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).
The Essay on Bob Marley Legend Life People Live
The question isn't how long are we going to live on this earth; it is how much are we going to live on this earth. In his 36 short years, Bob Marley achieved more than most who live to a so-called ripe old age. Bob once said, 'My life is only important if mi cyan help plenty people. My life is for people. That's who mi is.' He lived on earth but thought the thoughts of heaven. In his song 'Rasta ...
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.
The Essay on Dementia: Alzheimer's Disease And Brain Changes
There are many different types of dementia. The term ‘dementia’ describes the symptoms that occur when the brain is affected by certain diseases or conditions. Some types are far more common than others and they are often named according to the condition that has caused the dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia. During the course of the disease, the chemistry and ...
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.
The Essay on Health Care and Young People
Health care is a basic human right. The idea that healthy young people shouldn't have to pay as much for insurance is rooted in the notion that people should pay the cost of treatment when they get sick or old or injured. Insurance is just a way of separating people into groups of similar risk; it's still basically charging people the cost of treating their ailments. We're all in this world ...
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.
The Essay on Institutional Racism and Racial Discrimination in the U.S. Health Care System
Institutional racism and racial discrimination in the U.S. health care system has been part of a long continuum dating back over 400 years. After hundreds of years of active discrimination, efforts were made to admit minorities into the “mainstream” health system but these efforts were flawed. Colin Gordon in his book Dead on Arrival portrays a very strong stance towards this issue ...
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.
The Essay on Primary Health Care & Its Impact on Nursing
This paper aims to define the term primary health and explain its origins and development; also touching on the impact of primary health on the nursing profession. It will commence with an introduction to primary health and primary health care. Covered in this paper will also be the influence that primary health care has had on nursing and any alterations associated with its implementation. ...
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)
