Cause of Aging

Traditional Chinese medicine holds that human natural life is about 100~120 years old.  This belief also corresponds with the modern understanding.

Then how long can human life be?  It is difficult to give an exact answer.  Human life-span has a lot to do with such factors as prenatal endowment, postnatal nourishment, living conditions, income, medical service, environment, climate, individual physical strength, sanitation, etc.  

Supposing 120 years is the normal life-span, the average life-span in many countries has not yet reached the standard.  Many factors may influence human longevity, among which aging is the central one.  Aging is a basic inherent feature of all living things.  Same species has the same aging process.  The study of the cause of aging plays an important role in health preservation.

Causes of aging are summarized as follows:

 

Irregular Life Style     

Regular and abstinent life plays an important role in both disease prevention and achievement of good health and longevity.  On the contrary, violation of life regularities leads to shortened life-span.  For example, drinking immoderately does harm to the source of qi and blood, making love after drunkenness impairs essence and qi, and irregular life style makes one weak, vulnerable to pathogenic factors.  Transient satisfaction consumes healthy qi.

 

Unhealthy Emotion

Joy, anger, worry, pensiveness,  sadness and fear are normal emotional activities, but when they are in excess, they would become disease causes, because traditional Chinese medicine holds that each emotional activity is related to a zang or fu organ.  For example, joy in excess may make heart qi sluggish, fury may cause liver qi going up too much, anxiety may cause stagnation of liver qi, deep sorrow may consume lung qi, and terror may cause kidney qi to sink.  As a result, disease occurs.

Mental stress will lead to functional disorders of the central nervous system and lowered one's immunity, accordingly, it reduces the defensive function of organism.  Upset has most serious and bad effects on health.  They may cause serious illness or even death.  These bad emotions include grief, dispiritment, fear, greed, cowardice, envy and hatred.

 

Congenital Defect

 

 

Genetic gene from parents effects a lot in children's growth and development, health status, and life-span.  Traditional Chinese medicine thinks of the kidney being the prenatal foundation of organism.  The kidney dominates storing essence which plays a key role in development, growth and longevity.  If parents are healthy (kidney qi being strong) and of a long life family, then their children's kidney qi would be full, so their life would be longer, this is so-called sufficient born gift.  On the contrary, if parents do not live a long life, weak and sick, the fetus fails to be nourished as there are insufficient qi and blood during pregnancy, their children would be of congenital deficiency which affects normal growth and development.