Energy, aging, and neurasthenia: A historical perspective
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Energy, aging, and neurasthenia : A historical perspective. / Andersen, Michael.
In: Anthropology and Aging, Vol. 40, No. 2, 2019, p. 48-59.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Energy, aging, and neurasthenia
T2 - A historical perspective
AU - Andersen, Michael
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - That there is an association between energy and aging may seem commonsensical in modern society. Nonetheless, the question of how aging came to be associated with energy is less well known. This article explores how the 19th century disease of neurasthenia became related to aging through contemporaneous ideas about productivity, energy surplus and energy dissipation based on an analysis of how a lack of energy was featured as a symptom of the disease. It examines the specific historical intersection where a lack of energy was related to a diagnosis, illustrates how aging and energy have become intrinsically tied to each other and how the focus on the productive uses of energy has antecedents in religion as well as moral economics. As aging continues to be considered a problem in modern society--in large part due to the inherent unproductivity associated with old age caused by a lack of energy--the discourses surrounding neurasthenia demonstrate how the concept of energy manifested itself in contemporaneous consciousness.
AB - That there is an association between energy and aging may seem commonsensical in modern society. Nonetheless, the question of how aging came to be associated with energy is less well known. This article explores how the 19th century disease of neurasthenia became related to aging through contemporaneous ideas about productivity, energy surplus and energy dissipation based on an analysis of how a lack of energy was featured as a symptom of the disease. It examines the specific historical intersection where a lack of energy was related to a diagnosis, illustrates how aging and energy have become intrinsically tied to each other and how the focus on the productive uses of energy has antecedents in religion as well as moral economics. As aging continues to be considered a problem in modern society--in large part due to the inherent unproductivity associated with old age caused by a lack of energy--the discourses surrounding neurasthenia demonstrate how the concept of energy manifested itself in contemporaneous consciousness.
KW - Aging
KW - Disease
KW - Energy
KW - Neurasthenia
U2 - 10.5195/aa.2019.170
DO - 10.5195/aa.2019.170
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85077191104
VL - 40
SP - 48
EP - 59
JO - Anthropology & Aging
JF - Anthropology & Aging
SN - 2374-2267
IS - 2
ER -
ID: 241104106