Aging does not need to be associated with a dimished physical capacity
or increased suffering.  The longest lived Okinawans were also praised
for their ability to perform physical labor... many doing so even after
the century mark.

I believe that what we see as increased suffering is actually increased
physical degeneration brought on by the foods we eat.  Weston Price
noted how healthy the elders were in many of the groups he studied.  
They had fine teeth and strong physical structures with no degenerative
diseases to cause suffering.  In many groups that ate only whole foods,
people would just die "of old age."

Max.