Society and medical care professionals are inundated with diseases that may have caused death 100 years ago or even 50 years ago. Advancements in science and technology is prolonging life expectancy for people. The National Institute of Aging focuses on health illness for the aging population and how research and studies can provide better quality of life for the extended years of life. The organization is sphere headed by two offices and division that are designed to address specific areas of the aging population. The offices work the divisions to help guide their focus for the he crucial research.
This paper will discuss the relationship between the aging process and key diseases associated with aging. Examples of aging-associated diseases include cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative diseases (López-Otín, Blasco, Partridge, Serrano, & Kroemer, 2013, p. 1194). Of these, we will discuss in-depth recent studies that have linked aging with Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. These diseases affect a significant proportion of the population over the age of 65 and place a considerable burden on the American health care system. Therefore, a better understanding of how they are related to aging and each other can result in the adoption of innovative treatments and declined risk for older adults.
Normal aging brings about inevitable and irreversible changes. These normal aging changes are partially responsible for the increased risk of developing health-related problems within the elderly population. I associated being "old" with decline, disability, disease and death. However, reflecting on realities of ageing and my grandfather's health, I realized that ageing does not imply only declining health, but it is also associated with wellness. My grandfather is 88 years old. I had always been lucky to have my grandparents healthy. However, this changed about 10 years ago when my grandfather had a heart problem and had to get coronary angioplasty, which caused him to require extra care from my grandmother and family.
The rapid growth in the number of seniors in America and around the world is creating a global demographic revolution without precedent. During this century, advances in hygiene and water supply and control of infectious diseases have reduced the risk of premature death much. As a result, the proportion of population over 60 years in the world is growing faster than in any previous era. In 1950 there were approximately 200 million people aged over 60 worldwide. By 2000 there will be over 550 million, and by 2025, the number of people over 60 is expected to reach 1,200 million.
Largest among the growing populations is the age group 65 and older. This course required us to complete Dr. Woolf’s myths of aging quiz. This quiz has 25 questions all about aging issues. In our textbook, “Adult Development and Aging,” Cavanaugh and Blanchard-Fields (2011) state, “Everyone does not grow old in the same way. Whereas most people tend to show usual patterns of aging that reflect the typical, or normative, changes with age, other people show highly successful aging in which few signs of change occur” (p. 16). An analysis of Dr. Woolf’s myths of aging quiz will show several different areas to consider in regards to the
The humanity of aging is a concept sometimes hard to grasp. Understanding why we are
The greater longevity and improved health seen at older ages in many parts of the world represent one of the crowning achievements of the last century, but also present a significant
The advancement of medical science impacted greatly on our specie and resulted in improvised life expectancy. Though progression of medical science brings cure for unlimited eternal illnesses it doesn’t however bring any remedy for the havocs caused by aging on our bodies. There
The United States is in the midst of a major demographic shift. People are living longer which means that the population of older adults, those sixty years and over, is growing. It is projected that by the year 2040, older adults will far outnumber school age children. Older adults are currently healthier and lead more productive lives than ever before, due in part to modern medicine and the new idea of seeing older people for their potential rather than their problems. This has prompted the concept of “creative aging” or “successful aging.” This positive view of aging is not new, only the terminology. Cicero, the Roman philosopher, is perhaps the first to introduce the idea of “good aging” in his essay, “On Old Age” which was penned in the year 44 BC. He wrote this essay in his early 60’s to show that old age is not a phase of decline and loss, and if approached properly becomes a time for positive change and productive functioning (Baltes & Baltes, 1990). Over the last few decades the subject of
There are fears that the recent generation and their children’s generation will age less successfully than the current older one – no surprise given that, although rates of cigarette smoking are falling, more people are drinking heavily, only a minority of adults exercise often enough to maintain good health and obesity rates have greatly increased over the last 20 years.
Growth and development is an essential part of the life cycle, which leads to the occurrence of different phases like childhood, teenage and late adulthood. Aging is the period which is characterized by the onset of personal, cognitive and social changes. They feel hard to adjust the changes. Like rest of the world, the US also falls in the list of countries which have the highest population of elderly people. According to the Population Reference Bureau report, Americans ages 65 and older has projected to increase more than double from 46 million today to over 98 million by 2060, and the 65-and-older age group’s share of the total population will rise to nearly 24 percent from 15 percent (Mark Mather). The
According to (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2016) there is a myriad of challenges facing older adults throughout their later years of life. The issues range from failing eyesight to aching joints, but the good news is that the aging process is an individual process. The bad news is that it is a process no human being can escape this process in the genetic makeup of every human on planet earth. Our voice weakens, our skin wrinkles, our gums in our mouth
Gerontology, the study of the biological, psychological, and social aspects of aging (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011). Aging is a process of life that those of us that are young are not educated enough to understand what are grandparents emotionally and physically are going through in life. When a person talks about getting old or referring to an old person, we immediately assume a person in their 50’s to 60’s. It is interesting to learn the differences in ages “young-old (ages 65-74), the “old-old” (ages 75-84), and the “oldest-old” (age 85 and over) (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011). The life expectancy of people is much longer today than before, according to the Census Bureau, it is expected to increase to 82.6 in 2050 (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011). In my opinion, people today have more resources to a better quality of life such as staying active also living a healthier life. Most elderly people continue to remain active live a longer life. Such as Morrie in the book Tuesdays with Morrie, he remained active dancing after retiring as a professor until he was diagnosed with ALS. Morrie experienced a compression of morbidity in his
Humanity has come a long way as we evolve and adapt to the changing environment. Through the years, we have managed to overcome several limitations, which in the past were nothing more than dreams. We succeeded in landing on the moon and communicating over long distance, yet there are still some boundaries we have yet to cross despite our best effort. Aging is an inevitable process of nature. While we cannot stop the ticking clock in our body, we have made it possible for aging to be delayed and relieved to a great extent through advance technology and modern governance. High-tech equipments and medications are available for the treatments of more illnesses as our understanding of medicine improves and governments nowadays are doing
The world’s population is ageing rapidly. Between 2000 and 2050, the proportion of the world's older adults is estimated to double from about 11% to 22%. In absolute terms, this is an expected increase from 605 million to 2 billion people over the age of 60.