Review Volume 4, Issue 12 pp 861—877
Answering the ultimate question “What is the Proximal Cause of Aging?”
Figure 2. The hyperfunction theory: three representations. (A) The simplest model. Cause-effect relationship between TOR-driven hyperfunction and death via age-related diseases (diseases). For diseases, we mean age-related diseases (ADR). (B) Extended model. Diseases include initial loss of homeostasis and systemic hyperfunction (an increase in blood pressure and glucose) leading to organ damage like stroke, menopause and diabetes. Cellular hyperfunctions (e.g. hyper-secretion) can be viewed as cellular aging. (C) Unification of the hyper-function theory. Since cellular aging is cellular hyperfunction, it can be unified with systemic hyperfinction. In brief, aging = hyperfunction. Loss of homeostasis, decline and organ damage, which can be unified as ADR (age-related DISEASES).