Would we age differently on another planet?

Question

Since each planet in our solar system takes a different amount of time to rotate around the sun, does this mean we would age differently on another planet?

For example: If a baby were born today and lived for 40 Earth years, could they have possiably lived longer if they had been born on the Planet Neptune?

Here is a better explaination of my question:
Theorecitcally , If the same baby could be born today on Earth as well as on Neptune, would there be a difference in life span based upon the specific planets day/night cycle?

Answer 1

Probably not, as our circadian cycles--our sleep/wake cycles, are set by our DNA, not the actual length of days and nights. Exposure to bright lights and sunlight modifies that cycle, yes, but there is also a natural timing in there as well that operates somewhat independently of that. If a person is locked up in a room without access to sunlight, they will lapse into a 25-hour "day" cycle on their own automatically, NASA proved this with their sleep/wake studies they did in part to test the feasibility of a Mars mission back in the 1990s.

Besides, our DNA has been shaped by natural selection for millions of years, courtesy of our *living here*. I don't think a change as radical as moving to a planet whose day/year cycles are as long as Neptune's would change much...at least not for the first few thousand years or so, it takes time for DNA to mutate and adapt in a way that lets living things still *carry on* and reproduce. And Neptune itself is *too cold* and *too far out* from the Sun to be a good example, in that case, we'd be confined to a ship or under a protective dome, and therefore the 25-hour day would predominate.

So the days themselves are about more than planetary day/year cycles.

And truthfully....if you want to live longer, you have to shift the DNA, not the day/year cycles. It's the DNA that also determines *when* cells go into senescence (grow old and stop multiplying), and when they undergo apoptosis (committ cellular suicide and self-destruct). This can be altered somewhat, but only with great care....cells that *don't* undergo their programmed cell death eventually acquire too many coding errors in their DNA and become cancerous, which isn't good for a complex, multicellular organism like us.

So yeah...it wouldn't work, at least not for people like us.

People who are *native* to a planet with such a long day/year cycle, on the other hand, might actually live longer, since they are adapted to living there. Also, if we should encounter such a species, and have their informed consent, it might well be possible to shift *our* DNA on that continuum so that we can safely and in a *healthy* manner, live as long as "they do".

But at that point, I'd humbly submit we wouldn't be people "like us" anymore, would we? -_- Keep in mind you are talking about making some fairly deep changes in metabolic and cellular processes. Worms can handle it. So far, we can't, unless we see fit to alter things very gradually and *indirectly* (courtesy of a minimum-calorie diet, for example).

I hope this helps, and thanks for your time! ^_^ Good Question!

Answer 2

Age On Other Planets

Answer 3

Based on the way you framed the question, the answer would be, no...

Would we or rather, could we age differently, yes, but not because of rotation...or at least not that alone...

But consider -- we age differently on this planet. In some parts of the planet, there live cultures where women do not bear children till they reach an age of approximately 70+ years...and still look to be women in their 30's...

So you see, even on earth things are different elsewhere. America is not the end-all to things in this world as many would have you believe...

Answer 4

given the same conditions - probably not. But - how would relativity come into play? Our idea of time might be different on another planet if that planet travels at a faster velocity around the sun or has a faster velocity of rotation. True - Neptune takes a lot longer to travel around the sun, but since it is so far out - is it moving faster than we are? And revolution may take longer to make a complete trip - but being so much bigger than Earth - what is the actual speed comparison?

I think it may have an effect, slowing time as compared to Earth. Meaning that it may be possible to live longer.

Answer 5

Day / Night Cycle has nothing to do with the age. As on earth itself, the day and night have different lenghts depending up on the location. The Age in absolute Terms in Solar system must refer the Amount of time from moment of the Birth and number of Sun's revolution around itself by that the time to which the age is to be counted, will give universally true answer.
Each Planet 's own revolution is not significant; neither the amount of time vested by the planet in cirumnavigating the Sun is of any importance. Only The Sun's own rotation is constant for every object in the SolarSystem.
Ageing, although, would be a function of the over all botherations present on the particular Planet and offcourse , how you cope up with your spouse there !!

Answer 6

No.
At least not measurably.

Assuming that the human baby could live just as well on Neptune as on Earth, it is expected to last for the same number of heartbeats (statistically speaking) as an identical baby on Earth.

Whether these heartbeats are counted along a terrestrial clock or a Neptunian clock (1 neptunian year = 165 years) changes nothing as to the manner in which our cellular replacement system ages (the individual cells die and are replaced throughout our lives -- at some point, the replacement system goes 'strange' and we grow old).

Because it takes 165 Earth years for Neptune to complete an orbit around the sun, the Neptunian baby is very likely to have completed its life before its first neptunian anniversary.

Answer 7

Physiologically...ignoring environmental factors we would age at the same rate. We would simply count the years differently. A martian year is around 2 earth years longer. You would still age using earth years physically, but if you lived on mars you might opt to count your age by martian years. Which might actually be attractive to older people (a seventy year old would only be thirty-five).

Answer 8

1) If the gravity is less we would spend lesser energy walking
2) If the atmospheric pressure is more we sould find it hard to breath and respirate
3) If the distance from sun is high we would find lesser vitamin D and hard to get rid of waste fluids from our body
and there are tons of other factors which can either drastically improve or decrease not only our lifespans but our chances of survival!

Answer 9

You're asking several different questions here, but I'll focus on just two: Would we age differently on another planet? And, would a person's life span be lengthened or shortened by a different day/night cycle?

The first one is easy to answer. Age is measured by our arbitrary decision that a year is roughly equivalent to one trip of the Earth around the sun. If you measured age using some other planet's year which does not share the same orbital period as Earth, then, sure, you'd "age" differently. For example, a Martian year is roughly 26 months long, so if I were measuring my age based on the Martian year, I'd be just over 15 years old!

The second question is far more difficult to address. A persons life span is limited by many, many factors, some genetic, some environmental, some self-inflicted by our choices. I believe you're asking about the environmental aspects, and at this point we just don't know what the long-term effects the difference in the day/night cycle would have on a person, or what effects variations in gravity would have, or the effects of different atmospheric pressures.

There seems to be some evidence that living with a different day/night cycle pretty much screws people up mentally and physically; however, that being said, everybody is born with a different "circadian rhythm" that allows them to adjust to differences in daytime differently. For example, a person with a "short" circadian rhythm, meaning that their natural daily cycle is shorter than an average day tend to be "morning people", and vice versa. There are no conclusive studies that "morning people" live longer, however, so it's tough to say here.

Regarding the atmospheric pressure, there does seem to be some advantages to living in lower air pressure to the pulmonary and respiratory systems, but other studies also show that higher air pressures also have their advantages. Studies are ongoing right now to find out why the sherpas of Mount Everest are such athletic studs, but ironically, while they are incredibly capable people, they also have to take things sslloowww.

Regarding gravity, it's just too soon to tell. We do know that people would grow taller in low-gravity environments, but in doing so, other parts of the human body don't adjust so well. Nobody knows, for example, the effect on the female reproductive system (though there are major concerns about birthing in microgravity). And once acclimated to a lower-gravity environment, it's very difficult to readjust to full-gravity due to deficiencies in bone mass and the circulatory system.

Bottom line, it seems that the human body was well-designed for life on Earth. That's not to say that we can't adapt, it will just take some effort. But, hey, I'm willing to sign up for life on Mars: 24 1/2 hour days, 40% gravity, atmospheric pressure at the top of Mount Everest ... it's all good, just give me a space suit, a good bed, and a treadmill and I'll be fine.

So, uh, I guess I didn't really answer your question, so let me try again: nobody really knows.