Changes Of Aging

From birth, the body and mind go through physical and cognitive changes that human beings will have to adapt to throughout life. Some individuals lose mental and physical abilities age they age that allow them to live a normal lifestyle. The most common age-related physical changes include hearing impairment, weakening vision, and the increasing probability of multiple chronic conditions such as arthritis, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis (Abeles, 1998). The most common cognitive changes associated with normal aging are short-term, or primary, memory loss, long-term, or secondary, memory loss, and the overall levels of performance in sustained attention. Other issues relative to aging and cognitive memory impairments are anxiety disorder, panic disorder, chronic pain, and mood disorders. This issue may cause several social, medical and family problems as individual

Quadagno (2014) discusses ways cognitive abilities differ from young-adults, middle-old adults and oldest old adults. Cognitive decline can also be affected by conditions such as stroke, depression, diabetes, auditory, and vision problems. Older adults may also encounter age related cognitive decline in their daily lives. Cognitive abilities such as processing speed, episodic memory, working memory and dual task processing are abilities that researchers are aiming to improve in older adults (Basak, et al, 2008; Quadagno, 2014).

Over the centuries, the term dementia has evolved from one that described any change in intellect or judgement in the elderly, to a collection of cognitive and behavioral symptoms correlated with specific neuropathology. The aging process is thought to have three possible cognitive outcomes: (1) normal age related decline, which is often described as normal and healthy aging; (2) age associated memory impairment, which is not as severe and does not have all of the features of dementia; (3) dementia, for which there are many types (Christensen & O’Brien, 2000).

There is nothing more remarkable, then understanding how longevity has increased through the years. Even more so, how some are aging gracefully in a cognitive sense. Can certain measures be taken in order to delay future decline in memory to progressive dementia? Most doctors recommend aging patients to read or complete word searches in an effort to keep the mind active for as long as possible. In Mary Ziegler’s book, Adult development & aging, she stated “Good healthy habits contribute to longevity” (Ziegler, 2014, para. 1).

“The skin is the largest, most visible, and most complicated of the body systems. In an average adult, it covers more than 3,000 square inches and weighs about six pounds. It is served by one third of all the blood circulating the body” (Saxon, 2010, p. 17).The skin has many functions in which one needs in order to stay healthy and living. The skin protects the underlying tissues and structures of one’s body, and prevents them from drying or obtaining an excessive loss of water and electrolytes. It also regulates the temperatures in the body through mechanisms such as sweating and shivering. Acting as a physical, chemical, and biological barrier, the skin protects from harmful bacteria and foreign substances contacting with the body. Most importantly,

During the time of late adulthood, there are many stereotypes that are simply untrue in many cases. The notion that we age and lose our memory, or unable to fall in love, or become poor and lonely are not true (Berk, 2014). While these incidents certainly do happen, they are not part of the aging process. Some of the more interesting stereotypes suggest that elderly men and women lose their memory and are unable to recollect the past (Berk, 2014). Elderly do tend to develop memory slower or have to think more about the past recall memories of the loss of memory suggest an underlying illness, like Alzheimer's disease or dementia. It can also be a warning sign of an infection.

A decline in cognitive functioning occurs during the middle and late adult years. The ensuing decades indicates that there is a general pattern of change in cognitive function across the late adult years, with consistent declines in perceptual motor skills, concept formation, complex memory tasks, ability to deal with novel tasks that are complex, and tasks that require quick decisions.

There are also cognitive changes during middle adulthood. There is a mixed pattern of positive and negative changes in cognitive abilities. Processing speed starts to decrease during this time period however crystallized thought does not decline until older age (pg. 456). Working memory begins to decline however semantic memory continues to increase as we learning throughout our older years (ph 456). Usually most memory decline is during older age and can be attributed to Alzheimer’s disease of dementia.

Cognitive aging is commonly labeled strictly as memory and only found in “some people”. However, this is not true. The knowledge of cognitive aging has grown immensely, but there is still much to be learned. The surface has only been scratched with many more questions to be answered. Cognitive aging is worthy of study and effects everyone, but there is also much more is still to be learned.

Research has attempted to explain cognitive aging through a variety of theories. Each of these theories believes that it can encapsulate all the changes that occur in cognition as individual’s age. Some of these cognitive aging theories include executive function, speed of processing, inhibition and frontal lobe theory. This paper will examine each theory along with the supporting research. Furthermore this paper will attempt to draw a conclusion on which theory or explanation best explains cognitive aging.

As people age they change in many different ways, biologically and physically; not everyone ages the same. When you get older you are physically slower and very forgetful. Why do people's cognitive functions decrease with aging? “ If scientists really knew the answer to that question, we might have already developed a "cure" for memory loss.”, says the UCSB scienceline. Basically there are two types of memory loss, short term and long term memory loss. Short term memory helps you remember where you put your things, like your shoes or your keys. This is the type of memory that suffers most when we get older. Sadly this is also the type of memory that we depend on in our daily lives.

As people age, they change in a many of ways both biological and psychological. Some of these changed can be for the better and other may not. They are many changes that occur during the aging of the brain, one significant factor is the neuroanatomical and neuropsychological changes that also take place as the individual continues to age. Memory plays a very important part when it comes to all aspects of information processing. During the early, age of an individual’s life is when people tend to retain a great amount of information but as the adults gets older in some cases their memory begins to decline and have difficulty recalling information.

Advancing age is commonly associated with loss of memory. The inability to maintain both short term and long term memory is serious. Learning new things or remembering familiar words and names can be quite daunting.

Memory is a fickle part of a person’s genetic makeup. It plays a very important role in person’s life. It not only helps a person develop, but it also helps people with coping with stress. As a person continues to grow and age, memory can be influenced by many factors such as: nutrition, sleep, medication, as well as physical and mental exercise. Unfortunately, both short-term and long-term memory can be lost as a person ages due to the atrophy of brain matter, specifically grey matter. Cells bodies are densely packed in the grey matter of the brain of an individual who is constantly learning. As a person ages, if not properly taken care of, the grey matter within their brain starts to become sparse and they start to

If you want to succeed in life, you must have a sharp memory but this depends mainly on your brain 's health. Earlier, there was a notion that those who were old might not be able to boost their brain power. But researchers have disproved this theory. It has been proved that human brain, regardless of the age of the person, has a tremendous capacity to adapt, change and improve. Researchers have named this phenomenon as "neuroplasticity." But you have to make use of the right kind of stimulation for creating fresh neural pathways in your brain and for making modifications to the existing connections. The right types of stimulation will help your brain adapt as well as react in the ways you wish.