Effects Of Aging On Aging

The elderly population is growing rapidly and now makes up greater than thirteen percent of the United States population. (APA, 1994). With such a record growth, there are different aspects to aging that are still being analyzed. Many may think of reaching late life as a rite of passage, but many face this time with a different view. Through the movie "UP', we are granted an opportunity into view the struggles of an elderly widowed man by the name of Mr. Fredrickson and the challenges in which he faces in his later life. The movie, takes one on a journey through his sorrows and his triumphs until he realizes what the true meaning of happiness is.

Mrs Ann Smith is a seventy nine year old woman and she has several problems regarding her health and well-being in her elderly age. Many policies and legislation ensure the safety and well-being of the elderly such as Mrs Smith. Legislation and policies safeguard the elderly including Mrs Smith to receive the fair treatment of care and to stop discrimination and exclusion. Discrimination and exclusion is still prevalent today and within contemporary society the ageing population is rising, discrimination and exclusion could increase if it is not appropriately tackled by contemporary society today. There are numerous theories of ageing, some theories are disengagement theory, and the activity theory and these theories have developed key concepts and the effects of ageing on individuals and contemporary society today.

The demographic transition is a three-stage model of population growth in Europe. In the first stage there is a stable population because birth and death rates are both high. The second stage happens as mortality rates begin to slowly decline, but birth rates stay high. When this stage happens, there is fast population growth. During the third stage, the population is more stable as both birth and death rates are low and are more or less balanced. In more recent years, a fourth stage as been brought on by Anti-Malthusians. During this stage, population shrinkage occurs because the deaths begin to outnumber the births. Europe provides a great example to the theory of demographic transition. After speedy population growth of stage two, Europe settled at stage three with a stable population. It is currently in stage four with a shrinking population. In most European nations there are lesser births than deaths which could ultimately create other social problems.

In an order to gain a better understanding how the process of aging affects older adults, I interviewed my neighbor, a sixty-seven year old man. For the purposes of this paper, I will refer to him as Pat. Pat lives with his wife of forty-three years. They currently live in a home in Mounds View, which they have owned for twenty-four years. They receive no home services. He views aging as inevitable. He added that, although there are plenty of negative things that are associated with aging, there are definitely perks that come along with it. He believes that maintaining a healthy lifestyle, carrying a positive attitude, and accepting changes as they come, has helped him adjust to growing old. Pat has been retired for nearly three years. Pat appreciates retirement because he gets to watch his two year old grandson during the week. On the weekends, he gets together with family and friends. He enjoys fishing, hunting, reading, and cheering on his favorite sports teams. Pat has a primary doctor that he has seen for several years. He had a myocardial infarction in 2001, and has since been on two prescribed medications for his heart. In addition, he has arthritis, and has been living with chronic pain for nearly a year. The majority of the pain is in his lower back. He stated that the pain will come and go, but it hurts the most in the morning when he gets out of bed, and when he stands or sits for long periods of time. At the time of the interview, I asked on a scale of 0 through

The demographic transition theory is a widespread explanation of the changing mold of humanity, fertility and increase rates as civilizations move from one demographic system to another. “The term was first coined by the American demographer Frank W. Notestein in the mid-twentieth century, but it has since been elaborated and expanded upon by many others” (The Demographic Transition, 2012). There are four stages of demographic transition.

Demographic transition is the process by which a nation/country moves from high birth rate and high death rates to low birth and low death rates as the growth population in the interim (Weeks, 2005). Some of the nations that have gone through this transitions are; Canada, Germany, United States and England. The demographic transition to an industrialized society is harmful to the environment. Industrialized countries also have the largest ecological and carbon footprint comparative to developing/non-industrialized nations. Nevertheless, demographic transitions have some notable advantages. Countries that have gone through demographic transitions have low birth and death rates. Citizens in

Psychological changes during old age are interrelated factors occur that have a significant impact on psychological changes during aging. Anatomical and functional modifications in the nervous system and sense organs, modifications in cognitive functions and modifications in affectivity: losses, motivations, personality. Psychological changes may be subject to subjective perceptions of both the person who manifests them and the person who can evaluate them. There are people who live with serious concern the decline of some functions and others who do not value it properly. In general with aging there is a decline and a slowing of cognitive abilities, although there is enormous variability and depends on numerous factors (educational level,

Several aspects of aging can be debilitating for the elderly population, as they often include loneliness, general decline, and lack of social support (Anisman, 2014). The senior population, already at large, is projected to surpass that of other age groups and increase the burden on our health care system. Only a small proportion of individuals age successfully, with the majority experiencing a spectrum of cognitive impairments that can manifest into neurodegenerative disorders. This is due to a broad range of factors, including genetic and environmental determinants that ultimately shape the aging process. The hippocampus, a subcortical brain region, is responsible for mediating memory consolidation, spatial navigation, and to some extent learning (Kolb and Whishaw, 2013). It is particularly impaired in old individuals and the focus of numerous experiments aimed at delaying degeneration or alternatively enhancing neurogenesis. This limbic structure is readily influenced by the stress response, namely the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis (Kolb and Whishaw, 2013). Aged individuals tend to exhibit elevated levels of corticosteroids, which promote hippocampal deterioration (Cameron and McKay, 1999). A specific region within the hippocampus, the dentate gyrus, is unique in that it not only succumbs to such effects but continues to undergo neurogenesis (Cameron and McKay, 1999). However, the rate of neurogenesis is reduced if not inhibited in old

show several aging-dependent changes such as changes in anatomy and function in identified neurons [8], behavioral changes [9,10], expression of mRNAs [11], and neurotransmitter regulation [12]. (2) A simple and well-studied nervous system and behavioral repertoire to facilitate the study of neurological and behavioral correlates of aging at the level of single neurons and circuits. (3) Two learning assays (Sensitization and Habituation of the GWR) proposed in this study are well studied and show age dependent decline [9]. (4) Importantly, neural circuitry underlying GWR has been identified [5]. Neurons of Aplysia GWR offer several advantages. In contrast to Drosophila, C. elegans or mammalian neurons, those of Aplysia are gigantic, allowing relatively easy study of cell-specific changes during aging. Importantly the presynaptic sensory (LESN) and postsynaptic motor (L7MN) neurons of the GWR circuitry can be easily identified (Fig 1) and manipulated. Sensitization of GWR result in growth of new synaptic connections, whereas habituation induces retraction of synapses. Thus, the experimental system allows for precise measurements of electrophysiological, morphological and molecular changes to address the specific aims of this proposal. (5) As described in the “Significance” section it is important to recognize that many concepts that are central to our overall understanding of the LTM were established using Aplysia [5, 13-17;18-23]. Therefore it is expected that

The aging population creates a demographic shift. Since, China has a high aging population it has affected China culturally, socially and family. Families most important social support is family and the kin system that helps functioned family roles. As aging increases, fertility decreases due to families looking for more work and to live their lives doing other things rather than having babies. It will have a dramatic demographic transition in twenty years. Growing old before affluent. Birth control has also helped with lowering the birth rate. The demographic structure has also changed. In 1950 it held a perfect pyramid but as time goes on it shows how the youth became a shrinking population. One strategic solution is the one child policy which helps balance out the rapidly growing population and to help stimulate development. It restricts family size which help the aging population

As aging is a stage of development that cannot prevented, the question of “can one’s aging be more successful than another?” is posed my many. Researchers continually consider the differences between aging successfully, and aging unsuccessfully. As researchers work to complete their studies, many find a reoccurring basis of successful aging. A basis of successful aging can be set including: physical health disease free, chronic illness free, mental health disease free, among many others. The only problem with this basis is the difference from person to person in terms of what makes aging successful. As individuals age, their mental state is a large predictor of how the person will age. A positive mental state about aging, will have a more positive effect on a person’s aging process. Many factors may influence the positivity of aging, such as negative aging stereotypes and discrimination because of older age. These negative aging stereotypes include but are not limited to: older adults are not as smart, older adults are angry all the time, older adults are bad drivers, older adults are isolated and never socialize. In adult aging and development, having a positive outlook on aging will lead to better mental and physical aging.

Aging! We all do it every day, but have you ever thought how it is going to affect the rest of your life or more importantly your career? Aging isn’t something that we get to choose if we participate in, however working is, and aging may affect that choice. Right now, I want you to think about the age of sixty-five. What words pop into your head when you think of someone sixty-five? I’d imagine some of the words you thought of were retired, old, fragile, slow, as well as many others. Those words right there all help to explain the many concerns that one’s employer may have when hiring someone that is of the older population. When we think of the older population in the work force we don’t necessarily think of positive things, instead we think of things. When we think of this population in the workforce we generally think of lower production rates and higher costs. These can create issues among the older population, as employers must consider all the possibilities when hiring someone. We know that more people in the older population are continuing to try to continue their careers, but why? How hard is it for them to continue? What changes have made it easier? How are the younger and middle aged populations perceiving them in the work place? This are only some of the many question surrounding the increase of aged workers.

Also spelled as ageing, this is generally the process of becoming old. It is the in a way the opposite of immortality. In a broader aspect, it may occur to single cells in an organism also called cellular senescence or the population of a species, known as population ageing. This process primarily affects human beings and fungi. In humans, it signifies the accumulation of various changes which occur over time. The changes include physical, social and psychological changes.

Demography is the study of the components of population variation and change. Death rate and birth rate are two determinants of population change. Theory of Demographic Transition is comparatively recent theory that has been accepted by several scholars throughout the world. This theory embraces the observation that all countries in the world go through different stages in the growth of population. A nation's economy and level of development is directly related to that nation's birth and death rates. Population history can be divided into different stages. Some of the scholars have divided it into three and some scholars have divided it into five stages. These stages or classifications demonstrate a

However, better healthcare and protection from government result in rising age expectancy, which is a double-edged sword as on one hand, people live longer as shown in report (Friedland and Summer, 2005, Fig 1-2) and on the other hand, the proportion of aging population increases if the younger generation are not reproducing enough, and this is exactly the trend now in developed nations. In the