(or 2!) Dying of old age, can you actually DIE because of the body being worn out, or is it always a disease or such? I read that if we cure every disease, we would live hundreds of years.

Question

Title! I don’t get it. Isn’t my finger getting worn from just being used for too long? Or will it eventually get worse because of something else?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Well, we consider many forms of aging as disease.

Natural loss of brain cells due to age, mutation and inability to clear waste: dementia

Natural loss of photoreceptor cells: macular degeneration

Natural loss of endothelial cells responsible for vasoconstriction: hypertension

Natural loss of immune cell function and cell self regulation: cancer

Natural loss of pancreatic cell function: diabetes

Natural loss of bone density and cartilage: osteoporosis/osteoarthritis

So on and so forth. But yes, the body will eventually stop functioning as telomeres shorten and DNA damage accumulate. But we define all the things that would actually cause death as disease.