Illness and recovery – Hiking in Shenandoah – The benefits of continued activity – Continued decline in national life expectancy – Evening statistics
It has taken an effort of will to resume writing in the journal, because directly after the return flight I became ill with the flu – not seriously, but enough to confine me indoors for a few days. The flight was air conditioned to an unmerciful degree, aggravating the effects of the fever that developed during my travel time. By degrees I recovered, but then my attention was occupied over the weekend, first by meeting with others for plans about the projected trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in September and then by leading a hike for the Wanderbirds.
The hike was delightful, starting at the overlook at Jewell Hollow in Shenandoah National Park – one of the most beautiful, in my opinion, in the entire park – and descending down the Nicholson Hollow Trail to the valley close to the base of Old Rag. The longer hike, which I led, circled around Stony Man before descending to Nicholson Hollow. We lunched at the Little Stony Man overlook, with its 180-degree to the west into the Shenandoah Valley and its bird’s-eye view of Luray. The foliage remains unusually green for this time of year, on account of the abundance of rain this summer. Along the Nicholson Hollow Trail there is a swimming hole that features a little waterfall, so that it is possible to swim towards it and position oneself underneath it. The water pounding on one’s shoulders has something of the effect of a massage.
It would appear that activity of this nature contributes to one’s general health well into old age, which should come as a surprise to no one. The explanation is somewhat complicated. For a long time it was thought that human cells could replicate more or less indefinitely. This assumption was challenged by Leonard Hayflick, who discovered the principle of cell senescence in 1960. The discovery came as a result of an accident. Dr. Hayflick was cultivating human fetal cells for a project on cancer biology, when he noticed that they stopped dividing after about 50 population doublings. Although cell cultures often fail on account of factors such as contamination, he discovered that these cell cultures had all stopped dividing at the same point. This phenomenon eventually was called “the Hayflick limit.”
Cell senescence actually provides a useful function. Senescent cells suppress the development of cancer by limiting the capacity of cells to keep dividing. It happens throughout our lives, triggered by DNA damage and the shortening of telomeres, structures that cap and protect the ends of chromosomes. Senescent cells also play a role in wound healing, embryonic development, and childbirth. Unfortunately, when they become too numerous they begin to manifest themselves in the form of old-related diseases (Alzheimer’s in particular). Our immune system becomes less effective in eliminating senescent cells as we become older, but it appears that regular and vigorous exercise is the best way to keep our immune system efficient in this respect. It may not make us live longer, but it will help us to be less prone towards the age-related diseases that are now affecting a substantial amount of our populace.
Actually our level of life expectancy has dropped still further in 2021, the second year in a row that this has happened. During the years of 2020 and 2021, the average lifespan of Americans has diminished by nearly three years. COVID is largely to blame, but it is not the only factor. The suicide rate is now on the rise, as is the number of drug overdoses. The suicide rate had actually fallen in 2020, as often happens in early phases of wars and long-term natural disasters; but over the past year suicides have steadily increased. COVID has also affected our mortality rate in indirect ways. Many have been subjected to prolonged periods of enforced inactivity after contracting the disease, in correlation, and deaths from heart-related have risen over the past two years. Again, alcoholism has increased, resulting in a greater number of deaths from liver disease.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 607,791,123; # of deaths worldwide: 6,494,899; # of cases U.S.: 96,343,913; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,071,415.