The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer

by Elizabeth Blackburn

From a linguistic perspective, the word senescent has a shared history with the word senile. In a way, that’s what these cells are—they’re senile. In one way it is definitely good that cells stop dividing. If they just keep on multiplying, cancer can ensue. But these senile cells are not harmless—they are bewildered and weary. They get their signals confused, and they don’t send the right messages to other cells. They can’t do their jobs as well as they used to. They sicken. The time of luxuriant growth is over, at least for them. And this has profound health consequences for you. When too many of your cells are senescent, your body’s tissues start to age. For example, when you have too many senescent cells in the walls of your blood vessels, your arteries stiffen and you are more likely to have a heart attack. When the infection-fighting immune cells in your bloodstream can’t tell when a virus is nearby because they are senescent, you are more susceptible to catching the flu or pneumonia. Senescent cells can leak proinflammatory substances that make you vulnerable to more pain, more chronic illness. Eventually, many senescent cells will undergo a preprogrammed death. The diseasespan begins.