Theories of Aging – Modern and Ayurvedic Perspectives

theories of aging with Ayurveda & management perspective

Abstract of Theories of Aging

Aging is the harsh yet beautiful truth of life. You must be thinking why I am using harsh and beautiful at the same time. But you must understand that I’m saying harsh because no one in this world wants to get old and beautiful because I want you to understand how lucky you are when you are adding life and moments to every coming year.

Life and aging both are beautiful, you just have to enjoy and accept the beauty of aging. In this article we will mainly discuss theories related to aging and how one can avoid signs of aging for a long time. This will be discussed in both modern and Ayurvedic terms. 

Introduction 

Aging has some differences as well as some similar concepts in modern and in Ayurveda. Aging is the universal truth that begins from the time of birth. Day turns into months, months into year and years into decade.

Even our body grows; cells grow, mature, degenerate and the cycle keeps on repeating itself. Increasing age can result in occurrence or origin of many conditions in our body which can lead our body cells towards degeneration at a faster rate.

Aging signs are common with increasing age but they tend to appear early due to development of health associated conditions. Now we will discuss some theories related to aging and also about management of aging in an effective way. 

Some Theories of Ageing  

Theories on aging are being mentioned in modern as well as in Ayurvedic perspective. Let us understand what similarities and differences both perspectives have.  

Modern Perspective 

Aging is a phenomenon that decreases your body’s capacity to fight infections, makes your body prone to many conditions and also the occurrence of many conditions is commonly noticed.

The reason behind such changes are many according to modern science like environmental changes, gene mutations, stress, functional impairment, disturbance in the natural pH of various body fluids, certain habits like alcohol consumption and smoking.

Sometimes the conditions are inherited from the families and are present from childhood. All of these factors combine together and give the process of ageing a boost due to which the body is not able to bear stress, faces continuous wear and tear and hence signs of aging appear.

Aging according to modern science depends on complete wellness of the body genetically, metabolically and functionally.

Ayurvedic perspective 

Aging is called ‘jara’ in Ayurveda. ‘Jirayati iti jara’ which means aging is the process of wearing out of body cells, tissues, dhatu and anga with time. Jara is also called as vardhakya means increasing age. Ayurveda divides human life into four stages:

  • Childhood (from birth to sixteen years of age)
  • Youth (from 16 to 30 years of age)
  • Maturity (from 30 to 60 years of age)
  • Jara (from 60 years onward) 

From jara stage of life, the body starts to deplete itself. Degradation is seen in terms of dhatu depletion, reduction in the physical appearance of the body, diminishing sensory functions like low hearing, weak eyesight and low energy.

Pathology is one more reason due to which a person can land in the jara stage faster where his body tissues, dhatu, cells start depleting at a faster rate.

Human body is made up of panchmahabhuta and from these panchmahabhuta tridosha (three humors of body) develops and these tridosha are responsible for maintaining cellular health and longevity.

Kapha maintains longevity on cellular level, pitta governs digestion and nutrition and vata is closely related to pranic energy and is responsible for governing all life functions. 

The imbalance in the tridosha is mainly due to wrong diet and non specific lifestyle. Ayurveda believes that tridosha imbalance is the main factor for early body tissue depletion and this imbalance is due to wrong dietary habits and mismanaged lifestyles.

The aggravation of any of these dosha is responsible for body tissue depletion and origin of pathologies. Dosha imbalance is also responsible for early signs of aging. 

Whatever perspective you consider but there is one thing that stays constant that you have to take care of your body by yourself. No one else can take care of this body the way you can.

Now coming on to some management techniques which you can use to avoid early aging and appearance of its signs.

Management of Aging  

Management of aging has two aspects such aspects are discussed below:

Modern Aspect 

In modern ways the management of aging and especially signs of aging has gained a lot of attention these days. People are focusing more on spending money and thus getting desirable results. There are many ways to diminish the appearance of aging signs.

Some of them are followings:

  1. Use of tropical injectables like Botox injections
  2. Anti-aging creams 
  3. Use of artificial ceramides
  4. Tropical use of hyaluronic acid, AHA’s, beta hydroxy acids
  5. Retinoids for photo aged skin
  6. Surgical procedures like blepharoplasty and dermabrasion 

These all above-mentioned procedures make skin supple, improves skin health, remove fine wrinkles, remodel collagen bundles, increase ceramides underskin and hence makes skin look younger. 

Ayurvedic Management 

Ayurveda says all you have to do is to focus on what wrong you are doing and what right you can do to your body. We all know what wrong we are doing and what wrong we are eating but never except. In today’s time there is nothing that is being performed in a disciplined manner.

For keeping yourself away from the signs of aging you must regulate your life in a disciplined way. People are running from skin rehydration techniques, wrinkle diminishing techniques and more things but what is the use if you cannot get rid of these things from roots.

Here I will mention some better and time costing ways that will definitely help you in keeping your youth intact both physically and metabolically.

  1. Rejuvenation therapy 
  2. Lifestyle modifications
  3. Diet habits enhancement
  1. Rejuvenation Therapy

Rejuvenation therapy is the best therapy as guided by Ayurveda. There are many rejuvenating drugs that are being mentioned in Ayurvedic texts. The procedure to have these formulations is very typical as it requires time. The complete detoxification of the body is done with the help of five panchakarma procedures and then administration of rejuvenating formulations is done. These formulations have the power to heal you completely from inside out and thus rejuvenates the whole body cells. 

  1. Lifestyle Modifications

We all need to modify our lifestyle at some point of time. Lifestyle modifications include waking up early in the morning, performing some specific rituals after getting fresh like yoga, meditation or physical exercising. This will help in reducing stress and keeps our mind and body free of toxins that are generally responsible for aging signs. We must leave the sedentary way of living because it is the main reason for many wrong changes taking place in our body. We must understand that our body is our first home and whatever we do whether right or wrong affects it both in good or bad ways. For having a youthful skin one has to maintain the youth from inside only then the signs of aging or aging can be delayed. 

  1. Diet Habits Enhancement

These days there are many options as to diet but choosing wisely is on us. Choosing your food is like choosing appropriate woods for starting a fire and to choose correct options is very important.

Diet is responsible for each and every thing happening in our body. It is responsible for regulating metabolic functions and systemic functions. Diet is also responsible for dosha aggravation and dosha pacification too.

It provides the body with essential antioxidants, vitamins like vitamin A, C, E which are very much important in maintaining skin health. But eating junk food, heavy food, spicy and citrus foods only enhances your chances of aging fats and appearance of aging signs even in early ages.  

Conclusion  

The conclusion of the whole mentioned above information is to understand that it is very important to take care of our body. To maintain this one must understand the importance of your body. Adopting artificial methods is very easy but it is effective for short durations.

You cannot depend on these methods for long because they come with side effects. Artificially you can do many things but in order to maintain your health and your skin you must opt for natural ways just like theories of aging, which will help in improving your internal health as well as will keep the reflection of you health i.e your skin healthy and youthful too. 

Author’s Bio
Dr. Vikram Chauhan (MD-Ayurvedic Medicine) is an Expert Ayurveda Consultant in Chandigarh (India). He has vast experience of herbs and their applied uses. He has successfully treated numerous patients suffering from various ailments, throughout the world. He is CEO and Founder of Krishna Herbal Company and Planet Ayurveda in Chandigarh, India. He researched age old formulas from ancient Ayurvedic text books to restore health and save human beings from the worst side-effects of chemical-based treatments. For more info visit our website: www.planetayurveda.com

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