My Running Head: FUTURE OF AGING 1

Future of Aging

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Future of Aging

Aging is the most defining aspect in everyone’s life. Extended longevity can be

viewed in two perspectives, optimist perspective is that the longer the life the more

opportunities to explore various opportunities and give them a trial (McDonald, 2014). This

be impossible without the guarantee of a longer life, because they would be need to prioritize

and focus their effort on specific goals or achievements in life. On the other hand, longer life

to a pessimist would mean that there is too much time therefore younger people will be

disoriented and not committed because they have a longer life. The value of life aspiration

and ambitions will be missed leading to society that is not progressing.

Extended youth life would be an enabling factor towards exploring a lot of ideas,

pursuing different disciplines of various courses and new careers. The biggest threat to trying

all that is age and a guaranteed extended healthy youthful life which would be key to

exploring all these options. This would mean even if I fail in a given venture or project, I will

still have ample time to start all over aging from scratch. New ventures mean they is a

likelihood of some risks which on a limited life one will choose the venture with minimal

risks without considering possible benefits that are likely to be acquired. Many ventures,

ideas and projects remain untouched and untapped due to the underlying risks and time

constraints.

A longer life can at times make an individual to make unrealistic goals and redefine

their perspective about personal commitments. Therefore, as much as longer life is an

advantage, they is need to look at it critically to avoid committing to too many commitments

that will not materialize at the end of the day. Extended long life means proper planning to rip

maximum benefit from it. A progressive society will be exhibited when they is a longer life

span. Many individuals die before they can finish up some major milestones in various fields.

It becomes difficult for any other individual to pick up from where a given person left it at,
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with extended life span some of these projects, ideas and ventures would be completed

leading to a better progressive society.

A sense of purpose and control over one’s life is closely tied to the age and health of

that individual. The elderly especially those who are working and managing institutions and

organizations might feel they have lost control over their lives and environments. They are

likely to ask for assistance for tasks they would have managed in earlier days independently.

Their personal achievements become tied to a third party increasing the degree of

dependency. Loss of independence and control over their own lives can lead to loneliness and

lack of stimulation which in turn affect their performance. Extended healthy life span takes

care of this phycological implication by making the elderly to be still independent and have

control over their lives which increases their moral and performance. This improves their

interpersonal relationship, memory and satisfaction because they have control over their

lives.

Aging brings problems at familial, community and national levels because of

increased personal needs that needs a lot of attention. Special attention is need when deciding

public policies concerning health, housing and social services and pension systems. Extended

longevity therefore will lead to increased investment in social amenities and policies to

ensure that the elderly don’t feel discriminated. Many companies and organizations will tend

to lay off its elderly workforce which will directly affect the younger generation because they

will have to take care of the older generation. The government then should come up with a

pension scheme to relieve the younger generation from this burden. The challenge posed by

older generation is that they tend to retire before their official retirement age to start enjoying

incentives and some of the benefits that comes with being elderly. This burdens the

government and a lot of resources that would have been invested elsewhere to improve the

economy are invested in incentives and pension schemes for elder people.
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Increased longevity and improved health at older ages affects economic growth, the

way that families functions and the ability of the communities and government to provide

older adults with adequate resources. Maintaining economic productivity is a primary

concern of a country with an aging population, because a countries productivity is a single

determinant of its standards of living (Healthier Lives, 2018). With an aging population it

means their productivity will be significantly low because of illness and lack of stimulation.

Extended longevity with improved health seeks to solve this puzzle because it ensures that

the older people are in good health and their productivity is maintained. This increases the

growth of the economy and surplus funds are invested in health care to ensure the elderly are

taken care of effectively. The elderly are able to fully unlock their potential contributing to

the growth of the nation because of the extended longevity with improved health care.

Biogerontology seeks to slow down the aging rate and extending the life span through

medical interventions which will be possible in the near future. This a good gesture and gives

room for the desires and needs that were beyond certain limits. It will improve various

aspects of life from culture, science, technology, politics, health and well being of older

population. It will be reduced mortality rate and a lot of unfulfilled dreams will be fulfilled.

However proper planning and sensitization on utilization of this time will be key to ensuring

people live a satisfied life with minimal regrets. Secondly, researcher should carefully look

into the risks involved to a longer life span because longer life with ill health will have

created more problems than solutions. Lastly the bioethicists should start a conversation on

how to maintain the productivity of the older generation because a healthy longer life without

productivity will increase the burden to the community and the government.
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References

Healthier Lives, 2018 Aging Society – The Global Trend, its Consequences, and

the Role of Technology

McDonald, R. B. (2014). Biology of aging. Garland science.