Transcript Older Adulthood Physical and Cognitive Development

16
Older Adulthood
Physical and Cognitive Development
Chapter 16
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Older Adulthood
Physical and Cognitive Development
• Aging Today
• Physical Aspects of Aging
• Causes of Aging
• Cognitive Changes in Advanced Age
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Aging Today
• Ageism and Stereotypes
– Cultural context influences how people
experience growing old
– In the United States, ageism—negative
stereotypes of older adults —is common
– In Asian nations, older people are honored—a
tradition referred to as filial piety
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Video Clip
A cartoon that jokes about ageist
stereotypes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF9ikOfNzxw
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Percentage of U.S. Population 65
Years of Age and Older
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Four Decades of Later Life
• Percentage of population over age 65 is
increasing
• By 2030, one out of every five persons in
the United States will be 65 or older
• Categories of older adulthood:
– Young old: 60 to 69
– Middle-age-old: 70 to 79 (septuagenarians)
– Old-old: 80 to 89 (octogenarians)
– Very old-old: 90 to 99
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U.S. Population Age 85 and
Over and Age 95 and Over
Source: From Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2009, by the U.S. Census Bureau, 2009b. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
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Preventing Strokes and Falls
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Major Issues Commonly Faced by
Older Adults
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Aging in Perspective
• There is wide diversity in the people
belonging to each age group of older
adults
• Most older adults adapt to age-related
difficulties
• Physical aspects of aging are challenges
to be met
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Physical Aspects of Aging
• Most physical changes are the result of pathological
aging—the cumulative effects of aging from earlier
events and lifestyle choice
• Changing Body
– Appearance: noticeable in skin (wrinkles, warts, broken blood
vessels, age spots)
– Muscle, Bones, and Mobility
• Muscles become weaker
• Bone mass declines – osteoporosis
• Vestibular system declines with age, often leading to falls
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Changing Body (continued)
• Internal organs
– Most organ systems decline in function
– immune system, heart, and respiratory system
– Bodily reserves decline with age
• Sleep Problems
– Half of those over 65 have sleep problems
• Older adults often sleep less, and have less time in
deep sleep
• Sleep disorders like sleep apnea and insomnia
may develop
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Sleep Patterns Typical of Older
Adults
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Changing Body: The Senses
• Become less sensitive
• Sense of taste may decline, leading to use of more salt
in food which, in turn, may lead to hypertension
• Hearing and visual impairments common
– cataract
– glaucoma
– visual acuity decreases
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Changing Body:
Brain and Nervous System
• Brain declines in weight
• Lateralization of functions decline
• Central nervous system slows
• Neurological deficiencies may develop
– Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease
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Changing Body: Brain
and Nervous System
• Dementia may develop and involves:
– Impaired learning and memory
– Deterioration of language and motor functions
– Inability to recognize familiar people and
objects
– Frequent confusion and personality changes
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Health, Disease, and Nutrition
• Chronic health problems, most common:
– Hypertension
– Arthritis
– Heart disease
– Sensory impairments
– Type 2 Diabetes
– Obesity
– Atherosclerosis (related to excess fats in diets)
– Misuse of medications leads to drug interactions or changes in
metabolism
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Video Clip
Registered nurse and patient describe the
experience of living with Type 2 Diabetes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ03eq3CHmM
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People 65 and Over Who Reported
Having Selected Chronic Conditions
SOURCE: From Older Americans: Key indicators of well-being, 2008, by the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics, 2008. Washington, DC: U.S.
Government Printing Office.
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People in United States Age 65 and
Over Who Are Obese
SOURCE: From Older Americans: Key indicators of well-being, 2008, by the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics, 2008.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office; and “Health risks indicator” Number 25 and Table 25. Retrieved October 31, 2005, from
http://www.agingstats.gov/chartbook2004/healthrisks.html
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U.S. Life Expectancies by Gender
and Ethnicity, 1900–2005
SOURCE: From Health, United States, 2007, with Chartbook, by the National Center for Health Statistics, 2007. Hyattsville, MD: Author.
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The Causes of Aging
• Theories of Aging
– Senescence: normal, biological processes associated with
aging, excluding disease
– Stochastic theories: aging is the result of wear and tear based on
assaults from internal and external environments
– Biological clock: the pace of aging is genetically programmed
– At present, aging theories are not well understood, though we
know more about age-related diseases like cancer, viruses, and
neurological degeneration
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Video Clip
60 Minutes news excerpts explains
research on how red wine can prevent
disease and slow the aging process:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3TGKOQeTrc
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Cognitive Changes
in Advanced Age
• Speed of cognition
– cognitive processing speed declines;
slower on memory tasks; problem
solving takes longer
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Cognitive Changes
in Advanced Age
• Memory affected by aging
– sensory memory declines
– speed of working memory decreases
– may take longer to organize, rehearse, and
encode information
– long-term memory may decline
– Overall, age-related declines in memory are
gradual and nonconsequential, unless disease
processes are involved
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Memory affected by Aging
(continued)
• Decline in memory likely associated with
slowing of nervous system and shrinkage of
frontal lobes of brain
• Brain seems to compensate for declining size
– Older individuals show increase neural activity
compared to younger adults
– Schaie’s Seattle Longitudinal Study has tracked
six cognitive factors across the lifespan
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Six Cognitive Abilities Included in the
Seattle Longitudinal Study
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Age-related changes in Six Cognitive
Abilities: Cross- Sectional Data
SOURCE: From “Developmental influences on adult cognitive development: The Seattle Longitudinal Study,” by K. W. Schaie, 2005 (Figure
3, p. 103). Copyright © 2005 by Oxford University Press, New York. Reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press, Inc.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Age-related changes in Six Cognitive
Abilities: Longitudinal Data
SOURCE: From “Developmental influences on adult cognitive development: The Seattle Longitudinal Study,” by K. W. Schaie, 2005 (Figure 4, p. 127).
Copyright © 2005 by Oxford University Press, New York. Reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press.
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Cognitive Changes
• Wisdom – expert knowledge system that
involves excellent judgment and advice on
critical and practical life issues
– Requires superior levels of knowledge, judgment, and
advice
– Based on depth and breadth of knowledge
– Combines mind and virtue
– Easily recognized by most people
– Not all older adults are wise, but fewer younger adults
are
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Cognitive Decline
• Dementia
– chronic confusion, forgetfulness, and accompanying
personality change
– serious and life-altering
• General causes of cognitive decline
– poor general health, nonstimulating environment,
taking many prescription drugs
• Specific causes of cognitive decline
– strokes
– atherosclerosis
– Alzheimer’s disease
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Video Clip
Boy describes book he wrote to help other
kids understand Alzheimer’s Disease by
describing his experiences with his
grandmother:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAyB-MdzXsg
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Video Clip
Artists depicts the experience of
Alzheimer’s Disease through self portraits:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1xPyrHDYbM
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Video Clip
Scenes from the film Grace showing the
progression of Alzheimer’s Disease as
Grace struggles to remember the words of
the song Jesus Loves Me.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wbYEK7O14E
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Video Clip
Accessible description of how Alzheimer’s
disease affects the brain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wv9jrk-gXc
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General Factors Linked to
Cognitive Decline in Older Adults
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CT Scan of Stroke Patient
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10 Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s
Disease
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10 Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s
Disease (continued)
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Neural Tangles and Plaques of
Alzheimer’s Disease
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Compensating for an Aging Mind
• Most adults effectively compensate for agerelated cognitive declines
• Higher education and overall activity level
are linked with less cognitive decline
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Summary
• Older adults experience a life much more full and rich
than younger people often imagine, in spite of
stereotypes about aging
• How people grow old is heavily dependent on their
culture
• The percentage of the population over age 65 is
increasing rapidly
• Old age can be divided into three periods: young-old,
middle-aged-old, and old-old
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Summary
• Physically, the cumulative effects of aging result
from earlier life events more than advancing age
• The body undergoes declines in most major
systems
• The senses become less sensitive, the brain
deteriorates in certain aspects, and chroniclong-term conditions become more apparent
• Older adults have slower metabolism and
obesity becomes common
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Summary
• The main theories of aging are senescence, the
stochastic theory, and the biological clock theory
• Mental skills remain intact as we age, but the speed of
cognition and reaction time slows
• Aging affects the memory processes, but dementia is not
a normal part of aging
• Dementia results from poor general health, side effects
of medication, strokes, and Alzheimer’s disease
• Most adults effectively compensate for age-related
cognitive decline
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.