Aging

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 57897

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "hphgrwlca" <hphgrwlca at y...> wrote:
> ...edited...
> 
> Witches and wizards hit puberty around the same time as muggles, and 
> also live about twice as long.  So my question is, if they live twice 
> as long, shouldn't their bodies take twice as long to mature/get 
> old/whatever as Muggles' bodies?  ...edited...
> 
> I sure hope this makes sense.
> 
> Any thoughts?

bboy_mn:

Growth to the end of puberty is a completely different phase of life
than it is after puberty. A child's life is a life of growth and
regeneration; new cells are created and old cell replaced very easily.
Post-puberty however is a time of degenerations, a time of the wearing
out of the body.

So, I see no conflict in wizards having a normal rate of growth during
childhood and adolescents, and a slowed rate of aging in their adult
life.  

We know that wizards are very resilient. Hagrid expresses outrage that
James and Lily could be killed in a car crash. Quidditch players take
tremendous physical abuse during a game, and seem to come out of it
very easily. Neville falls from 50 feet (or whatever) and does nothing
but break his wrist. It takes a direct impact from a cannon ball
(bludger) to break Harry's arm. Harry falls a substantial distance
during a Quidditch match, so far that people watching even suspected
serious injury or death, yet later he is in the hospital talking with
his friends. All of which confirms that the adult wizards ability to
resist injury and regenerate from injury is very strong, which support
the reasonable belief that the aging or deterioration process is slowed.

So again, I see no conflict in normal rate of childhood/adolescent
development and slowed adult aging.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn