Accept Aging; No Need to Be Anxious About It
Since last year, one of my right-side molars has been giving me trouble; food and water that are too cold or too hot both cause it pain, as do sour and spicy foods. Recently I plan to book a dental appointment to deal with this tooth. I know the root cause: in the past, several times while eating I bit down on something hard against this tooth.
Sometimes it was sand in the rice, sometimes food that was too hard. Molars are the main teeth used in chewing, so they are easily damaged—especially for someone like me who gobbled his food when young. So the habit of chewing slowly and thoroughly really is excellent; most people who chew slowly have good teeth all their lives. Parents should cultivate this habit in children from an early age, or it will be hard to correct once they grow up.
Once people reach middle age, they clearly feel that health problems of this kind increase; every organ works less well than when young, white hair grows more, hair loss worsens, some even go bald prematurely, and skin and face decline day by day.
Some people accept this process peacefully; others cannot. Some "black technologies" seem to slow the aging process a little, catering to those who resist aging, which is why medical aesthetics is such a booming business today. But many people have paid a terrible price to delay aging.
I have seen patients who supplemented estrogen to look more beautiful and ended up with breast cancer; I have seen those who dyed their hair long-term and ended up with lymphoma or leukemia; I have also seen those who took stem cell injections to delay aging and ended up with liver cancer. These are the prices paid for artificially using technology to reverse the outward appearance of aging. In fact, these methods do not truly reverse aging; they only make people look somewhat younger, but the price is terrible.
Aging is a natural phenomenon. The "Shanggu Tianzhen Lun" chapter of the Huangdi Neijing already states: "At seven years, a girl's kidney qi flourishes; her teeth change and her hair grows. At fourteen, tiān guǐ arrives; the Ren vessel is free and the Tai Chong vessel flourishes, so menstruation comes on schedule and she can bear children. At twenty-one, kidney qi is balanced, so the wisdom teeth erupt and growth reaches its peak. At twenty-eight, sinews and bones are firm, hair grows to its fullest, and the body is robust. At thirty-five, the Yangming vessels decline, the face begins to wither, and hair begins to fall. At forty-two, the three yang vessels decline above, the face is all withered, and hair turns white. At forty-nine, the Ren vessel is empty, the Tai Chong vessel is depleted, tiān guǐ is exhausted, and the passages below are closed; thus her form fails and she cannot bear children. For a man, at eight years kidney qi solidifies; hair grows and teeth change. At sixteen, kidney qi flourishes, tiān guǐ arrives, essence overflows and discharges, yin and yang harmonize, and so he can father children. At twenty-four, kidney qi is balanced, sinews and bones are strong, wisdom teeth erupt and growth peaks. At thirty-two, sinews and bones are robust, muscles are full and strong. At forty, kidney qi declines, hair falls and teeth crumble. At forty-eight, yang qi is exhausted above, the face is withered, hair and temples turn gray, and the body is at its limit. At sixty-four, teeth and hair fall away."
According to this ancient observation, women begin to show signs of gradual decline around age thirty-five (the fifth seven-year cycle), and men around forty (the fifth eight-year cycle). The signs of aging first appear in changes to the teeth, face, and hair. From antiquity to today, few have escaped this natural law of gradual decline.
Modern medicine has solved many problems for people. For example, when ancients lost a tooth it never grew back, but modern dentists can repair teeth so that we need not become "toothless in old age" to the point of being unable to chew normally. But some methods taken purely for beauty to delay—or more precisely, to cover up—aging are full of hidden dangers, and we need to approach these anti-aging "black technologies" with caution.
Some methods can indeed help us delay aging, and they are inexpensive. In summary, if a person simply stops smoking, limits alcohol, eats in moderation, keeps regular hours, sleeps and rises early, exercises moderately, combines mental and physical work, maintains a peaceful mind and harmonious relationships, and avoids excess desire, excess toil, and anxiety, he can one hundred percent delay aging, with absolutely no side effects; it is just that many people cannot do it.
Aging is not something to be anxious about. Growing old has its own beauty. If people never aged or died but went on living indefinitely, that would be a weary thing. Face aging with equanimity, accept it, turn your attention to more meaningful things, and enjoy life well; our lives will not fall to pieces simply because we grow older day by day.