Social and medical developments have recently led to a dramatic increase in life expectancy. This has inspired the study of organismic changes associated with healthy ageing, in particular the erosion of homeostatic capabilities in multiple endocrine systems. This book reviews advances in the understanding of endocrine facets of ageing. It considers the relative magnitudes and time courses of different endocrine adaptations in the ageing human and experimental animal, addressing the influence of external factors on the rates of progression of endocrine sequelae in ageing, the mechanisms that underlie the disarray of endocrine axes in ageing, and the implications of therapeutic reconstitution of hormones in ageing. This book: * Considers the mechanisms of ageing and hormonal changes that occur with age. * Discusses healthy ageing and the relationships between hormonal changes and pathophysiological conditions such as atherosclerosis and age-related bone loss. * Draws together contributions from basic and clinical research, to identify and stimulate promising new research directions.