LONG life and how to attain it, has been the pursuit of man for ages.
Life is a rhythm and equilibrium of cycles of physical, chemical and electrical reactions, taking place in the complex chemical and structural constituents of the tissues of the body. The Creator gave life a start by the interaction of matter and force, which took the form of the living cell. But the cell has remained the unit and basis of life, and under favourable conditions is as perpetual as the Universe itself.
The amoeba, under favourable conditions, divide and subdivide indefinitely and live forever. From the germ cells of our own bodies — male sperm and female ovum — our bodies originate, reproduce and perpetuate themselves. We are actually immortal by our germ cells, being transformed and reproduced into our offspring. The cell, indeed possesses, the inherent property of physical immortality and ever lasting life. But while living cells are endowed with ever lasting life, they can enjoy immortality only under definitely favourable conditions.
In the case of the germ cells of our bodies, immortality is possible only by transferring themselves into new surroundings and even creating for themselves a new body to live in — impregnation and fetal development. The billions of other cells composing the body, however, have no such chance to migrate, change their environment, and start a new life.
They are doomed to the confined limits of our skins, and have to contend not only with the harmful bacteria and poisons introduced into the body from outside, but also with the immense amounts of poisonous waste material produced by their own life processes, with the consequence of a very shortened life span for the body as a whole. Again, the fundamental life processes, as the digestion and assimilation of food, the maintenance of the proper salt concentration and acid-base balance of the blood. The contraction of the heart and other muscles, and the function of respiration, involve most complicated chemical reactions, and require normal external and internal conditions in order to keep up the equilibrium of those reactions. Any deviation from the normal, in taking food or drink, or in body activity will upset normal chemical reaction and equilibrium, injure the cells thereby contributing to the shortening of the life of the whole organizm.
The cells and the tissues of the body are most intimately connected and related to each other. They are dependent on each other for the secretions hormones and enzymes each cell, tissue and organ produces. Therefore any defect, abnormality or disease in one tissue or organ, immediately affects the rest and in that way, life expectancy is shortened. Another reason for our greatly limited life duration is the fact that all the organs and tissues and their functions are entirely dependent on our highly specialized brain and nervous system. Unless we use the super-control of our will as a check, all our tissues and organs are constantly on the jump to respond to the unlimited and innumerable, sensations and stimulations received by the brain through its nerves and special sense organs. This wears the body tissues out. Especially the very delicate and easily destructible tissues of the ductless glands — glands of internal secretion — and their hormones are most vital to the normal functioning of the body and the continuation of life.
It is, therefore, evident that the secret of an enjoyable long life is not to be found in pills or potions, but in observing the strictest personal hygiene and in maintaining sanitary surroundings, so as to keep bacteria, parasites and poisons out of our body.
The normal duration of life, the age attainable by an individual living under normal and favourable conditions, in accordance with the tenets of modern hygiene and sanitation, is now considered to be one hundred and eighty-five years. In determining the limit of ‘normal life duration’, scientists and philosophers multiplied the period of years it takes to reach full development of all organs of the body, that is puberty, which is 14 years, by some arbitrary number. For Francis Bacon, an English philosopher of the sixteenth century, that number was eight. He thus arrived at 112, the life span of human being. Buffon, a French naturalist of the eighteenth century took the arbitrary number as six and worked out 84 as the normal life duration. But one of the great pioneers of modern medicine, Elie Metchnikoff of the Pasteur Institute, estimated the possible human life duration to be as high as 185 years.
Metchnikoff arrived at this high figure through the study of records and statistics of longevity in different countries, specially in Bulgaria. There he found a comparatively large number of people living beyond the century mark. He attributed longevity, to the extensive use of yogurt (sour milk), which prevents putrefaction in the large intestine and thus precludes auto-intoxication, one of the chief causes of pre-mature aging of body.
Two present-day scientists, Prody and Ragsdale, have made a study of the life spans, of man and animals. They have come to the definite conclusion that the normal life span of man is thirteen times the age of puberty i.e. 13 x 14 = 182 years which almost confirms Metchnikoff’s estimate. Most animals are known to live their full physiological life span — 13 times the period of development. But man has not succeeded in attaining this and the reason is not far to seek. Animals, specially those in the wild, spend their lives in open air and sunshine which provide the necessary and vital health-giving properties denied to man. Animals are not disturbed, nor do they grudge after an unpleasant encounter. They do not brood over the past and they do not worry about the future, as man does. The brain and nervous system of animals do not receive the myriads of sensory and motor stimuli to which the human body has to respond unceasingly. However, some man can at least, and will, live to attain the normal life span of 185 years, when conditions of individual and community life will be ideal with regard to hygiene, sanitation and economic condition, to obviate stress and strain. In any case, the average of 110 or 120 years should not be beyond easy possibility.
However, in contrast with the ‘normal life duration’ the average life expectancy or duration at present is 67 years. There is no doubt that with our present knowledge of dietetics, personal and public hygiene and sanitation, the average life will be quickly advanced to 110 or 120 years and for some people to live to about 180 years wild not be an unusual occurrence. This is a very healthy improvement over the average life expectancy in the Middle Ages, when the structure, functions and food requirements of the body were not understood. When the causes of disease in general and of contagious disease in particular, and modern methods of disease prevention and control were unknown. The average life expectancy then was very low indeed.
Most children died in early life from malnutrition, gastrointestinal and contagious diseases. Most of the adult population died from plagues and pestilence. These epidemics were nothing else but the now well-known and controlled diseases like typhoid, cholera, dysentery and yellow fever etc. Beside, death of women in childbirth was a common and every day occurrence. The average life expectancy was only 30 years.
Within the brief period of the last 75 years the average life expectancy has been raised to 67 and there is nothing in the trend to stop it from going to 110 or 120 years in the near future. Prevention of disease in early life is the secret of longevity. The prevention of contagious diseases in infancy and childhood, which frequently undermine the individual’s health permanently and shorten his life expectancy from the very start, is of prime importance in raising the human life span. All contagious diseases can be prevented and eliminated. This can happen through strict observation of the rules of hygiene, which pre-supposes a clean body, clean hands, clean handling, preparation and serving of food. But, above all, this can also be done by being oneself away from those afflicted with diseases and keeping away from communities where sanitary and hygienic conditions do not prevail. Hence the saying, cleanliness is next to Godliness, because a long human life is a Divine scheme, it is the man’s follies which have shortened it.
