Wear and Tear
Wear and tear theories of aging suggest that as an individual ages, body parts such as cells and organs wear out from continued use. Wearing of the body can be attributable to internal or external causes that eventually lead to an accumulation of insults which surpasses the capacity for repair. Due to these internal and external insults, cells lose their ability to regenerate, which ultimately leads to mechanical and chemical exhaustion. Some insults include chemicals in the air, food, or smoke. Other insults may be things such as viruses, trauma, free radicals, cross-linking, and high body temperature.
Read more about this topic: Nancy Merz Nordstrom, Biogerontology, Biological Theories of Aging
Famous quotes containing the words wear and/or tear:
“In your presence, I swear by the Styx and the Acheron never more to wear glasses on my bonnet, nor a codpiece on my breeches, until, concerning my undertaking, I have heard the word of the Divine Bottle.”
—François Rabelais (1494–1553)
“I saw a staring virgin stand
Where holy Dionysus died,
And tear the heart out of his side,
And lay the heart upon her hand
And bear that beating heart away;”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)