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The world’s population is aging, and improvements in the standard of living and in medical health services have allowed people to live longer and to reach ‘‘old’’age. 1, 2 Aging is a universal biologic process characterized by progressive and inevitable physiologic and behavioral changes. 3 Accumulation of such changes, gradually over time, is associated with decrement in performance and impairment of physiologic function. This leads to diminished capacity to adapt and increased vulnerability to disease and to pathologic processes. In the coming decade, the aging population in the United States is expected to increase by 35%, and the most rapidly growing segment is the segment of people older than 85 years. 2 Given these changing population demographics, it has become imperative for health care professionals to integrate the understanding of the physiology of aging in their clinical practice. In recent years …