Physical Changes Due to Aging

Question: Identify changes due to hormonal control such as menopauseIdentify physical changes which result from ageing of the body systems and Identify psychological changes both negative and positive of ageing. Answer: Introduction to Menopause: It is a natural phenomenon occurs in all women due to depleting the finite number of ovarian follicles. It is occurred as a result to hormonal level changes, the oestrogen and progesterone hormone levels fall rapidly and considering to this fall the other hormone level increases in response they are luteinsing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). It is observed in many cases where menstruation becomes erratic and stops later on and as a result number of secondary effects and changes are found and are describes below: Menstrual irregularity: Up to four years before the menopause majority of women notice the menstrual cycle irregularities. The irregularity results in lengthening the cycle up to many months or shortening to 2-3 weeks. It is common symptom where amount of menstrual blood loss increases slightly. Abrupt cessation of periods found in approximately 10% of women. Hot flushes and sweats: Neck, head, face and chest are the areas where host flushes affects normally and also last for few minutes and these symptoms are considered as hallmark. Around 80% of women during menopause affected through the vasomotor symptoms and are severe in about 20% of women (Fall Hazard Checklist, 1987). Sleep disturbances: Polysomnography cannot confirm this symptom but usually reported by women. This symptom may secondarily supplement the vasomotor symptoms which affected by psychological factors and may lead towards depression, irritating behaviour and poor concentration. Loss of libido: Due to the changes in oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone hormones this result is implicated. Other psychological aspects like loss of self-image, vaginal dryness also play a role. Other changes: It may contains brittle nails, skin thinning, hair loss, increased joint and waste pain and it occur due to falling level of oestrogen hormone. Physical changes which result from ageing of the body systems Loss of hearing: It will affect ability of older person to talk easily with others. They generally face trouble in hearing higher pitched tones and during the background noise they often unable to make out sound or words. They may face difficulty in hearing conversation, especially higher voice of speaker or during background interference. According to AARP, (1990), Frustration and embracement may result from older persons behavior due to not understanding what is being said. Bones and Muscles Changes: The symptoms gets vulnerable to broken bones, in addition to this stiffness of joints and bones connecting ligaments loses their elasticity as during increasing age. Aging people often found complaining about their hand and foot pain. Vision: Along with aging, one often experiences reduction in peripheral vision. It is observed in general where a person may need to turn his or her head to see to the sides. Flexibility of older person eyes changes and hence they require more time to accommodate in changing light (AARP, 1990). Older people faces trouble in identifying nearer objects but eyeglasses can correct this problem. Taste and Smell: During aging loss of taste sensitivity often found. Minority of people above 70 feels this loss and does not seen to occur below 70. Not experienced often but there is loss of smell as age increases. Moreover that older people found to complain about tasteless food or disliking their favorite food. Most experts feel that the complaining is caused due to the loneliness feeling at meal or inability to cook. Circulation: As compare to the younger heart, older heart shows down and is also not very much able to pump blood through the body and this is the reason of less stamina and energy of older people for physical work (Frazier, 1987). Circulation also contributes to cold sensitivity, particularly in hands and feet. In terms of proper physical as well as cognitive functioning which is carried through blood oxygen is necessary. Hence the elder people who have poor circulation generally experience forgetfulness and other results of poor cognition. Negative and positive psychological changes of ageing There are many changes which would result from the body system aging process, the changes may be result in loss of memory, intellectual functions deterioration, decreasing in mobility and increases the rate of disease. Key Points: It is found that many older adults faces changes in their bodies and minds and it is not only due to the reduction in brain size but also due to the loss of brain plasticity (National Institute on Aging). Another changes often occur in older adults is that, they found difficult to remember and attend the information and is result of memory degeneration in old age. Particularly it is stated that, due to aging of the body system procedural memory of person is tends to remain stable but at the same time working memory may declines (Frazier, 1987). Dryness of skin, wrinkling over skin, disturbance in sleeping or lack of sleeping, difficulty occur during balancing and often falls and most probably increases the order of disease and disorders, these are the physical changes occur during aging or late adulthood. Some psychological changes such as irritating behavior, depression, poor concentration, low eyesight are other changes of aging. There are large differences in individuals physical and cognitive functioning of older adults. Negative Stereotypes are more which describe the aging in negative point of view and it will interpret older adults very negatively, in fact these are the natural changes which would be taken positively to increase positive psychological effect. It is found that the people going from aging stage and who engaged in regular physical and mental activities and having positive attitude of living can set example of successful aging. Such adults also live longer and have healthier other than the individual stimulate themselves intellectually. Reference List AARP. (1990). Hearing impairment: The invisible loss. Perspectives in Health Promotion and Aging, 5 (3), 1-6. AARP. (1990). Looking out for older eyes. Perspectives in Health Promotion and Aging, 5 (3), 1-6. Frazier, B. H. (1986-1987). Your Aging Parents: Understanding Physical Changes. College Park, MD: The University of Maryland Cooperative Extension Service. Fall Hazard Checklist (1987). Clinical Report on Aging, 1, 5. National Institute on Aging (n.d.). Aging and Your Eyes.