Aging and the Elderly Essay Example for Free

Aging and the Elderly EssayAging is the length of clip during which a being or thing has existed length of life (Webster dictionary). Growing old and becoming an elderly person give the gate be ch whollyenging but, flush 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 st advances of life. Growing old consist of gradual, on-going changes in the body, changes such as shrinking in height in which the elderly tends to get shorter as he or she while. Elderly people tends to defecate 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 require 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 ar living longer than before due to better medications that atomic number 18 out there which switch raised the living standa rds. The life expectancy in the United States in the 1900s for women would be to live only forty eight age, and for a male person 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 hooey wealth and advances in medicine have raised living standards so that people benefit from better housing and nutrition. Medical advances have almost eliminated infective 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 hop on 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 risings and the sh be over age lxv climbs ever high er, culture patterns are more likely to change, age segregation will decline as the elderly population increases, the younger population, will collect 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 spic-and-span materials and t hink quickly declines. Although, aging is more visible internal, there are a lot more of internal cores 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 brainAs 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 travel rapidly and reflexes decline. The aging of the brain can cause neurological diseases like Parkinson, Lou Gehrigs disease and Alzheimer. Age-related changes occur in two regions of the brain. The first region is the frontal lobe, which is the playing field of the brain behind the forehead and the eye s. 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 formationThe 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 run 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 kick 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 un adequate to(p)(p) to be seen. The combined alterations of the cornea, iris, electron 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 dont 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 mold to be able to see, especially when reading. Hearing is loss because the eardrum thickens, ear cells can be damage, and in that solecism a hearing aid is needed in order for the elderly person to hear.Cardiovascular systemWhat 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 non 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 systemThe 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 sy stem and Urinary systemThe 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 on 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 notes 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 givingA criminal maintenancegiver 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. unremarkably 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, p reparing nourishing meals, doing the laundry, shopping for groceries, and etc. Many caregivers experiences noetic 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 carry 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 closing 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 s ense 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. Somethings I may have already know because I am a sure 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 elses life, and to be able to help someone. I enjoy what I do although, it is a trying 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 perfumed and lovable, some can be a bit mean, and their attitudes sometimes have to do with their i llness. 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, conditioned that you have seen perhaps your third generation.ReferencesArticlebase.com (2011, Elderly care)Dictionary.com, (Aging). Retrieved August 16, 2011.http//www.everydayhealth.comhttp//www.righthealth.comMacionis, J.(2009)