Brace Yourselves… The Senile Tsunami is Coming
Economists like to say ‘demographics are destiny.’ Global demographic aging is a very serious matter. The world is rapidly getting old and sick as we have fewer children and the elderly live longer (but not better or with more vitality).
This crisis is also known as the Silver Tsunami, and the most economically, socially, and emotionally catastrophic component of this trend is what we call the “Senile Tsunami” — the rising tide of neurodegenerative disease, particularly Alzheimer’s dementia.
According to the World Health Organization, the number of people suffering with dementia will triple by 2050.
We have 35 million afflicted today and it will reach 115 million only three decades from now. And each one of those patients will require an additional caregiver to look after them. This is an enormous economic shock to an already troubled global workforce.
Dealing with the demographic crisis is not so clear
One option, like the Japanese do, is voluntary suicide by the elderly (to reduce the financial burden on their family should they become ill). This is related to hospice and assisted suicide. That’s not a great option!
The other option is to extend healthy lifespan, and even rejuvenate the aged.
This has been demonstrated in animals many times already. Caloric restriction, geroprotective nutraceuticals, gene editing, and more recently the ablation of senescent (damaged, old) cells can rejuvenate aged mice by 27%.
The goal of all medicine has always been to prolong healthy life. So, let’s get serious about it and stop consigning the elderly to 20 years of chronic degenerative disease at the end of life.
We need a Manhattan Project for aging — a coordinated effort with clear milestones motivated by an understanding that this global biological force is a greater threat than any foreign enemy. We need an engineering approach, and a lot more funding. The rate of progress is not intrinsic to the arrow of time — it’s directly proportional to societal investment and the talent of those working on the problem.
