Written by: Yasser Samad
Edited by: Vaidehi Jha
As people get older, their physical and mental health begins to alter. We usually tend to think that most older adults are the same; however, this is false. The vast differences we see in older adults are greater than the differences in other age groups.
For the majority of older adults, changes in thinking (cognition) due to associations with age tend to be mild. These mild changes in most circumstances do not contribute to interfering with day-to-day activities. In older adults, there is a large number of people who show good mental health and report fewer mental health problems compared to other age groups. However, 1 in every 4 older adults experience mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, dementia, or schizophrenia. We usually think and refer to the older age groups as always wanting to be alone. However, as people get older, their personality traits often stay the same. For instance, if an older adult was very kind, loving, and outgoing, they will continue to be kind, loving, and outgoing even after they become of the older adult age group. Some changes in thinking are standard and occur as old age begins to take place. Slower reaction times, reduced abilities of problem-solving, quickness of how information is retrieved and taken, are all examples of cognitive changes that take place as people age. The creativity of the mind, imagination, wisdom gravitate to still be in occurrence to the very end of life. When people begin to age, they are often more content with their lives and growing older. Aging is a part of human nature and is something every human-being will experience. Growing older doesn’t decrease intelligence or wisdom, personality traits often aren’t altered, and elders, in most circumstances, are happy with the lives they have lived and the aspect of growing older. Some things, as mentioned above, such as slower reaction times and other changes in thinking, are conventional due to aging. Thus, some changes in an elderly person are common and typical, while other things don’t change as people experience the elderly life.
Physical changes and health issues are habitual as we grow older. However, the physical state and health conditions of older people vary as some are active and healthy, while others have underlying health conditions. Visual alteration in aging people issues problems such as slower reading speed, a hard time reading small print and in dim light, along with a hassle driving at night. Additionally, the assistance aging people need with day-to-day activities increases as they grow older. According to American Psychological Association, less than ⅕ of adults ranging from the ages of 65 and 74 need support when completing day-to-day activities or tasks. This number escalates to 40% of men and 53% of women, who are above the age of 85 and tend to require assistance for everyday tasks. Furthermore, aging ethnic and racial minorities tend to have a soaring generality of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, as well as preliminary inception of chronic illnesses, than older White adults. This can be due to tendering differences such as segregated communities with less medical health-related assets, poverty, unemployment, less education, discrimination, and less ingress to qualitative health care.
In all, as people age, their mental and physical health modifies. People grow older, and that is human nature. We begin to accept that as we age, we won’t be as young mentally and physically, and we become more grateful for the life we’ve been granted. Both the mental health and physical health of older people, although they may not be vastly different from when they were young, are dissimilar one way or another.
Opmerkingen