Let's embrace ageing

Let's embrace ageing


People go to great lengths to ward off signs of ageing in a bid to stay young as long as possible.
Imagine if you could live forever: you wouldn't age, grow wrinkles, and then die. Scientists have recently been able to reverse the ageing process in mice by re-stimulating the production of certain enzymes and hormones in their bodies.

Although this may seem like a tempting prospect, hold your horses. These age-reversing methods so far only work on mice; they are a long way off from being applied to humans.

Our desire to stay alive forever isn't just a new-found thing. There are countless records dating back hundreds of years which describe our quest to live forever.

Attempts at ever-lasting life can be traced to 200BC in China. Qin, the emperor at the time, dedicated his entire life to searching for the mythical "elixir of life".

Many of us, like Qin, are afraid of death. It's important to keep in mind, though, that we die for a reason. The inevitable prospect of dying can make us treasure the time we have on Earth with our family and friends.

In some ways, we never truly "live" without ageing. Each stage of life, whether it be childhood, adolescence or old age, brings a new set of experiences and challenges to the table. Without the natural process of ageing, we would never be able to feel what it would be like to have grey hair or back pains. With the ability to stop ageing, we would be missing out on important aspects of life.

There are also further complications to living forever. For one, overpopulation would be a problem. The world's resources are limited. For example, our oil and coal supplies might run out in 50 years. Allowing the public to have access to anti-ageing techniques will only add to the massive list of problems that we have yet to resolve.

Our quest for beauty has a similarly long history. Humans have gone to great lengths to look prettier. Women in ancient Egypt used to slather lead and other poisonous chemicals around their eyes and on their cheekbones to whiten their faces.

Many people may be tempted by an anti-ageing formula. However, we have to realise that beauty is only skin deep. Many people think that it will make them happy, but it won't. We have to remember there are also other things that matter in life, such as friends, family, love and compassion.



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