Chapter 4 Personal Health and Well-Being. Biological Aging: Intrinsic Senescence –Normal functional decline over time –Effects differ from person to person

Chapter 4

Personal Health and Well-Being

Biological Aging: Intrinsic

• Senescence– Normal functional decline over time– Effects differ from person to person

• What causes intrinsic aging?– Why does skin become less elastic?– Why don’t cells live forever?

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Programmed Theories of Biological Aging

• Programmed Senescence– Cell division has a limit

• “Hayflick Limit”

– Why do cells stop dividing?• Structure and function changes

– Produce less energy, make enzymes slowly, allow waste buildup

– The Phase II Phenomenon


Programmed Theories of Biological Aging

• Endocrine and Immunological Theory– Endocrine system responds to internal and

external body changes– Changes in levels of estrogen and

testosterone– Immune system


Error Theories of Biological Aging

• Somatic Mutation Theory

• Cross-linking Theory

• Free Radicals Theory

• Population dynamics

• Life history of the organism

• Theory of natural selection


Effects of Aging: Musculoskeletal System

• Muscle and bone content decrease– Can decrease 50% by age 80

• Age 20 +

• Loss of bone mass in older men & women

• Exercise improves bone strength, health, balance and prevents fractures, falls


Effects of Aging: Sensory Changes

• Taste– Buds decline in number and decrease in size

• Smell– Some loss with age

• Touch– Decreased sensitivity to touch, temperature,

vibration


Effects of Aging: Sensory Changes

• Sight– Changes begin as early as age 30– By 55, most need glasses for reading– Functional effects of physical change

• Hearing– Some loss each year after age 50– Forms of hearing loss and causes


Changes in Health Status: Chronic Disease

• The epidemiological transition– Lower rates of acute illness– Increased rate of chronic illness

• Why?– People are living longer– More chronic disease– Shift from younger to older population


Figure 4.1 The Four Leading Causes of Death by Age Among People 65+


Figure 4.2 Chronic Health Conditions Among People Age 65+


Figure 4.3 Limitation on Usual Activities Due to Chronic Conditions


Changes in Health Status: Chronic Disease

• Examples of Non-lethal Chronic Diseases– Arthritis; Hearing impairment; Cataracts

• Race and Gender– African American compared with White

American– Older women compared with older men


Figure 4.4 Activity of Daily Living Limitations


Figure 4.5 Instrumental Activity of Daily Living Limitations


ADL and IADL Limitations

• Functional losses Increase with age– 2005 NCHS study

• Medicare beneficiaries aged 65-74

– Racial and ethnic differences in disability from limitations

• Will increase in older population lead to more people with disability in later life?


Disability and the Future

• Some evidence now that some older people overcome limitations

• Regain functional ability through– Health promotion– Disease prevention– Effective management of disability


Improvements in Technology

• New medical technologies will keep older people healthy and active longer

• Many technologies today– Drugs– Mobile phones– Adaptive devices and assistive technology– Computers


Improvements in Technology

• Two groups of older people today– Comfortable using new tech– Uncomfortable using new tech

• Could lead to a “digital divide”

• Suggestions – Web designers should design sites to

accommodate older users


Table 4.1 Persons Using the Internet in and Outside the Home, by Age


Improvements in the Environment

• Changes in the environment can also improve the quality of life for older people

• Technology can allow families to monitor older relatives at risk of falling– Can also detect wandering, a problem faced

by Alzheimer’s patients.


Improvements in Self Care

• Information can enhance self-care– Older people will use it, if on hand

• Self-care lowers health care costs

• Older people in programs benefit from– Encouragement– Contact with good role models– Supportive environment; Social support


Changes in Life-Style: Smoking and Nutrition

• Life experiences influence later health– Abuse; Poverty; Broken home– Low SES and relationship to self-destructive

behavior

• Lifestyle changes for improving health– Decreased smoking among adult population– Better nutrition


Figure 4.6 Overweight, Obesity, and Healthy Weight


Changes in Life-Style: Exercise

• Aerobic exercise improves a whole range of physical conditions

• Overweight body doesn’t work as well

• American focus on weight loss and diet misses the point of successful aging

• Healthy weight must be coupled with exercise and activity


Changes in Life-Style: Stress Reduction

• Regular practice of tension reduction improves health and well-being in later life– Relaxation techniques– Meditation– Religious retreats


Compression of Morbidity Hypothesis

• Will longer life expectancy be good?

• Fries (1980, 1987) predicted – Life expectancy increase accompanied by

fewer years of disability– Less suffering from chronic disease– Less need for medical care

• “Rectangularization of the life curve”


Figure 4.7 Compression of Morbidity

• Compression of Morbidity


Successful Aging: Rowe & Kahn

• Gerontologists should spend time studying people who age well

• Should include focus on lifestyle choices, psychological, and social conditions

• Should recognize that people differ in rates of aging

• Suggest a “New Gerontology”


Successful Aging: The SOC Model

• Baltes & Baltes & others

• SOC– Selective Optimization with Compensation

• Anyone can make the most of their abilities– Can live a full and engaged life


Successful Aging: A Life Course Model

• Successful aging is largely within a person’s power

• One needs to– Preserve the health they’ve got– Do as little damage as possible to their body– Strengthen what they can


Anti-Aging Medicine and Science

• The anti-aging movement has some beneficial options

• But movement poses some dangers– Wasting money on unproven supplements– Substituting for medical treatment of serious

problems


Social Inequality and Personal Health

• Later life with different health resources– Socioeconomic differences

• Recommendations– Public policies to improve health in childhood

and middle age– Health promotion programs for poorer older

people


Documents

Chapter 4 Personal Health and Well-Being. Biological Aging: Intrinsic Senescence –Normal functional decline over time –Effects differ from person to person