Aging in a Changing Society

James Thorson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781135057770
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

The field of gerontology, the study of aging, has emerged as an area of increasing importance. This book is an introduction to the multidisciplinary field of gerontology. The text, with its friendly narrative style, assumes no prior knowledge of gerontology, sociology, or psychology.

PART Physical and Psychological Aspects of Gerontology

II

Why do we get old? What happens to our bodies and minds over the passage of many years? As we age, we go through several decades of development and then enter a period of decline. Hearing is most acute at around age ten; we never hear better after that. Perhaps this is the first system to begin to decline. Maximum running speed peaks several years after that, and overall physical strength a few years later. Some time around age 40 the eyes begin to change their shape, and many people need glasses–or bifocals–at that age. During the decade of the 40s, the hair begins to turn gray, and many men lose significant amounts of it. Almost all women have completed menopause by age 55. Later, the spinal column begins to become compacted and we actually get shorter. By the 60s or 70s, there is a general physical slowing down that is associated with the aging process. People may complain that they're getting forgetful. By the 80s, genuine frailty sets in for almost everyone who is still living. Hair that appeared in the armpits and groin in early teens now begins to disappear. The immune system begins to fail for the majority of the population. Only 22 in 1,000 women–and 7 in 1,000 men–are still living by age 100.

Why does this happen? Are we programmed to become old? Do we wear out like an old pair of jeans? Is there anything we can do about it?

We'll seek the answers to these questions in this second section of the book, looking at the processes of physical and psychological aging as well as older people and the health care system. First, in Chapter 5, we'll examine several theories dealing with the basics of physical aging; the chapter will conclude with some practical advice on personal aging.

The Aging Body

5

Chapter Outline

Introduction Different Abilities at Different Ages Physical Theories of Aging Coordination of Physical Functions Healthier Generations of Older People Biological Theories of Aging

Skin Conditions Change with Aging The Key to Longer Life? Would You Like to Live to Be 100? Can Aging Be Delayed? Conclusion Questions for Discussion Sources of Further Information

“But death eventually comes to all things that live, whether they ‘stop’ or not. First life, then death. As a physicist, I believe that life is a mechanism that defies the second law of thermodynamics, while death is the ultimate triumph of this law. What is this second law? It states, in effect, that all natural processes tend to degrade, to lower the levels of energy in a very potent system, in an irreversible manner, unless the system is refurbished.”

—Dan Q. Posin, born 1909

Introduction

Tennis players and swimmers often seem to peak out while still in their teens. Track and field athletes for the most part are past their prime while still in their 20s. A Nolan Ryan only comes along once in a blue moon; baseball pitchers hardly ever make it past 40. Sandy Koufax hung it up when he was 29. The football career of Gayle Sayers was about typical for an NFL player: around five years. Yet, orchestra conductors, poets, and golfers seem to go on almost forever. Why?

Each of these activities uses different abilities or combinations of abilities, and it is clear that our capacities in different areas develop and decline at different rates. Most of us can hear about as well as we'll ever be able to by around the age of ten; after than, there are subtle declines in hearing ability that continue throughout the rest of life. One can't exercise or build up the ability to hear; about the best we can do is try to preserve as much of it as we can (avoiding jet runways, artillery ranges, and rock concerts all seem to help). By the same token, there's nothing we can do to build up our capacity to fight off skin cancer; the only thing we can do is try to prevent it by using a sun screen and avoiding bright sunlight.

Of course, many physical abilities do respond to practice and repetition. Power lifters don't peak in their teens; they’ve not had time enough to build up the bulk of muscle that weightlifting requires. In the same way, the physical skill of musicians seems to develop over time; piano players who are good in their 20s can expect to be better in their 30s, if they keep practicing.

So it's apparent that certain physical abilities, combined with practice and experience, can improve over time. This can be true even in the face of simultaneous declines in other abilities. Experience and judgment can, in fact, overcome some decrements in physical ability. Baseball pitchers who last a long time don't continue to rely on their blazing fast ball as much as they did in their younger days. They don't pitch “fast” so much as they pitch “smart.” Golf is a game of fine motor control and judgment more than strength or endurance, and golfers whose game is in fine tune seem to play at near their peak ability for many years.

What's involved here is the complex aging of the body and brain. We usually think of physical aging as a downward spiral, an inevitable decline

Illustration 5.1. Different Abilities at Different Ages

Don't expect to be a virtuoso violinist if you don't take up playing the instrument until You're 20. Most of the really great violin players started in early childhood. This doesn't mean that you'll not be able to learn to play the violin as an adult; but, you will probably not reach the peak of skill you might have achieved if you’d started earlier.

We've never heard of a painter, though, who was a child prodigy. Most great artists apply their craft for many years before they reach their peak. There are examples of artists like Grandma Moses and Elizabeth Layton who didn't take up painting until later life. Painting isn't so much a test of reproducing visual accuracy (photography can do that),, so much as it is communicating a way of viewing the world. Would Elizabeth Layton or Grandma Moses have been better painters if they’d begun as little girls? This is something we can't know; they might have been different painters, but who can say that they’d have been better?

The development of different skills seems to be a combination of when they were begun, the coordination of different abilities that go into their development, and the level of motivation necessary to achieve satisfaction. This kind of development can happen in spite of physical declines associated with aging.

in speed, strength, accuracy, and control. We know that with training some abilities can be maintained or even improved over time. But while practice and exercise can improve particular skills or even one's vital capacity, other systems in the body inevitably decline. No amount of exercise will improve one's vision, hearing, or taste, for example, or make the kidneys or liver work better. About the best we can hope in some areas is to not hasten inevitable losses.

Physical aging, however, does not always mean disability. Different systems of the body change with aging at different rates. Although it is true that the coordination of physical and mental functions declines faster than single systems decline, it is also true that some abilities develop over time or decline much later in life, if at all.

Physical Theories of Aging

As we develop over time, changes take place in our bodies. Generally, we think of those changes as development in our younger years and as decline in our later years. This is not always the case: Isaac Stern is probably a better violinist now in his 80s than he was in his 20s–he certainly makes a better living at it now. But, few of us have the abilities of an Isaac Stern, and few of us are willing or able to devote long hours every day to keep our abilities at their peak.

We could practice and exercise our physical abilities constantly, but we would still experience their inevitable decline. Practice and exercise might slow down the rate of decline or even delay its onset, but we know that eventually we slow down in many ways if we live long enough.

Illustration 5.2. Coordination of Physical Functions

”By the year 2002, the number of licensed drivers over age 75 will be 17.5 million. Of these, well over half will suffer from cataracts, dementia, or nervous disorders that can make their hands tremble on steering wheels. Eighty percent will take one or more prescription medicine, including some that make them dizzy or drowsy.

“As a group, they will drive an estimated 84 billion miles a year.

“The potential for disaster is already evident. While older drivers as a group aren't nearly as dangerous as teenagers, their accident rates slowly begin rising at age 60, and start rocketing after age 75. After age 85, they are involved in accidents more than four times as often as the safest drivers, those age 50 to 59, on a mile-for-mile basis. And when they are in accidents, drivers over age 85 are 15 times as likely to die as drivers in their 40s.”

From Rigdon (1995, p. 1).

With aging we have less reserve capacity, we become more prone to certain illnesses, and our physical appearance changes. There are several specific theories of physical aging that seek to explain why these changes take place, and we'll discuss them briefly. Overall, however, the entire aging process seems to fit well within a theory of margin. This explains aging as a process whereby we use more and more of our marginal capacity as we age; we don't have as much “left over” ability when we are old.

This theory of margin could have many applications. For example, let's suppose that walking ten miles when you are 20 takes up, say, half of your marginal capacity to walk long distances without collapsing. You're tired after walking ten miles, but you’ve not reached the absolute limit of your capacity. But, unless You're an accomplished walker, going even a few miles when You're aged 70 might take up more like 80 or 90 percent of your marginal capacity. Or, walking even a block might take up 95 percent. The idea is that older bodies are forced to go nearer to the limit of their marginal capacity to perform life's tasks.

Another example might be in some realm other than physical endurance. Let's say that you have a young, healthy body and that you have high resistance to infection. Your ability to fight off disease is not really being stretched, and you bounce back quickly when you have a cold or the flu. Later in life, you may find that your immune system is less efficient and that You're more prone to chronic as well as acute illnesses. We might say that your body's ability to fight off disease is pretty close to the margin of its capacity. That's why a bad influenza season generally is responsible for about 20,000 deaths and most of these people are elderly. They were frail to begin with, they were already close to the edge, and the additional infection tipped the balance for them. Sooner or later, one more straw will break the camel's back. An interesting thing that has happened over the past few

Illustration 5.3. Healthier Generations of Older People

“They called it the failure of success. As medical scientists got better and better at treating people with fatal diseases–hat not curing them–the nation would be burdened with an accumulation of elderly people who were living longer and longer but were crippled with pain and riddled with disabilities.

“It was a notion that called into question what medicine had wrought. But to nearly everyone's surprise, the predicted pandemic of pain and disability has not materialized. Instead, new information, some not yet published, on studies involving people at all socioeconomic levels show that not only are Americans living longer, but they are developing less chronic disease and disability, and the reasons may have as much to do with changing social circumstances, including events that occur in the first few decades of life, as they have to do with medical advances in treating diseases.”

From Kilata (1996, p. B1).

decades is the emergence of a healthier, heartier cohort of older people. One might say that they have more marginal capacity than their parents did at the same age.

Another way of looking at the concept of marginal capacity is to measure the average decline among large groups of people and compare their results with their own records of performance at an earlier age. That's what scientis...