http://longevity.about.com/od/researchandmedicine/p/age_genetics.htm
The article I found was titled, The Genetic Theory of Aging. I found this article to be very interesting and highly relative to our discussions on how genes relate to aging.
The article discusses how our lifespan is largely determined by the genes we inherit. Our potential age is determined at the moment of conception, however some of how long we live can be explained by learned behaviors, such as what we eat and how active we are. The article goes on to say how some genes are harmful while some we inherit are beneficial. Certain mutations of genes happen after birth with exposure to toxins, and fine radicals can also cause gene changes. I thought this was interesting, because it directly relates to what we discussed in class. Another interesting fact I found in this article was that as much as 35% of your lifespan can be explained by genes, which is a large percent to be based just on genes.
Overall I found this article very helpful in elaborating on the specific topics of genes and aging we had previously discussed in class, which helped my overall understanding.
I also find the fact that as much as 35% of our lifespan is determined by our genes. That is a very significant number and is important to our understanding of aging.
ReplyDeleteThe point you make about genes being harmful vs. beneficial. I have gotten so caught up in these readings about genes and aging, but I forget about mutations and how great an impact they can have on life. This is an interesting piece of the puzzle which would be useful to understand even better.
ReplyDeleteLike Alysha, I found that the statistic of 35% was interesting...that is a lot of time to control/account for! I think there is also a large "margin of error" by some researchers.
ReplyDeleteNice job relating the article to what we've talked about already. We still don't seem to understand yet what is "harmful" and "not harmful"...it probably depends who you ask!