Show t 1 ls Spare p are By GERALD ANDREWS Retirement Adviser Science and Aging t At tho the International Congress of Gerontology held recently In Washington D D. D C. C experts on aging from many nations got together together to to- gether for a 11 tour of the horizon as lIS tho French say General consensus con con- the horizon looks brighter for those of us of retirement ago age than ever before Britain's Dr Alex Ales Comfort struck the keynote of the confer confer- ence Concerted efforts to find ways of modifying the tho rate of aging and to see ses if tho the results can be usefully applied to man have now entered the tho field of Immediate possibility Dr Comfort referred to laboratory laboratory labora labora- tory experiments that are probIng probing ing log into the molecules and the tho chemical structures lying at the basis of the tho aging process Significance By shifting molecules molecules mole mote cules or 01 restructuring the body's chemical components scientists might stop us from growing old Arrested aging has already been achieved with mice Some individuals for religious or personal reasons are not anxious ious sous to live longer than today's normal span But there are some specific developments no one will reject For instance we have a 11 better chance of remaining fit into tho later years H. H 3 J. Karvonen of or tho the Institute of Occupational Health in Helsinki produced statistics to show that athletes lived significantly longer and in better condition than a II group who had held sedentary jobs So chalk up another point la ill lafavor favor of exercise as III a II to longevity Dr N N. N N N. o of tho the Soviet M MUnion Union presented a II parallel of of farm and city It people le lere In Jh the them k 2 Ukraine ln Ill IIi findings n re reveal a a. curious distinction Farmers tend to live longer but they dont don't seem to retain an interest in their surroundings as long 03 as city dwellers Here are a II few other important import import- ant items j y Drugs are aro proving more effee- effee tine live in ln treating Parkinson's Di S sease and other causes of leal degeneration The study of s sleep Is becoming more prominent In the study of oZ aging Mental Illness can often be re reo slated if an individual lives with wita his contemporaries Housing projects pro pro- jests and senior centers are use use- ful fulin in this respect Nothing dramatically new in 1st all this perhaps Still the sel i ence once of gerontology is la obviously moving ahead rl 1 |