Preksha Dhyana Human Body Part 2

Author(s): Jethalal S Zaveri
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

Page 88

Calcium salts are deposited around the fibres resulting in the loss of resiliency of the chest and the stiffness of movement of the joints. While calcium is creating problem by being deposited in places where it should not be, it is being dissolved out of the bones, weakening them and making them more susceptible to fractures.
Aging upsets the fluid-balance; there is a gradual loss of tissue fluid throughout life, causing them to dry up. Filtration-rate in the kidneys drops. Complex hormonal changes occur. In women, it brings a dramatic cessation of menstruation (menopause). In men the deterioration of sexual activity is more gradual, it declines and may cease entirely.
At least some of the above changes are, however, avoidable effects of ignorance, attitudes and modern conditions. In people living away from the barrage of noise that continuously assails the ears of city-dwellers, a high degree of hearing acuity is retained upto extreme age. The inactivity resulting from the attitude to "take it easy” may be a significant factor in the loss of calcium from the bones. The resultant weakness and fragility of the bones compel further inactivity thus perpetuating a vicious cycle. In one study, a group of 60 year olds was placed on a supervised programme of exercises. 10 years later they were found to be physiologically younger than they were at 60. If we know precisely how the body ages, we might be able to modify and perhaps prevent and even reverse the aging process. Researchers in aging scrutinize various body-systems as possible biological clocks, e.g., it is known that the thymus reaches its zenith of development in adolesence and then gradually atrophies. The levels of thymosin in the blood fall in the increasing age. Simultaneously, activity in the immunological system intensifies. But the decrease in efficiency of immune surveillance by the T-cell results in the imperfect lymphocytes making errors of the "self" cells for enemy invaders. Similarly various control-centres of the
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