Lifestyle Evaluation of the Elderly

Lifestyle Evaluation of the Elderly

Introduction

Young people have plenty of time in their hands but as time passes, they begin to realize that the remaining number of years that they have is limited. This realization that they are getting old can be disturbing and distressing. Therefore, a person's attitude towards old age is extremely important in how well he will cope with his old age. Because with old age, comes a number of problems that maybe biological, physiological, functional or psychological.

By biological we mean the changes that take place in the structure and functions of the body of the person who is growing old. Physiological aging means the individual and behavioral changes that take place in the person getting old. Functional aging is concerned with the comparison of individuals in the same age group in terms of those within that group who are not able to maintain their functions in the society. Psychological changes can be described as the changes in a person's attitude and lifestyle dependant on his self perception of being old.

There are some psychological characteristics of aging that that are passed down from generation to generation through genes and some psychological characteristics are those that are a result of real or perceived changes in the bodies of people as they age, example mental or physical limitations. The factors of social and cultural differences also affect the way people deal with aging. There are different ways that men and women perceive aging because of the biological, psychological and social differences between them. For example, it has been observed that women usually tend to live longer than men; therefore, they experience more losses of family members and friends than men do. So, all of these factors together have an impact on the overall well being of an individual as he ages. (Speed and Schneider, 2003)

Discussion

Stress Issues

People, who are old, often have to face a number of stresses that are cause by various events and situations that have taken place in their lives. Since they are old in age, they become more vulnerable to stress and coping with it becomes very difficult for them. Stresses for them can be physical as well as social and can be an ongoing part of their day to day life or it can be caused by any sudden distressing event. The most common causes of stress for older people have been observed to be some kind of a disease or health issue that could be chronic, their perceived loss of social status that they get after retirement, or death of their spouse. When old people take stress, it not only affects their physical health but can also have a huge impact on their mental well being. Too much stress can cause various psychological and physical issues such as anxiety, headaches, ulcers etc.

Old people are most affected by chronic diseases and conditions. And such people are often cared for by their spouses. More than forty four million Americans (mostly women) are the caregivers ...