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Myths and Facts About Aging
Myths and Facts About Aging
Aging is a constant, universal and predictable process that involves growth and development of living organisms. Aging can't be avoided, but we have to take into account that how fast we age varies from one person to another. How we age depends on three factors our genes, environmental influences and life style. Aging can also be defined as a state of mind, which does not always keep the same step with our chronological age. The most important element is the Attitude and how well we face the normal changes, challenges and opportunities of later life may best define our age.
Myths and Facts about Aging Illness Old age means poor health and disability. Perhaps the most common myth about old people is that they are sick or disabled. Many people think that poor health is a very serious problem for most people over 65. They think old people spend the majority of the time on bed because they have poor coordination and feel tired. It forms part of reality that there are some common diseases among older people. However, getting old does not automatically means poor health or that you will be confined to a walker or wheelchair by the rest of your life. There are lots of seniors who enjoy a vigorous health. If we want to have the benefit of a good health there are some good habits to follow such as; healthy eating, exercising and managing stress because they can help to reduce the risk of a chronic disease.
It is a fact that all senses are affected when you get old but the level each of them declines is different. First of all it is important to mention that the vision and hearing are the most affected senses.
A. Hearing Youll need a hearing aid. The hearing loss is common with age; as part of the normal aging process, this happens because sensory cells within the ear begin to die off. However, only 35 percent of 80 year olds need a hearing aid on the other hand there are people that in their 90s still have perfect hearing. In this case it is important to remember the element about the environment because if you were exposed to long term noise such as loud industrial machines you would be part of people you will need a hearing aid. But you dont have to be worry because serious hearing handicaps are the exception rather than the rule that you have to do is to obtain regular hearing checkups after middle age. B. Sight The effects of aging are much the same for all visual tasks.
Not all the visual tasks are affected in the same level. For people after middle age it is difficult to differentiate objects that are moving or masked by other stimuli and to locate a target object in a field of distracting stimuli it is hard too.
In general that we need to keep in mind is that the effects of aging are more pronounced on visual tasks that are more complicated.
There are some useful tips for elderly to compensate the reduction of the smell and taste of food for example: Replacing salt and sugar with herbs, spices, and lemon juice. Eating the food when it is warm because it is easier to perceive the smell.
Ugliness
Find support groups in times of change. It is better for seniors to find a help group in order to obtain the necessary support in the moments they could need it for example, in a loss of a friend, but also it can function for sharing anecdotes or simply for having someone to talk and being listened.
Useless Most elder workers cannot work as effectively or efficiently as younger workers People think that elderly are unable to continue working as a result of those myths that say that most of old people are disabled by physical or mental illnesses and few who continuing working are not productive. This miss conception has contributed to discrimination in hiring, retraining and promotion at work. It is a fact that the majority of older workers can work as effectively as young people do. Despite declinations in perception and reaction speed studies of employed old people have shown that they under optimal conditions work as well as, if not better than younger workers do. Some positive points of having old people as part of the workforce are that there are less jobs turnover, few accidents and less absenteeism. .
Bibliography
Joyner Elizabeth( 2001, May last updated).Senior Health Retrieved September 25th 2011 Available on line: http://www.netwellness.org/healthtopics/aging/introduction.cfm Ithaca College Gerontology Institute. Myths and facts about aging Retrieved September 25th 2011 Available on line: http://www.netwellness.org/healthtopics/aging/introduction.cfm The College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR). Myths and facts about aging. Retrieved September 25th 2011 Available on line: http://www.netwellness.org/healthtopics/aging/introduction.cfm kotz, Devora .5 Common Myths About Aging Retrieved September 26th 2011. Available on line: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/articles/2009/02/20/5common-myths-about-aging Ray, Sahelian. Sexual Disire, Retrieved September 26th 2011 Available on line: http://www.raysahelian.com/sexualdesire.html David C[et al] Aging changes in the senses Retrieved September 27th 2011 Available on line: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/004013.htm Saisan, Johanna [et al] (2010, September last updated) Healthy Aging Tips Retrieved September 27th 2011 Available on line: http://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_aging_seniors_aging_well.htm