Aging and the Elderly Essay Example for Free

Aging and the Elderly Essay Aging is the length of time during which a being or thing has existed length of life (Webster dictionary). Growing old and becoming an elderly person can be challenging but, yet it can be very rewarding, it can bring a lot of good and bad. Aging has its rewards, but it presents the challenges of all stages of life. Growing old consist of gradual, ongoing changes in the body, changes such as shrinking in height in which the elderly tends to get shorter as he or she age. Elderly people tends to have less appetite which causes them to lose weight, and a decline in strength and vitality, which can sometimes make them feels very weak at times and needs either a cane or a walker or even someone to help assist them in walking. The life expectancy in the United States is going up which means people are living longer than before due to better medications that are out there which have raised the living standards. The life expectancy in the United States in the 1900’s for women would be to live only forty eight years, and for a male the life expectancy in the United States would be to live only forty- six years, as study shows that women in the U.S lives longer than men. Now females can be expected to live eighty years plus and men can be expected to live to be seventy-five years old. Greater material wealth and advances in medicine have raised living standards so that people benefit from better housing and nutrition. Medical advances have almost eliminated infectious diseases such as smallpox, measles, and diphtheria which had killed many infants and children many years ago. (John Macionis, 2009). As life becomes longer, the oldest segment of the United States population, people over the age of eighty-five years of age is increasing rapidly and is forty times greater than in nineteen hundreds. As the average age of the population rises and the share over age sixty-five climbs ever higher, culture patterns are more likely to change, age segregation will decline as the elderly population increases, the younger population, will see more of the older population where the younger population usually are, such as malls, sporting events, and etc. Elders in the United States are men and women of all races, classes, and ethnic backgrounds. There are two types of elderly, the younger elderly, which are between the ages of sixty-five and seventy-five and lives independently with good health and financial security whom are likely to live in a house with each other as couples, then, there are the older elderly whom are past the age of seventy-five, most likely to live with a family member (usually a daughter), have health problems and financial insecurity being divorce or a widow. As someone ages there are a lot of biological and psychological changes that happens in their life, such things as Gray hair, wrinkles, and etc. The ability to learn new materials and think quickly declines. Although, aging is more visible internal, there are a lot more of internal effects of aging as well, which are more critical. As we all age, it is important for us to know the normal course of aging. What happens to us as we age? As we age, health problems start to rise at about or over the age of seventy-five, women typically lives longer than men, they tend to suffer more from chronic disabilities like arthritis. The brain As a person age and becomes an elderly, their brain undergoes different structural changes, the brain regions shrinks and becomes filled with fluid, aging impairs the ability of the brain to encode new memories and facts, while processing speed and reflexes decline. The aging of the brain can cause neurological diseases like Parkinson, Lou Gehrig’s disease and Alzheimer. Age-related changes occur in two regions of the brain. The first region is the frontal lobe, which is the area of the brain behind the forehead and the eyes. It is felt that certain memory process supported by this region degenerate with age. The other region affected by age is a C-shaped area deep inside the brain, which is known as the hippocampus, there is where there, is a dramatic deterioration of explicit memory capacities supported by this region as we get older. Intergumentary system The skin develops wrinkles and dark spots, skin becomes very easy to tear, and saggy because of the ability of the skin to produce oil, the skin becomes very dry and lusterless. The aging process affects groups of cells within hair follicle. Hair becomes thinner, hair color changes from its normal color to gray then eventually to white as cells quit functioning. Aging affects the bone strength to decline, friction between joints increases which causes pain while they move. There becomes a loss of density and strength due to porous. There is a depletion of minerals like calcium and phosphorus which makes the bones weak and fragile easily to have bone fracture which can cause an elderly person to be wheelchair or bedbound for life. Eyes, Ears (senses) Our vision changes as we age, objects appear blurred or unable to be seen. The combined alterations of the cornea, iris, lens and ciliary bodies can account for most of the age-related changes in our visual perception. The pupils become less responsive and more sensitive to glare. The iris gets stiffened, cataracts and glaucoma becomes common, we don’t see as well as we use to. The lens thickens and takes o a yellowish hue, which reduces the ability to discriminate colors in the green-blue-violet range. Most elderly people then need glasses or even a magnifying glass in order to be able to see, especially when reading. Hearing is loss because the eardrum thickens, ear cells can be damage, and in that case a hearing aid is needed in order for the elderly person to hear. Cardiovascular system What happens to the heart as we age? There is a decline in the cardiac capacity. The cardiac stroke volume rate goes down, oxygen consumption declines. Heart muscles relaxes less between beats (becomes stiffer), heart may not pump blood as efficiently, walls may thickens, and becomes less elastic, reflex that maintain blood pressure upon standing up may becomes slower. Types of heart diseases that are more common in the elderly are heart failure, isolated systolic hypertension, aortic stenosis, sick sinus syndrome, atrial fibrillation and even stroke. Digestive system The digestive system start weaken gradually, the elderly sometimes have trouble digesting foods, their diet becomes different with age, much fiber is then needed in their diet. The digestive system looses efficiency, teeth lost, and oral diseases increases with age. Esophagus wears down with time, making swallowing difficult, sphincter muscles in the stomach weakens. Digestive muscles lose some of its flexibility with age and cause an elderly unable to swallow. Reproductive system and Urinary system The reproductive system, hormones levels changes in elderly people. The change in the reproductive system changes the effect of the urinary system functions. In the urinary system, the kidneys gets smaller with age, blood flow is reduced, sensation of needed to urinate is often delayed in some people, in other elderly people they can become very unable to hold urine and have to go to the bathroom often. As we age, some of us go through social isolation, meaning that we do not have any kind of contact with anyone, whether it is by not going out or not wanting anyone to visit. Social isolation brings depression in the elderly which is why many elderly are taking antidepressants to lift up their moods along with other medicine. Sometimes the cause of social isolation can be because of the death of their significant other, lost of income due to retiring, not getting enough money which can be the reason why the elderly people are in poverty. Elderly women especially tends to hide poverty and keep it to themselves, they do not want anyone to know because of their personal pride, they want to remain independent, not having to depend on family members for survival needs. Care giving A caregiver gives care to anyone that is unable to care for themselves. When an elderly becomes unable to care for his or herself, family members have to figure out how they are going to be able to care for him or her. Usually the daughter of the elderly person takes care of them; if not then it would probably the daughter in law. There are several aspects that are involved in taking care of the elderly. Most caregivers spend more than twenty hours per week providing care, if the elderly person that needs care is a total need, then care giving can be a twenty four hours seven days a week job, Which can be a burden on the caregiver. The caregiver provides care such as bathing, shaving, running errands such as dropping off, and picking up medication, preparing nourishing meals, doing the laundry, shopping for groceries, and etc. Many caregivers experiences mental and physical fatigue, emotional distress, and guilt over not being able to do more. The caregiver being so stressed out can sometimes abuse the elderly if the work is found to be too difficult, which can go unreported at times. Now there are many state charitable institutions where you can place the elderly such as nursing homes, adult day cares, assisted livings, hospice which depends on whether or not the elderly is terminally ill, and etc. Many people fear of placing their love one in nursing homes because, they fear the abuse that goes on in there, so therefore they can either pay a private sitter to care for their love one or they would have to give up their jobs to care for them. Lastly, death is the final stage in the life of an elderly; usually death can be from being very ill, or very old. When death occurs, family members grieve at the same time they feel a sense of relieve from having to take care of that person and having to give up their social life in order to care for that individual. My experiences: In working on, my research paper, I have learned a lot about the elderly. Something’s I may have already know because I am a certified nursing assistant, I have been working as a nursing assistant for ten years now. As a certified nursing assistant my job is to provide personal care such as bathing, shaving, shampooing hair, assisting with medicine, and running errands. Being a certified nursing assistant is a very challenging job but, it is a very rewarding job, it makes me feel good to see that I am able to make a difference in someone else’s life, and to be able to help someone. I enjoy what I do although, it is a stressful job, but just putting myself in their shoes makes me feel that it is a job worth doing. Some of the elderly people can be sweet and lovable, some can be a bit mean, and their attitudes sometimes have to do with their illness. To me I think even though it is not easy to be an elderly, having to deal with so much such as health issues, ageism, poverty, depending on other people to care for you, It is a blessing to live to be old, knowing that you have seen perhaps your third generation. References Articlebase.com (2011, Elderly care) Dictionary.com, (Aging). Retrieved August 16, 2011. http://www.everydayhealth.com http://www.righthealth.com Macionis, J.(2009)