1. The Challenge of Aging
Chapters 22 and 23

2. The Challenge of Aging
Biological aging: Normal process of development characterized by a decline in body processes from sexual maturity until death.
What happens as you age?
Some characteristics associated with aging are not due to aging at all
Result of neglect and abuse of our bodies and minds
Inactivity vs. Aging

3. THEORIES OF AGING Genes and aging – Genes account for about 35% of the
differences in Lifespan
Studies of identical and fraternal twins supports this theory
Environmental Factors – pollution, free radical damage increase
rate of aging.
Death is Programmed into our genes – (Perhaps through gene
manipulation we can extend life?)
Calorie Restriction – some proof for this in mice and now
primates

4. Key factors in successful aging
Low blood pressure
Low serum glucose levels
Health body weight/not being obese
Not smoking while young
If all of the above are true in middle age you are likely to have
a healthy old age.

5. Life-Enhancing Measures: Delaying the Aging Process and maintaining independence
Challenge your mind
Older adults who stay mentally active have a lower risk of developing dementia
Develop physical fitness
Enhances both psychological and physical health
Eat wisely
Eat a varied diet full of nutrient-rich foods
Guidelines for older adults
Get enough vitamin B-12 and vitamin D
Limit sodium intake and get enough potassium
Consume foods rich in dietary fiber and drink plenty of water
Pay special attention to food safety

6. Delaying the Aging Process and maintaining independence
Maintain a healthy weight
Control drinking and overdependence on medications
Don’t smoke
Schedule screenings and physical examinations to detect treatable diseases
Recognize and reduce stress
Use it or lose it!

7. Dealing With the Changes of Aging
Planning for social changes
Changing roles and relationships
Major feature of life
Increased leisure time
Many people do not know how to enjoy their free time
The economics of retirement
Financial planning should begin early in life

8. Adapting to Physical Changes
Hearing loss
Vision changes
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD)
Presbyopia
Cataracts
Arthritis
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common type of
arthritis
Menopause
Usually occurs during a woman’s 40s or 50s
Perimenopause
Sexual functioning
Osteoporosis

9. Handling Psychological and Mental Changes
Dementia
Severe and significant brain deterioration in elderly individuals
Affects 7 percent of people under 80
Two most common types of dementia
Alzheimer’s disease
Changes in brain nerve cells
Multi-infarct dementia
Series of small strokes or changes in the brain’s
blood supply that destroy brain tissue

10. Handling Psychological and Mental Changes
Grief
Dealing with grief and mourning
Aging is associated with loss
Depression
Unresolved grief can lead to depression, a common problem in older adults

11. Aging and Life Expectancy
Average length of time we can expect to live
In 2009, life expectancy for the total population was 78.5 years
Those who reach age 65 can expect to live even longer, 18.5 years or more longer
Women have longer life expectancy than men

12. Aging and Life Expectancy
America’s aging minority
People 65 and over are a large minority of American population
Over 40.1 million people
About 13 percent of the total population in 2010
Expected to double by 2030
Social Security benefits
Meant to be a supplement, not sole source of income

13. Family and Community Resources for Older Adults
Over half of noninstitutionalized older Americans live with a spouse or family member
30 percent live alone
Only 4 percent live in institutional settings
Of those over the age of 85, about 15 percent live in a nursing home

14. Family and Community Resources for Older Adults
Governmental aid and policies
Social security
Medicare
Pays about 30 percent of the medical costs of older Americans
Medicaid
Health care for older adults
Gerontologists
Geriatricians

15. Brain death Cellular death
What Is Death? Clinical Death= --Cessation of the flow of vital bodily fluids --Heart stops beating and breathing ceases
Brain death
Harvard Medical School committee defined brain death:
Lack of receptivity and response to external stimuli
Absence of spontaneous muscular movement spontaneous and breathing
Absence of observable reflexes
Absence of brain activity on EEG
Check again after 24 hours
Excludes cases of hypothermia
Cellular death
The gradual breakdown of metabolic
processes at the cellular level due to
the cessation of heart, lung and
brain activity.

16. Mature understanding of death
Learning about Death: “To fear death, gentlemen is nothing other than to think oneself wise when one is not; for it is to think one knows what one does not know. No man knows whether death may not even turn out to be the greatest blessings for a human being; and yet people fear it as if they knew for certain that it is the greatest of evils.” -Spoken by Socrates in Plato’s Apology
A child’s understanding of death evolves greatly from about age 6 to age 9
Most children come to understand that death is final, universal, and inevitable
Mature understanding of death
Impact on relationships
Religious or philosophical answers
Do we have proof of life after dead
NDEs
DiCiccohealth.weebly.com

17. Denying Versus Welcoming Death
Individuals often maintain conflicting or ambivalent attitudes toward death
Few people wholly avoid or wholly welcome death

18. Planning for Death Making a will
A legal instrument expressing a person’s intentions and wishes for the disposition of his or her property after death
Estate-money, property, etc
Testator-person who makes a will
Intestate-Die w/o making a will (state gets it!)

19. Considering Options for End-of-Life Care
Home care
Majority of people would like home care
Family members may or may not be capable of providing care
Hospice programs
Palliative care- make comfortable, no longer trying to cure the disease
Patients who are likely to die within six months

20. Deciding to Prolong Life or Hasten Death
Persistent vegetative state- profound unconsciousness, lacking normal reflexes, unresponsive to stimuli, lack of awareness, for an extended period of time (?)
Assisted suicide and active euthanasia
Physician-assisted suicide (PAS)
Physician provides lethal drugs or other interventions at the patient’s request; patient administers fatal dose
Active euthanasia
Intentional act of killing someone who would otherwise suffer from an incurable and painful disease

21. Completing an Advance Directive
Any statement made by a competent person about choices for medical treatment should he or she become unable to make such decisions or communicate them later
Two forms:
Living will
Health care proxy
Surrogate (decision maker)

22. Becoming an Organ Donor
Each day about 77 people receive an organ transplant while another 18 people on the waiting list die because not enough organs are available
More than 113,000 Americans were waiting for organ transplants as of February 2012
Uniform Donor Card
Driver’s license designation

23. Planning a Funeral or Memorial Service
Disposition of the body
Burial
Cremation
Embalming
Arranging a service

24. Coping with Dying The tasks of coping Supporting a dying person
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and the five stages of dying
Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance (diciccohealth.weebly)
Charles Corr and the four primary dimensions in coping with dying
Physical
Psychological
Social
Spiritual
Supporting a dying person

25. Coping with Loss Experiencing grief Tasks of mourning
Bereavement
Mourning
Tasks of mourning
Accepting reality
Working through the pain
Adjusting to a changed environment
Emotionally relocating the deceased and moving on with life
The course of grief
Complicated grief
Supporting a grieving person
Coming to terms with death