How Can Society Assist Successful Aging?

The debate topic centered on what is more important in aging mental or physical health. On one side of the debate is the premise that mental health is the key factor in aging successful. The opposing side holds that physical health is the key factor. Both arguments confirm that the relationship is reciprocal but they differ in regards to which one occurs first. That is, does mental health cause physical decline or vice versa.

There are people who think that older adults are not capable of learning new information because of the number of neurons in their brain decline as they age. In the PBS video “Stealing Time”, the old cage potato rats were given a change of scene with an enriched environment and the results were that their dendrites grew and made new synaptic connections where there were none before. These rats were better on future tasks than the old rats that were not given a change of scene. When older adults are doing a task in a laboratory setting they are less efficient at processing the information presented to them and their reaction time is slower. “Older adults show more brain activity between the prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobe than

Research has proven that physical activity improves cognitive function and can also improve brain function throughout a lifespan. Moreover, staying physically active has so many benefits as well. For example, doing exercise and fitness activities help build cells and natural pathways to help reduce changes in memory loss or dementia. Also, it has so many health benefits including long-term improvements to the cognitive function as the young adult reaching mid

Throughout a human beings lifespan, an individual experiences many pivotal changes both physically and mentally. Of all of these life stages, none is more difficult a reality as late adulthood. Individuals are given a taste of youth and vitality, and must watch as it is slowly taken away. In some cultures, the elderly are treated with respect and care, and in others, the elderly are considered a burden and receive little respect and poor care. How do perceptions of death and dying vary from culture to culture? The ancient Egyptians spent their entire lives preparing for death and the afterlife, but how do other cultures perceive these experiences? To gain a better

Analyzing late adulthood and the death of an individual as a culmination of the life span development process one must understand late adulthood consists of. This paper will give a brief overview of ageism and stereotypes associate with late adulthood. This will explain how health and wellness techniques in the late adulthood stages can mitigate the negative effects of aging. As people age the social views and experiences changes in relationships and interactions with individuals, as he or she nears end of life. When closely approaching the end of life, a person has cultural and personal attitudes about death and dignity in late adulthood.

Even late-life activity influence reduced risk of dementia, so it is never too late to initiate intervention enhancing cognitive factors. Still intervention at earlier life period might more beneficial because of greater exposure to cognitive reserve-enhancing factors lower risk of dementia. Finally, cumulative exposure to reserve-enhancing factors over the lifespan equally effective both individuals with and without genetic

Wellness is expressed in functional, environmental, intellectual, psychological, spiritual, social and biological dimension of the human experience within the context of culture (Touhy and Jett, 2016, p.7). It is important to keep these values in mind when caring for people of any age. Strategies that help promote healthy aging in the presence of normal age-related changes include educating clients on what is “normal in the aging process. Encourage active living, healthy eating and mental and emotional well-being.

The introduction provided a general synopsis of what would be discussed in the book, the process of aging and dying in today’s current society, and how that process compares to other cultures and generations. The author, Atul Gawande, also recounted a few memories of his experiences in college and as a new doctor, which created a foundation for which his topic was both presented and elaborated on. Gawande suggests that doctors are fixated on providing constant treatments and surgeries for the terminally ill, but that they never consider acknowledging the inevitable fate of the patient and help them cope with their situation. As Atul continued, he explained how, as a doctor, the greatest satisfaction received

Smith et al. (2013) took a less studied approach to improving cognitive decline by testing the effects of aerobic exercise on adults (60-88 years old) already suffering from cognitive impairment. After 12 weeks of moderate exercise there was an improvement of memory and neural efficiency across all subjects.

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.

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

There are numerous ways to define successful aging. The word “aging” usually has a negative connotation. However, when putting the word success behind it introduces positive aspects that can essentially promote a long-term developmental outcome for an individual. Happening around midlife and late adulthood, successful aging is simply when an individual has complete development and maintenance of control throughout life, has achieved in the selection of goals and purposes, as well as maximization of gains and compensations of failure. This is the complete and ultimate goal for those in their late adulthood and is quite fascinating to developmental scientist. Those who engross themselves with attempting to achieve a successful aging will most likely have characteristics which in turn encourage and advocate for things such as health, growth, and vitality, maintaining social encounters and productive activities, and lastly maintaining high physical and cognitive functioning. Two developmental scientist, Vaillant & Mukamal, have discovered the factors that predict satisfaction of life are those an individual is able to control. These factors include are health habits, marital stability, years of education, and coping strategies. On the other hand those factors that are out of an individual 's control can not predict the level of happiness or satisfaction with life. These include the length of life of a family member, early health status, parental SES, and family warmth in

Cognition has significant ties to the brain function, this leads to strong association. Although the brain is greatly impacted in a run, cognition is not in young adults. Cognition is benefited in those who are ”losing it” possible of age-relation, like those with dementia or heading there (Stroth, 2009). Middle age is when the cognition can start to be impacted because exercise seems to decrease tissue loss in areas around the brain. With the loss of tissue a counterside to not exercising, exercise for the middle age can be even more beneficial than it is to teens. The brain faces new challenges as people hit middle age including; pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia. The relationship to young

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 articles by Erikson et al., Gatz, Korol et al., and Draganski et al. explore the concept of increased physical activity and/or mental activity having effects on the cognitive function and development or deterioration of the brain as we age. Although I agree that physical exercise is critical in increasing cognitive function because of the health benefits it provides, as well as the increased blood flow and circulation throughout the body, I ultimately believe that a healthy brain is not achieved solely by physical exercise or mental exercise, but both. I think there is a link between physical and mental exercise, and that the combination of these two activities creates higher cognitive functioning of the mind as well as the body. The mind and body come together and meet to make an overall healthy individual.