents and purposes, she had not visibly aged during her entire 16 year life !

Here's a New Scientist article:
www.newscientist.com...

One hypothesis is that she may either lack, or have a damaged/mutated version of what they refer to as the "Master Ageing Gene". Richard Walker, a researcher from the University of South Florida College of Medicine, hypothesises that the cause is disruption of an as-yet unidentified gene, or genes, that hold the key to ageing by orchestrating how an organism matures to adulthood, reproduces, then gradually ages and dies.


This girls unfortunate condition got me to thinking about my personal situation and human ageing in general, and whether there are others with a similar predisposition to retarded or slowed ageing but not as extreme as hers. Could it be possible that there are people out there who even though they are considered "elderly" e.g. in their 60's, 70's or older but who still look and act physically much, much younger.

I'll use myself as an example ...

I'm 61 years old and essentially in excellent health. Outwardly, I can easily pass for a 35 year old, have youthfull looking skin texture and muscle tone and no wrinkles or any other signs associated with "old age" and have retained a full head of hair. In fact, I have 2 thirty year old sons and I'm occasionally mistaken as their "brother" instead of their father !

I have never had a broken bone or any serious disease except for normal ones such as measles, chicken pox, colds, flu, etc.
In fact, whenever I do get a cold or flu, manage to recover in a few short days and never get to the stage where I'm incapacitated or bedridden. There was one incident about 25 years ago, when I came down with the flu but still went into work. But whilst at work, I started to feel absolutely lousy, feverish and miserable to say the least and basically felt so bad that I had to go home. I got myself into bed around 1pm, had a bit of a sleep and when I woke up around 5pm, had recovered so well that I barely had any remaining symptoms and essentially felt fine.
Even a case of chicken pox about 10 years ago, had little effect on me except for a rash. I didn't feel ill at all and except for remaining home for a number of days, hardly noticed that I had contracted it.

I have no arthritis and can walk, run, exert myself and basically do everything that I could when I was in my 20's. So as far as I can tell, nothing has really changed or deteriorated in my physical (or mental !) capabilities.

Anyway, enough about me and back to the reason for this thread ...

After having read that article and considered my personal situation, I'm now simply wondering and curious if anyone else here on ATS (even though ATS is only a small microcosm of the real world) looks and feels SIGNIFICANTLY "younger" than their "chronological" age ?
Perhaps this "condition" is more common then we think ?



[edit on 24-8-2009 by vita eternus]

I can relate to what you have said, Im almost 60 but don't look or feel

like it. People think my 34 yr. old daughter is my sister, I find it

amusing, can't say the same for my daughter. My Sister is 11 yrs.

younger than Iam, but most people think she is older....lol

She smokes, drinks in excess, I try to eat healthy, exercise, I

have a beer on occasion, have never smoked, and I have a healthy

up-beat attitude....life is what you make it...imo

S&F very interesting thread!

[edit on 24-8-2009 by truth/seeker]

I'm pretty young I'd say...

And have a receding hairline... don't think i'm going to be living forever....

Heck, I look good bald though!


I'm sure stress harshly effects aging, 2 pack a day smoker, helps me with the stress, but ya know, lung cancer and all, that might be troublesome.

Stress definitely ages you faster then anything i've seen anyone present.

[edit on 24-8-2009 by Republican08]

I just looked up the oldest "recorded" human (who just happened to be a woman as well) that managed to reach an astounding age of 122 years !

If she could reach such an age, I'm wondering if it's conceivable that there could be other individuals out there who through whatever good fortune have managed to reach similar ages but still look as if they're in their 30's and 40's ? Would they necessarily admit to it or hide the fact of their longevity ?

Having read the above article which shows that ageing (in some unknown manner) obviously CAN be arrested or significantly slowed down, I'm now of the opinion that that girl can't be the ONLY such example and that there just might be other similarly affected individuals where the effect didn't kick in until AFTER maturity.

Thats an excellent point you've made regarding the possibility of "advanced age" individuals amongst us but actively not drawing attention to themselves.

I've just finished reading that article and my understanding is that it's essentially saying that aging IS a genetic mechanism that CAN malfunction ... as it obviously has (badly) for that poor girl.
But the other side of the coin is that because it appears to have an underlying genetic basis, that implies that there is always a possibilty of a less severe form of that malfunction ... perhaps even a beneficial version ... popping up from time to time in certain individuals.

Anyway, S & F for you !

This is slightly off topic but it explains what ageing is and how to double the life span of certain creatures on earth and what the method is. And essentially explains why ageing happens. Once we know that we can go on and speculate about why some people do not age. I am only 21 but would love to live past the age of 60. I smoke and only drink occationally but stress plays a big part in my life and I feel the effects such as stomach ulsers, grinding my teeth etc. I do not fell as young as I look or am.
Enjoy this vid by Dr. Michio Kaku!

reply to post by vita eternus


If I may, I'd like to answer your original question of "how old are you really?" in the form of a timeless question ... namely:

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?

reply to post by schrodingers dog


Thats an exelent question! Star. Although difficult to answer, I dont fell like I'm 21 but would not be able to say how old I feel, do you mean physically or mentaly?

reply to post by jinx880101


Ah, it's more of a free yourself from your mind made relative and conceptualized linear measurements question.

[edit on 24 Aug 2009 by schrodingers dog]

Originally posted by schrodingers dog
reply to post by vita eternus

 

If I may, I'd like to answer your original question of "how old are you really?" in the form of a timeless question ... namely:

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?

That is indeed a good question !

I would assume that if you were say, under a 100 years of age, that you would have a reasonable idea of your age based on the number of summers/winters that you feel you have experienced ... and I doubt that you'd be too far off the mark.

But ... if you were much older, say a few hundred years old, and had no idea of the date of your birth, then that may make it much harder to try and guess your true age. That many summer/winters would tend to blur in your mind, I would assume. And if outwardly you still looked to be in your 30's / 40's ... I guess after a while you'd just give up trying to keep EXACT track of the passing years and instead base your approx age by recalling well known events from the past that may have occured to you ... e.g. you recall experiencing WWII ... or WWI ... or the reign of Queen Victoria ... or having met or known of famous (by historical standards) people.

If you have read your bible you would know that at one time man lived to almost 1,000 years old. What has changed that is the conditions on the earth. 1). A massive flood known as Noah's flood altered the size of the earth so the earth gives off a different EMF at a different Hertz. This causes the cells when they divide nine times the first cell will die that is not the case with corrected EMFs. The next thing is the earth today has oxygen levels at less than 25% than 50% after that the atmosphere pressure is half what it was then with a loss of a water canopy that once was around the earth. Then also the changes in Orgone an life force earth energy. About 99.9% of plant and animal life is gone from once it was. This clearly has an effect on what we eat. Also plants have shown to be sound deficient ( from the sounds from birds and animals now dead) that effects the plants up take of vitamins and minerals that we eat. This uptake also came from the leaves that once were sprayed by from water mists that came up from the ground. However none of this explains why the life process of growth alters and then the DNA goes in such a decline at an age. So this case is interesting. Adam and Eve had to eat from a tree called the tree of life. Now long gone and would have lived forever.

reply to post by vita eternus


How cool for you to still appear visibly youthful. I know people like you.

When I was a teenager, I was mistaken for an adult. Now that I'm 48, people think I'm in my early 30's. I'm good with that.

Years ago now, there was a news item about a woman in China who was in her mid-80s. Science took notice when her white hair began growing dark at the roots and she began to menstruate again. I seem to remember she began growing fresh teeth, as well


Someone in an above post asked: 'How old would you be if we didn't know how old you are ? ' or words to that effect. Which reminded me of the very first time I went online (with my daughter there as 'teacher'). We were on Undernet I think .. it's years ago now .. and we 'watched' silently as two people sparred with each other for close to two hours. They were as funny as a circus. Then we learned that one of them was a 12 year old boy ... and the other one was a 58 German woman ! To listen to them, you would have thought they were both in their mid-20s

My mother looked young for her age for years. But with a husband and larger family, it took it's toll on her and as soon as she reached a certain age, she went downhill fast.

I had been for many years looked younger and even cared well into my 30's and obviously with a full head of hair. But, I never felt real healthy and I've been sick a good part of my life in some way.

I do feel even much older than I should at this point and feel I would be lucky.....or unlucky , to even reach retirement age. Many, I've recalled, have worked past retirement age, only to die a few years after.

My father was a workaholic most of his life and retired long after retirement age had since passed. Than he was diagnosed with primary brain cancer and died a year later. But, the sadest thing was, was that he STILL even worked when others could not have until he couldn't stand anymore, just like an old workhorse.
I don't want to be like my father and never have. It looks like that's the way it will be.

So, I'm much older than I look.

I am 32 years old and can pass for a teenager easily. This is now finally starting to bother me. I am married, and have a six year old and two year old. I have a really hard time making friends, with other mothers around the same age as me. They think I am way younger than I actually am. I also believe that they treat me differently because of the supposed age difference. Just recently one mother at my child's school was in absolute shock, at finding out how old I really was. She couldn't believe it. Same thing with my dentist, that did my root canal recently. The dentist's daughter was working as her dental assistant, when she was fixing my tooth. They joked back and forth about how I looked younger than the daughter, who just turned 18. I just gave two examples on the reactions I get from people, but this happens a couple of times a month. What I am starting to have a hard time with now, is being able to differentiate the ages of people. I see people who are in their early twenties, and I assume they are my age when they actually are a lot younger. Also when I deal with people around my age, I am always treating them like they are much older than me. At least I married someone who looks young for his age, but he doesn't look quite as young as me. He is 33 and looks like he is in his mid-twenties.(You wouldn't believe the dirty looks we got when we were dating. People thought he was robbing the cradle. We are only ten months apart in age.) It's just really getting weird lately.

reply to post by cgroms

I am 32 years old and can pass for a teenager easily. This is now finally starting to bother me.

Just imagine how grateful you'll be in another 20 -30 years if you continue looking youthful !

But seriously, I can certainly sympathise with your situation and concern. That was one of the motivating factors for starting this thread in the first place. I wanted to get a feel for whether there were many others like me (and now, yourself) ... who looked much, much younger than their biological years.

Just makes me wonder if there could be any extreme cases of "youthfull looking" people but in reality being aged in excess of a 100 years (or more) but still looking as if they were in their 30's, 40's or 50's. And would they try to hide their longevity and try to not draw attention to themselves ?