What
are older adults like?
1.
The
demographics of aging
a.
There
is an increase in the number of older adults, especially those over 80
b.
In
the future, older adults will be more ethnically diverse and better educated
than they are today
2.
Life
expectancy
a.
This
century the average life expectancy has increased dramatically, mainly due to
major improvements in health care.
1.
Useful
life expectancy, is the number of years an individual has that are free of
debilitating disease
2.
Maximum
life expectancy is the longest time and individual can live
b.
Genetic
factors such as familial longevity and family history of certain diseases
influence how long an individual could live
c.
Environmental
factors such as acquired disease, toxins, pollutants and life cycle also
influence how long an individual could live
d.
Today
technological intervention has created a controversy between quantity versus
quality of life
e.
Ethnic
group differences, are complex and different patterns of life expectancy, and
emerge depending on how old people are
f.
Women
on the average have a longer life expectancy at birth than men
Physical
changes and health
1.
Biological
theories of aging
a.
There
are four major biological theories of aging
1.
The
wear and tear theory suggests that aging is caused by body systems simply
wearing out
2.
The
cellular theories focus on reactions with cells involving free radicals and
cross-linking
3.
The
metabolic theories focus on reactions with cells involving free radicals and
cross-linking
4.
The
programmed cell death theories suggest that aging is genetically programmed
b.
Not
theory so far has been successful in explaining aging
2.
Physiological
changes
a.
The
three most important structural changes in the neuron are
1.
neurofibrillary
tangles
2.
dendritic
changes
3.
neurotic
plaques
b.
Each
one of these plays an important role in functioning, because they reduce the
effectiveness with which neurons transmit information. With age the levels of neurotransmitters
also decline.
c.
The
risk of cardiovascular disease increases with age. Changes in the cardiovascular system include: build up of fat deposits in the heart and
arteries, decrease in the amount of blood the heart is able to pump, weakening
of heart muscle tissue, and stiffening of the arteries. Life style affects most of these changes
d.
Significant
cognitive impairment can be caused by stroke and vascular dementia. The extent and affect of the damage depends
on the location of the brain damage
e.
Hard
to identify are normative changes in the respiratory system due to the lifetime
effects of pollution. Older adults
usually suffer shortness of breath, and their risk of chronic obstructive
pulmonary disorder increases
f.
Insufficient
levels of dopamine cause Parkinson’s disease, which can be effectively managed
with the administration of L-Dopa. In a
few cases dementia develops
g.
Declines
in vision and hearing are also reported as a result of aging. Changes in smell, taste, touch pain and
temperament are not as clear
Health
Issues
1.
Information
processing
a.
Research
has found that older adults are much slower at visual search unless there is an
advance signal
b.
Research
also has found that age differences in divided tasks depend on the level of
difficulty; on tasks that are easy
there are no differences, but on tasks that are hard young adults perform
better. The psychomotor speed of older
adults is also slower, but the amount of slowing becomes less if older adults
have practiced the task
c.
Sensory
and information processing changes create the problems older drivers have
d.
Working
memory also declines with age
2.
Memory
a.
Older
adults almost always do worse on laboratory memory tasks that require free
recall. These differences are reduced
on recognition memory tasks and on some real world memory tasks
b.
Secondary
memory also declines with age, but tertiary memory does not
c.
What
individuals believe to be true about their memory is related to their
performance. Beliefs about whether
cognitive abilities are supposed to change may be most important
d.
Comprehensive
evaluations is the way to differentiate memory changes that are associated with
aging and those associated to disease
e.
Memory
training can be accomplished in a number of ways. One way is to combine explicit-implicit memory distinctions with
external-internal type of memory aids
3.
Training
intellectual abilities
a.
Training
studies have demonstrated that performance on at least some intellectual
abilities such as inductive reasoning and spatial orientation, can be
significantly improved
4.
Creativity
and wisdom
a.
Creative
output increases until the 30s and then begins to decline. The age at which creativity peaks varies by
discipline
b.
Wisdom
is related to being an expert in living, than with the age of the person.
Factors that help people become wise are:
a.
general
personal conditions
b.
specific
expertise conditions
c.
facultative
life contexts
Mental
Health and Intervention
1.
Depression
a.
Key
symptom of depression is persistent sadness
b.
Other
psychological and physical symptoms occur at that age, but how important they
are depends on the age of the person reporting them
c.
Major
causes of depression include:
1.
imbalance
in neurotransmitters
2.
psychological
issues such as loss of internal belief systems
d.
Depression
can be treated with medications (heterocyclic antidepressants and MAO
inhibitors) and through psychotherapy (behavioral or cognitive therapy)
2.
Anxiety
disorders
a.
Older
adults also suffer from a variety of anxiety disorders, all of which can be
treated with either medications or psychotherapy
3.
Dementia: Alzheimer’s disease
a.
Dementia
is a family of diseases that causes cognitive impairment
b.
The
most common form of irreversible dementia is Alzheimer’s disease
c.
Symptoms
of Alzheimer’s disease include: memory
impairment, personality and behavioral changes. These symptoms get worse, with rates varying across individuals
d.
Definitive
diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease can only be made following brain autopsy. Diagnosis can be made only after a thorough
process during which other possible causes are eliminated
e.
Researchers
are now focusing on probable genetic cause for the disease
f.
Alzheimer’s
disease for now is incurable, but various therapeutic interventions can be made
in order to improve the quality of the patients’ life