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Pharmacy Links

THE SYMPTOMS OF OLD AGE

09th April 2009

Medical textbooks dealing with the signs of old age mention all kinds of conditions that have as their cause the progressive deterioration of the body. Ossification of the cartilages increases, elasticity of the ligaments decreases, and the whole body becomes stiff, the entire bone structure bent. The joints are less flexible and moving them becomes more difficult, often painful. Walking becomes less safe and the person feels as if the joints lack lubrication, easily said after hearing them creak and crack! The memory deteriorates and the increased hardening of the blood vessels leads to high blood pressure. Strenuous physical effort and exposure to strong sunlight can no longer be tolerated but cause giddiness and the danger of a stroke.

This description is enough to make you lose a little of the joy of life if you are past sixty. But does it have to be like this? Is this fate immutable? Have a look at those who are much older and you will meet many eighty-year-olds who are full of vitality and energy, sometimes more so than other people who are only fifty. This reminds me of my grandmother’s sister who, at the age of ninety-six, was still able to read the newspaper without glasses. Her memory and mental alertness were so sharp that I had great admiration for her when I was a young man.