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Senescence is nothing but getting old is caused by biochemical deregulation of the processes of life. Inheritance must play a role in longevity. Inheritance is a trait which is quite conserved within a species. To give an example, bats generally live much longer which is up to 30 years than rodents which live for 2 to 3 years. Although both of them are mammals, and are roughly of the same size, the aging pattern differs. There are even animals which exhibit only negligible senescence as compared to other animals like turtles, rockfish and lobster. There are diverse differences between life span of similar species which has been observed. For example, calico rockfish (12 years) and the rougheye rockfish (205 years). These observations hint on genetic and evolutionary factors that regulate longevity.

Aging theories

There have been many theories which have been published on facts like why do we age, however, there have been no conclusions regarding that. The first theory of ageing can be traced to the work of Weismann based on genetic principles. This was done at the end of the 19th century. According to him, evolution introduced ageing to avoid the parents. This would lead to their offsprings being more adaptive and competing for the same resources. This theory was severely criticized since this was highly unlikely in natural conditions.

In the year 1957, George Williams published a complementary theory which is known as the antagonistic pleiotropy theory. This theory is the most respected ageing theory today. The term agonistic pleiotropy implies that a single gene can have an impact on several traits. These effects may affect fitness. According to this theory, evolution favors mutation. This will improve fitness at an earlier age. Senescence, according to this theory is a by-product of good adaptation early in life.

Over the years, there have been many theories that have emerged to explain what changes lead to aging. Most of the theories of aging have old origins. There are inherent difficulties of studying human aging. There is lack of adequate models and testing these theories is a difficult, time consuming and expensive process. Moreover, interpreting the results is also controversial. There can be discriminations between causes and effects of aging. There are consensus on what causes aging and why do we age. We also do not know what determines rate of aging across mammals or what changes occur in humans between 30 to 70. There have been some theories which offer more experimental support than other theories. There are numerous theories of aging. It could depend on factors like how you treat girlfriends or how you love them. It could also depend on how you spend time with them, respect them and so on.