Performance Depreciation Curve is a conceptual model illustrating the rate at which physiological and cognitive function declines over time, often accelerating with age or chronic lifestyle stressors. This curve serves as a clinical metric to track the progressive loss of systemic resilience, maximal capacity, and homeostatic reserve. The objective of longevity medicine is to flatten and shift this curve to the right, thereby extending the period of high-quality healthspan and delaying the onset of functional impairment.
Origin
The term adapts the engineering and economic concept of “depreciation” to biological systems, providing a quantifiable framework for understanding the aging process. It originated in biogerontology, where the decline in organ function and stress tolerance is mathematically modeled. Clinically, it is a way to visualize the cumulative impact of cellular senescence, metabolic entropy, and hormonal decline on overall vitality.
Mechanism
The underlying biological mechanism is the accumulation of molecular damage, including telomere attrition, mitochondrial dysfunction, and epigenetic alterations, which collectively reduce the efficiency of cellular repair and signaling. This leads to a gradual failure in maintaining tissue and organ function under stress, manifesting as a decline in peak performance metrics. Hormonal imbalances, such as reduced growth hormone and sex steroid output, accelerate this depreciation by impairing anabolic housekeeping and repair cycles.
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