Module 10 Late Adulthood

late adulthood

-mid sixties until death

-we are living longer

-about 15.2% of the US population is 65 and older

-expected to almost double by 2060

optimal aging

people who have the best kinds of health as they get older

in better health than the average adult

normal aging

o   Typical aspects of health

o   Seem to have the same health and social concerns as most of those in the population

impaired aging

those who experience poor health and dependence to a greater extend then would be considered normal

-less than typical health of aging

health issues

selective optimization without compensation

strategy for improving health and well-being in adults and a model for sucessful aging

-optimize their best abilities and most functions while compensating for declines and losses

senescence

gradual deterioration of functional characteristics

Young Old (65-74)

-greater health and social well being

-41% have excellent health

-Less likely to require long-term care, to be dependent or to be poor, and more likely to be married, working for pleasure rather than income, and living independently

The Old Old ( 75-84)

o   More likely to experience limitations on physical disease such as arthritis, heart conditions, cancer,

-physical activity issues

-live independently or with relatives

Oldest Old (85+)

-more likely to require long-term care

-nursing homes, relatives

-68% live with relatives

-27% live alone

cenetarians

-people age 100 years or older

-much of the current cenetarians live in Japan

blue zone research

-regions in world where people tend to live much longer on average

-okinawa—highest rate of population

The “ Graying” Population

-median age is going up

-the american population is steadily becoming more dominated by older people

the worlds oldest countries are European

-japan current oldest nation in the world

by what year will every boomer be 65 or older

2030

life expectancy

statistical measure of teh average time an organism is expected to live based on year of birth, current age, and other demographic factors

what is current life expectancy?

78.7 years

what plays a role in life expectancy?

-§  lower calorie intake may increase the average lifespan but is not typically viewed to be sustainable

-rising cost of healthcare

quality of life

general wellbeing of individuals and societies, outlining negative and positive features of life

-physical health, family, education, employment wealth, safety, security, freedom, religious beliefs

active life expectancy

looks at the number of years someone can live without any kind of diability

stress

-can decrease life expectancy

-stress is good but having chronic stress can lead to decreased life expectancy

sexual health expression

having good quality sex life has been found to be positively associated with health among middle-ages and older-adults

-meets physical and emotional needs

Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging

o   Looks at people ages 20-90 years of age

o   Found that aging is complex; we all have different genetics, lifestyles, environmental factors

Primary Aging

irreversible

-inevitable

-wrinkling skin

-graying hair

-diff in height and weight

vision

Glaucoma

·       Pressure in the fluid of the eye increases

o   The peripheral vision also starts to decrease

o   Can be corrected with drugs or surgery but must be detected early enough

cataracts

·       Eyes look more cloudy or opaque

·       Interferes with light

·       Can be surgically removed or there can be implants

macular degeneration

·       Most common cause of blindness

·       No cure for this

·       Can be managed

·       After a while it can lead to blindness

-cause blurry central vision or dark spots

Diabetic Retinopathy

·       Occurs in individuals with diabetes

·       When high blood pressure can impact the retinol blood vessels

·       The leading cause of blindness for diabetes

hearing loss

·       25%  experience some kind of hearing loss between 65-74

·       50% experience hearing loss at 75+

·       Can be something that is preventable

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

o   Associated with failure to transmit neural signals from the cochlea to the brain---due to prolonged exposure to loud noises affecting hair cells in cochlea

Presbycusis

o   Age related—degeneration of cochlea or associated structures of inner ear or auditory nerves

Menieres Disease

o   Individuals who hear constant ringing/buzzing

o   Deterioration of the inner ear structures

o   May also see vertigo start to happen

§  Increases pressure in inner ear structures

Cochlear Implants

o   Treatment option

o   Electronic device

o   Help stimulate auditory nerve to get sound in

o   Many say they are uncomfortable

Elderspeak

bringing up volume of voice gradually to those who cannot hear—shouting to elders to communicate

-o   In relation to patronizing type of speech—want to avoid it as if they are being talked to like a child

secondary aging

-can potentially be reversible

-changes that are caused by illness or diseases

chronic illness

1 in 2 americans has at least one chronic medical condition

-a ceoncern for elderly in the population

heart disease

-can also impact older adults

-leading cause of death in US older than 65

-strokes, heart failure, hypertension

cancer

age is one of the biggest risk factors

the older you get, the more likely you will have some kind of cancer

older adults may have more sensitivity to treatments than younger adults

hypertension

high blood pressure associated with heart disease

stroke is leading cause of death and long term disability

-damages arteries in the body—can burst or clog easily

arthritis

any disorder related to joints

joint pain stiffness

swelling

decreased range of motion

more common in women

what is the most common form of arthritis?

rheumatoid arthritis

Type 2 Diabetes

high blood sugar

insulin resistance

lack of insulin

unexplained weightloss

constant urination

makes up about 90% of cases of diabetes

osteoporosis

bone weakening which can increase the risk of a broken bone

more common for age as bones lose minerals

parkinson’s disease

long-term degenerative disorder

-hits the central nervous system and mainly affect the motor system

-o   Rigidity, shakiness, slowness of movement, difficulty with walking

-dementia/ delusions

activities of daily living

o   Basic selfcare tasks that you can do for yourself

o   If cant do it you may need help

o   Hygiene

o   Continence management

o   Dressing

o   Feeding

o   Ambulating

o   Toileting

peripheral slowing hyothesis

overall processing speed declines in the peripheral nervous system, affecting the brains ability to communicate with muscles and otgans

generalized slowing hypithesis

overall processing in all parts of the nervous system, including the brain, are less efficient with age

instrumental activities of daily living

o   Not necessary for fundamental functioning

o   Requires competence

o   Companionship

o   Transportation

o   Shopping

o   Preparing meals

o   Manage households

o   Managing medication and finances

o   Communicating with others

working memory

-as we age we struggle with working memory

limited capacity to temporarily hold information available for processing

-can work on two things at once

-try to avoid situation where there is too much going on at once to focus on a cognitive task

processing speed theory of cognitive aging

§  Tim Salthouse

·   Salthouse argues that slower processing causes working-memory contents to decay, thus reducing effective capacity

inhibition hypothesis

§  Lynn Hasher and Rose Zacks

§  general deficit in old age in the ability to inhibit irrelevant, or no-longer relevant, information.

-working memory tends to be cluttered with irrelevant contents which reduce the effective capacity for relevant content

Robert West

argues that working memory depends to a large degree on the pre-frontal cortex, which deteriorates more than other brain regions as we grow old

long-term memory

can last minutes to decades

storing information for a long amount of time

-tend to remember more from their younger years

-maintain semantic memory

-remember more about early adulthood and adolescence

The ACTIVE study

o   Advanced Cognitive Training for Indpendent and Virtual Elderly

o   Study that found support that the brain can have a cognitive area that can be used to reduce the effects of normal aging

o   If we see that we are slowing down mentally, we can make effort to do things to help our cognitive ability

wisdom

the ability to use common sense and good judgement in making decisions

associated with older adults

knowledge that can be used to overcome obstacles they encounter in their daily lives

impairments

-tend to see more of a decline in cognitive impairments

-slowing in hearing and vision

-attention defecits can have impact on an older persons ability to fucntion adequately and independently in every day life

problem solving tasks

-decline with age

-solve tasks by relying on input from others

-less likely to delay making decisions on important matters

-divided attention can lead to driving accidents

dementia

o   Umbrella term

o   Often gradual

o   Generally long term

o   Makes it hard to think more clearly and function with daily activity

o   Can severely impar judgement

o   Impacts memory

o   Emotional problems, difficulties with language, decrease in motivation

o   generally refers to severely impaired judgment, memory or problem-solving ability

delerium

confused state

can be from a couple hours to a couple days

syndrome encompassing disturbances in attention, consciousness, and cognition

alzheimers disease

most common form of dimentia

60-80% of total dimentia cases

no cure

-most common early symptoms are forgetting things

-to delay this keep the brain and memory working to help your cognitive abilitiesb

brain with alzheimers

shrinking of cerebral cortex

shrinkage of hippocampus—memory

enlarged ventircles

integrity

o   the ability to look back on one’s life with a feeling of satisfaction, peace and gratitude for all that has been given and received

despair

look at ones life and are dissatisfied with what they have done

9th stage

o   older adults revisit the previous stages and deal with the previous conflicts in new ways.

§  Less desirable outcome takes precedence again.

activity theory

supports being active and not sedentary

essential to health and happiness that the older person remains active physically and socially

-the more active they are, the more positive their self concept will be

disengagement theory

emphasizes that older adults should not be discouraged from following their inclination toward solitude and greater inactivity

-opposed to keeping older person so busy that they have no time to reflect

continuity theory

older adults continue to maintain their identity even as tehy give up previous roles

same person but in older bodies

if you viewed your life positively when you were young you will view life positively as you get older

productivity

some people may be forced into retirement if they have injuries

-will retire as full time but may stay part time

-women feel identity loss because much of thier identity may have come from family roles as well

volunteering

-about 60% engage in volunteerism

o   Help neighbors, friends, thing that are volunteer run

o   Some volunteer in classrooms with small kids

education

o   Some people who are alums from alma mater may have continued education courses

o   offering more educational experiences to a diverse group of older adults, including those who are institutionalized in nursing homes, can enhance the quality of life

religious activities

o   Tend to see more involvement in religious activities

o    provides a social network as well as a belief system which can combats the fear of death

political activism

o   Strong political activits

o   Make their voices heard

o   Some got to protest

o   High rates of voting

ageism

o   prejudice and discrimination that is directed at older people. 

o   Can lead to self fulfilling prophecies

gerontocracy

o   Power is held by the oldest members of society

o   A lot of it can be viewed as wisdom that they experienced

o   A positive, optimistic outlook about aging and the impact one can have on improving health is essential to health and longevity. 

racism

can happen in terms of giving preferences to someone

can lead to health disparities

elder abuse

o   More from family members

o   Neglect

o   Financial

o   Physical

o   Psychological

o   Victims are usually very frail---some people may feel power over older adults because they are frail

o   May not be comfortable speaking cause this is their only form of support

granny dumping

§  Abandon the family members with severe disabilities

§  Leave them in an emergency room

§  Burnout, not knowing what to do

§  It is a growing problem

remote grandchildren

§  Grandparent that rarely see their grandchildren

§  Distant relationship

companionate grandparents

do things with the grandchild but they don’t have a lot of authority

ultimate say goes to parnets

more like a friend role

involved grandparent

take active role in grandchild life

decision maker

frequent contact and authority

can be companionate initially but then become more involved

marriage

Many married couples feel their marriage has improved with time and the emotional intensity and level of conflict that might have been experienced earlier, has declined

divorce

not as common as in earlier marriages

typically tended to make whole situation better

may happen later on as we are living longer

widows

o   Women tend to be the ones that are widowed in terms of spouses dying

o   Women tend to live longer

o   One of the most disruptive experiences in their life

o   Widow may have less difficulty because they have social netwoek and can take care of their daily needs

loneliness

discrepancy between the social contact a person has and the contact a person WANTS

women tens to experience more loneliness as a result of social isolation

solitude

-taking care of yourself

-being comfortable with being alongf

freindships

help foster independence

wont have to rely on family members

socioemotional selectivity thoery

focus on things important to you

tend to be more selective in freindships than when they were younger

LGBTQ+

o   Retirement issues

o   Have strong support system that can help as people get older

o   Having sense of community is beneficial—they are twice as likely to enter old age living as a single person not as a couple and 2 and a half more likely to live alone

relocation

older adults tend to stay where they are at

may tend to be seasonal travelers

multigenrational homes

o   Over 60million live in multigenerational homes

o   Most older individuals who require care live with somebody at home

o   Most are cared for by spouses or daughters or daughter in law

o   Meeting those concerns are growing in terms of finding support for individuals

o   Quality of life is also important in terms of where they live