The process of aging can be is a genetic program. Senescence or the process of aging can be divided into cellular senescence and organismal senescence. Cellular senescence is the limited ability of cells to divide in culture. Organismal senescence denotes the aging of the organism on the whole.
Organismal senescence starts in human beings between the ages of 20 and 35 years. During organismal senescence the body’s ability to respond to stresses decrease and the person gets tired often. This brings about homeostatic imbalance. The person becomes vulnerable to diseases. The ability of the body to recovery after an ailment also increases.
The process of aging is not simple. Aging can be defined as the progressive failure of homeodynamics that controls the genes responsible for maintenance and repair. It is also believe that rate of aging has evolved from the reproductive capability of the organism. An organism that can produce large number of offspring has a shorter life span and the process of aging is faster. For an organism that produces less number of offspring during its entire lifespan has a relatively longer life span and the process of aging is relatively slower in that organism. This is because of the fact that the probability of an organism to live during its old age is very small.
Since the process of aging is controlled by the genes and is a gene program it is now being treated as a genetic disease. The genes responsible for this have been found out using several model theories and is being treated based on those theories to slow the aging process.
