The Aging Population in the United States
It is predicted that the amount of older adults in the U.S. will reach 94.7 million in 2060 (Administration of Community Living, 2018).
As of 2017, the average life expectancy was 78.6 years old; a significant increase compared to previous decades (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013; Administration of Community Living, 2018; Murphy, et al., 2018).
What is Age?
Age is complex and cannot be simplified into one definition because of the forces which influence one’s subjective definition of age (Stephan, Sutin, & Terracciano, 2015).
Chronological Age
The amount of years since one’s birth (Hillier & Barrow, 2015).
Biological Age
Physical and physiological changes (Hillier & Barrow, 2015).
Psychological Age
Changes in one’s memory, learning, adaptive capacity, personality, and mental functioning (Hillier & Barrow, 2015).
Social Age
Social roles, relationships, and overall social context one grows in (Hillier & Barrow, 2015).
Understanding Human Development, Normal Aging, and Abnormal Aging
The trajectory of human development has been considered through a variety of models, one of the most well known being Erik Erikson’s model (Hillier & Barrow, 2015).
Erikson said that individuals go through eight periods in life:
infancy, toddlerhood, preschool, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood (Hillier & Barrow, 2015).
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Older adults fall under the late adulthood period of human development.
Normal age related changes (Hillier & Barrow, 2015):
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Skin elasticity changes, more wrinkles
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Significant decrease in muscle mass/tone
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Vision changes such as Presbyopia
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Hair greying, thinning
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Weight loss
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Calcium absorption abilities decline, bones become more brittle
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Gradual hearing loss
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Decreased efficiency of organs
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Nervous system changes
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Immune system abilities decrease
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General homeostasis is difficulty to achieve
What Are The Physical Changes of Aging?
What Are The Physical Challenges of Aging?
Many chronic conditions experienced by older adults are a result of lifestyle choices (Hillier & Barrow, 2015).
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Examples: drinking, smoking, level of physical exercise.
Research shows that older individuals are likely to deal with chronic conditions as they age and require more resources as a result (Ward & Schiller, 2013).
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According to the 2016 American Community Survey, common disabilities among older adults involved: vision, hearing, ambulatory, cognitive, self-care, and independent living (Roberts, et al., 2018).
What Are The Mental Changes of Aging?
Normal mental changes (Hillier & Barrow, 2015):
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Increased rates of depression associated with either physical, psychological, personality, or medication related factors
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Stability in intellectual functioning
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Potential changes in memory
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Continuation of intelligence until around 70’s, in which decline becomes significant
What are the Mental Challenges of Aging?
One of the most harmful diseases which older adults can develop is dementia.
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One in ten older adults, aged 65 and older, have Alzheimer’s disease (The Alzheimer’s Association, 2019).
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Alzheimer’s, a progressive brain disease, is the most common form of dementia (The Alzheimer’s Association, 2019).
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Individuals can live for years following a diagnosis and require substantial caregiving that is costly financially and mentally (Office of the Assistant Secretary For Planning and Evaluation...2019; The Alzheimer’s Association, 2019).