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The Importance Of Aging In The United States

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Long life has always been considered a blessing. Today, the people of the United States are enjoying the benefit of living much longer than ever before in history. However, there is a flipside to this coin of longevity. The population of the United States is aging at an unprecedented rate. “In 2010, 40 million people age 65 and over accounted for 13 percent of the total population in the United States.” (An Aging Nation) These numbers are expected to double by 2050, with one in every five Americans older than 65. Experts agree that this “Graying of America” will have enormous effects on society. Consequently, society must find ways to adapt to its changes and challenges. The United States experienced an "explosion" of births after World War II. Sociologists refer to this resulting group of people as baby boomers. The first of about 76 million baby boomers recently turned 65, and they are looking forward to a life expectancy that is higher than that of any previous generation. The average life …show more content…

A study by the Center for Disease Control shows that 50% of all disease is life-style related which means that the choices made early in life have a huge impact on how you will age. In fact, one-third of the deaths in the United States are preventable. The key to healthy aging is prevention and it starts now, no matter how old a person is. Simply eating a healthy diet, exercise, and not smoking prevents a surprising amount of physical and mental disabilities and diseases. “Social interaction helps ward off depression and stress, which can contribute to memory loss.” (Aging: What to Expect) Protecting the ears and eyes, and getting preventative screenings for cancer and heart problems are a great way to age well. For seniors who already have chronic age-related diseases, assistive devices can help people perform functions that might otherwise be difficult or impossible for them to

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When thinking about life expectancy many people including myself think about the commonly associated factors like exercising, being smoke-free and such. However, knowing some of the contributing factors of longevity and practicing them are two different things. While I may know what is beneficial for my well-being and how it may increase chances of longevity, it does not ensure that I will live my life accordingly. In fact whenever I do consciously think about living a better lifestyle most of the time I am thinking presently and never consider how beneficial it would be later in life. In the video Aging to 90+ Years they mention some of the lifestyle factors that are associated with either long or short life.

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The sixty-five and over population has grown to be the fastest growing group.   Because there will be advances in nutrition and medicine, centenarians will be at one million by the center of the twenty-first century.  Non-whites are to be expected to be one-third of the population by 2050. As of now, minorities are misrepresented because most of them do not have health insurance or care.

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Society needs to go back in history and make significant changes. Before the industrial revolution and development of printing press, older adults played an important role in communities. They were seen by society as teachers filled with wisdom. This continues to be true in many cultures were older adults are held in high regards. (Todd Nelson Pg 208).

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This article, “What is Successful Aging,” was an interesting read that focused mostly on what is viewed as successful aging, the variables that determine successful aging, and how we as a society are trying to enhance the process today. As the author points out, there are many features of life that people relate to successful aging, and the degree of satisfaction reached with each one is different with everyone. These features range from physical health to financial security, to simply staying active and social. I have two grandmothers who exhibit these features perfectly.

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When the human race doubles their lifespan, the effects on the family structure, educational accomplishments and ones financial struggles are magnified exponentially. Living to the ripe old age of 200 sounds pretty nice and could have some perks but also some pitfalls. Imagine knowing your great great grandparents! In the American society, generations have been told of their ancestors.

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It’s hard to pinpoint the highs, lows, rights, and wrongs of aging in America due to the negative and positive effects of stereotypes of ageism. There are multiple myths that can further be addressed to see

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How will an aging population influence health policy makers in the twenty first century? It is not certain how current and future policies will be designed to change the structure of the healthcare system among the aging population. With the cost of financing of health services affect access to care, and the quality of care for advancing aging. The percentage of the population over the age of 65 will rise to over 20 percent or 70 million, by the year of 2030.

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After taking the Vitality Compass Questionnaire, it came to my attention that I have some weak spots within my health regimen. My biological age turned out be 19 years, which I found out to be relieving as that is the age I am now. My healthy life expectancy resulted in 68.2 years along with a complete life expectancy measured at 80 years. This makes sense because I believe everyone’s potential is at 80 years but we are all not perfect human beings and we all don’t make the right health choices everyday of our lives. And so, these things that we are doing, or not doing, of which are affecting our health in a negative way, are actually shaving a few years off of our lives.

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As I emerged myself into this week’s material, my main takeaway is that I do not think about aging. I know most men in my family live to be in their 70s and women into the 70s to 90s, but I do not think about aging from a personal aspect. I am aware that death will eventually come but with my son about to turn two, it is not something I sit and ponder. Not to mention that I will be reaching the 25 year mark next April, which to me is still very young. This made me recall the comments that Dan Buettner made in his TED lecture and how he compared other cultures to the American culture in terms of aging.

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Biological theories of aging and its genetic control by Micro-arraying mortality Mottadi Shiva Abstract Aging is due to progressive physiological changes in an organism that lead to decline in biological functions. Several theories that fall into mainly two categories that is both programmed theories and damage or error theories. These theories have been proposed to explain the process of aging, but they don’t appeared to be fully satisfactory.

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In the next two decades the number of adults over 65 will increase by 45% and the number of people over 100 will be seven times higher (Centre for Diet and Activity Research, 2013). The impact of this phenomenon is felt throughout the medical field. Meanwhile the time spent in chronic illness for these individuals is also rising. Considering this, the time to examine healthy aging is now.

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Humans as well as other living things have life cycles. Many to which are born from mothers, grow up and then go off to live on their own. However, what happens to people when they grow old? Several of us seem to think it’s when a person’s hair turns gray and when he or she becomes wrinkly. The article When Does Old Age Begin?, asserts, “Beginning at the turn of the 20th century, life spans started steadily rising, from 45.7 years to 88 years, now,” (Fisher).

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Aging is commonly defined as a nonreversible, ongoing, and (almost) unstoppable functional decline that is thought to eventually result in the death of the organism (Tosato et al. 2007). It seems to be an inevitable process in almost all known living organisms and is regulated by many different cellular pathways, and several factors (Uno and Nishida 2016). Remarkably, this process seems to be going on slower in some individuals and faster in others. Over the last decades, the rate of deaths among the older population has decreased (Shadyab and LaCroix 2015). People live longer in general and more people reach the age of 100 or higher (1:6000).

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Aging well is very personalized depending on the person since everyone has their own health issues at different ages. To be an active elderly I think there are three components that help them thrive at an older age. The first thing is to stay active. Utilizing your muscles and keeping them active is crucial since if you do not use your muscles they start to weaken and stiffen up. How active one is depends on their health, if an elderly can only do range of motion exercises can-do wonders and keep their bodies functioning at high levels despite of the normal aging process.

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Disability is an umbrella term associated to a human condition that implies decrease or impairment in functional capacity that restricts the execution of tasks or actions in life situations (WHO, 2015). According to the World Population Ageing report (United Nations, 2013), the number of older people over 60 years old will continue growing; is expected to more than double, from 841 million people in 2013 to more than 2 billion in 2050, which represents 21.1% of global population. Older people experience disabilities due to aging such as decreasing of their physical, sensory and cognitive capabilities (WHO, National Institute of Aging, National Institute of Health, 2011). These impairments are (W3C, 2008): • Gradual hearing loss.

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