The life cycle of a human being goes through many distinct stages. These can be briefly categorised as the appearance of the individual in the most rudimentary stage, growth of the cellular mass into a full grown individual, birth, growth, puberty, adulthood, maturity, senility and death. This is a constant process of growth and development that all the individuals go through. Yoga takes a slightly different view. Some schools of yoga hold the belief that an individual when he is born is completely mechanical in all his activities. All his actions and reactions are oriented towards the basic survival instincts. As he grows up his mental faculties undergo changes and get enhanced. Now his outlook starts to change and he is inclined towards development of his mind. Thus there is a marked change in his existence and he changes from pure animal existence towards more humane existence.

During the entire process of life span there is a time after puberty when the individual attains the maximum physical growth that is destined for him. After this slowly the body starts to degenerate and the process of ageing starts setting in. This is a fact of life and actually the process cannot be completely reversed. Therefore it is very necessary for the people to take care of their health and build upon their reservoirs as the capacity of growth and regeneration is progressively lost. But through the practices of yoga the process of yoga can be slowed down considerably.

Adulthood is a period in life when the health, vitality and vigour. This is a phase of life when there is progressive decrease of the physical activity and progressive increase of the development of the mind. This is incidentally a time for maximum changes in life because a person takes many decisions regarding his career and professional choices and makes an identity of his own.

In the later part of the life the maturity aspect comes into being. The body undergoes many physical and biological changes. A stage of senescence happens after the stage of adulthood because of the many physiological ageing processes. Some physical changes happening in men during the stage of senescence are:

Fine lines on the face make their appearance on the face around the age of thirty to thirty-five years. These are located in prominent areas that are used frequently because of muscle activity during smiling, squinting and frowning. These are also called expression lines.

Due to exposure to sun around the age of fifty the skin loses its elasticity considerably and becomes more leathery, stiff and becomes thinner due to loss of collagen.

The hair becomes thin and considerable hair loss and greying may happen.

Generally there is an increase in weight because the rate of metabolism of the body decreases with age. This change can be avoided with care of intake of food and making changes in lifestyle to accommodate exercises. Yoga can prove to be extremely useful in adopting a health oriented lifestyle.

There is a decrease in height because of the effect of gravity between the ages of thirty and seventy. Men may experience a loss of one and one quarter inches in height during this period.

Apart from the physical changes that happen during the middle aged period there are many psycho-physiological changes also occurring in men. Some of them can be listed as:

There is considerable change in the muscle system and cardiovascular system. The muscles become stiff and gradually start losing their tenacity.

There is loss of efficiency of muscles of the heart making the competence levels of the heart reduce.

There is thickening of the walls of the blood vessels making the heart vessels narrow. With the regular practice of yoga all these can be sufficiently prevented.

Decrease in various hormones of the endocrinal system. The most prominent are the reduced levels of testosterone or the male sex hormone. The gonads, fertility levels and mind can be kept under proper efficiency levels with practice of certain yoga asanas and meditation techniques. There may be a situation of reduced sperm count but the sexual dysfunction is mainly considered to be a psychological issue in men than in women as most men do not undergo a clear cut phase of andropause.

There is loss in the neurons and neurotransmitter levels of the brain. There is loss in the weight of the brain due to reduction in the white matter of the brain. This is responsible for reducing the efficiency of the brain. Again with the practice of yoga asanas, pranayama and meditation and yoga nidra techniques this can be delayed and prevented.

There is considerable decrease in the performance of the respiratory system. This can be sufficiently controlled with yoga asanas and pranayama.

In the skeletal system there is significant loss of fluids in the joints and so there is wear and tear and pain in the joints. This can be completely avoided by regular practice of yoga and yoga techniques. The cartilage at the ends of the bones also undergoes reduction and this causes friction in the joints making the joints very painful. Cases of arthritis and osteoporosis also occur in men although osteoporosis is more common in women.

The excretory system may lose some of its waste elimination capacity.

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