Introduction While aging appears to be an inevitable part of life, recent research would suggest otherwise. Many factors contribute to the rate at which we age and the severity at which our bodies begin to break down. Such factors include genetics, lifestyle, and environmental factors. All of these factors can have differing and ranging effects on health. Genetic predisposition is good to know but it doesn’t give an individual a lot of control. Environmental factors can only be controlled to a certain extent. It is lifestyle that an individual has the greatest control over and thus can overcome what was once considered the natural process of aging. Lifestyle itself includes diet, exercise and water intake. It also consists of whether or not an individual smokes, how many and how often they take prescription drugs, and alcohol consumption. This paper will focus on diet as it pertains to aging. Discussions will include the effect of specific diets on aging and cognitive health, which vitamins or minerals are necessary for “graceful aging”, and what happens when diet is poor and mismanaged. Essential Nutrients The list is likely long and laborious of all the essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients an individual needs throughout their lifetime in order to remain a functional and healthy lifeform. When an individual reaches old age, certain key nutrients stand out from amongst the rest. According to research, the effects of vitamin E and C were gaged against
For last 50 years many researchers throughout the world have shown that the foods we eat have a profound impact on our health and longevity. A healthy diet
The aging process in late adulthood is called senescence. People cannot stop the effects of aging but there are alternatives that can help ease the process. These measures are not always followed because people make poor life choices such as smoking. Aging adults will even spend millions of dollars trying to slow the process of aging. No matter how much money they spend aging will occur.
Hypothesis: Obesity amongst older individuals poses risk factors on health issues. Risk factor for many chronic conditions, including four of the ten leading causes of death in the U.S. -- coronary heart disease, type II diabetes, stroke and several forms of cancer. (Geriatric Nursing 1983) Obesity not only affects the health of older adults, it also affects their day-to-day lives. Decreased mobility related to muscle wasting, immobility causing decubitus ulcers. In the research I have conducted, more and more nursing homes possess residents that are obese, that are considered to have a calculated BMI greater than thirty-five. Obese geriatric patients are more likely to report poor
There are many factors that contribute to the vast differences in physical function in the aging adult. One of these factors is related to immunity. As we age our immunity progressively declines putting us at a high risk for disease and illness. While the decline is gradual it has the snowball effect. The elderly population is much more likely to be affected by these diseases and illnesses (Health, 2011). Disease is believed to accelerate aging biologically speaking (Spirduso, 2004).
While older people are more likely to experience mental decline than younger people, it is typically a case of years of lifestyle choices finally catching up with them. There is strong evidence that a sizeable portion of risk for dementia can be attributed to lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise and smoking. All of us have the power to take steps when we’re younger to prevent diseases like Alzheimer’s.
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
Aging is natural. Every species ages on Earth. Humans seem to be one of the rare species on Earth that works so adamantly against aging, rather than
Does childhood obesity effect cognitive achievement in children? Findings from the study of Australian children indicated that poor cognitive achievement is actually an association of childhood obesity. The data found from a number of studies suggest that both obesity and overweight may negatively affect a child’s cognitive skills for several reasons: greater risk of health problems, psychosocial problems, and at a biological level it may lower cognitive achievement. A number of previous studies have investigated the relationship between obesity and cognitive achievement in children and adolescents. The child fixed-effects (FE) show that children aged 6 through 13 with higher BMI levels reduces cognitive achievement. Other data show in
As individuals age changes occur physiologically that are part of normal aging. These changes occur in all organ systems and can impact an individual’s quality of life. The changes related to aging can be attributed to an individual’s genetic make up, lifestyle, physical activity, and dietary lifestyle. Being able to differentiate between normal changes in aging against disease process is important because it can help clinicians develop a plan of care (Boltz, Capezuti, Fulmer, & Zwicker, 2012). Creating an accurate plan of care for older adults will greatly impact their quality of life.
As age increases, we can expect some loss of heart, lung, joint, and sexual functioning. Some loss of brain cells and mental efficiency is a normal part of
Psychologist are reasoning why individuals, despite understanding the consequences that accompany obesity, continue to overindulge while engaging in less physical exercises. In this regard, recent research has shown that there is psychological aspect of obesity which means that it is related to brain disorders. This implies that consideration of the mental component of
The way God created us as humans is a life cycle where eventually late adulthood comes with the biology of aging. Santrock (2013) describes five different theories of why humans age (p. 541). The evolutionary theory explains that aging is more of a natural selection process, and diseases occur in the elderly because they “would have been eliminated” if they were in younger people (Santrock, 2013, p.541). Cellular clock theory describes how cells get tired of dividing after they have been reproducing for so long (Santrock, 2013, p.541). Free-radical theory explains when “cells metabolize energy the by-products include unstable oxygen molecules known as free radicals” (Santrock, 2013, p.541). The unstable oxygen molecules can damage DNA and other structures inside the cell (Santrock, 2013, p.541). Mitochondrial theory describes how aging occurs because of the mitochondria essentially wearing out and becoming less efficient (Santrock, 2013, p.542). Mitochondria are the cell’s “power house,” and they convert energy inside the cell (Bailey, 2008). The last theory, hormonal stress theory, illustrates the effects of stress, especially long term stress, on aging (Santrock, 2013, p.542). Stress released hormones which depress the immune system making people more susceptible to disease (Santrock, 2013, p.542). There are many theories about why human’s age, and all of them may be true, but regardless aging is inevitable and so are its effects.
Aging is the process of becoming older, as we age, multiple mutations occur that concern all the processes of aging well as it compromising a number of different genes. There are many theories of biological aging, such as the Cellular Aging Theory, Immunological Theory, and the Wear and Tear Theory. The Cellular Aging theory describes the process of aging in which cells slow their number of replication, thus giving each species a “biological clock that determines its maximum life span” and how quickly one 's health will deteriorate(Hooyman, 42). After a certain number of years, each cell which follows an apparent biological clock starts to replicate itself less, thus the specific individual or species slowly deteriorates. This theory gives
Causes of aging are very uncertain. Besides, there are several factors which predispose an individual to premature aging. Current theories suggest that this process occurs to due to cellular damage such as DNA oxidation by free radicals causing
By now you don 't need an expert to tell you that fad or crash diets don 't solve your overweight issue or cause permanent weight loss. We all know because we 've heard it enough times from the experts that weight problems are caused mostly by our, lifestyle, the way we behave over time. We also know that there are times when you just have to lose weight fast! Summer and the beach or your sister 's wedding, that first date or your school reunion these are all emergencies that require fast weight loss and I mean you better lose weight now. We all have a list of failed diets that we just couldn 't pass by because of their claim about losing weight fast with such ease.