Ageing is a natural process that begins at birth, or to be more precise, at conception, a process that progresses throughout one’s life and ends at death.
The ageing process happens during an individual’s lifespan. We are all involved in this process and none can escape it. Ageing is associated with growth, maturation and discovery. The changes ageing individual experience are not necessarily harmful. With age, hair thins and turns grey. Skin thins, become less elastic, and sags. There is slowing down of function which goes forward throughout adulthood- loss of function of bodily organs. Scientists theorize that ageing likely results from a combination ofmany factors. Genes, lifestyle, and disease can all affect the ageing. Studies have indicated that people age at different rate and in different ways. Normal ageing bring about the following changes :-
- Eyesight –loss of peripheral vision and decrease ability to judge depth. Decreased clarity of colors ( for example pastel, blues )
- Hearing – loss of hearing acuity, especially sounds at the higher end of the spectrum. Also, decreasing ability to distinguish sounds when there is background noise.
- Taste – decrease taste buds and saliva.
- Touch and Smell – decrease sensitivity to touch and ability to smell.
- Arteries– stiffen with age, additionally fatty deposits build up in your blood vessels over time, eventually causing arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
- Bladder – Increased frequency in urination.
- Body fat –increases until middle age , stabilizes until later in life, then decreases.
- Bones – somewhere around age 35, bones loose minerals faster than they are replaced.
- Brain – loose some of your structures that connect nerve cells, and the function of the cells themselves is diminished.
- Heart – is the muscle that thickens with age. Maximum pumping rate and the body’s ability to extract oxygen from the blood both diminish with age.
- Kidneys – shrink and become less efficient.
- Lungs – somewhere around age 20, lung tissue begin to lose its elasticity and rib cage muscles shrink progressively. Maximum breathing capacity diminishes with each decade of life.
- Metabolism –medicines and alcohol are not processed a quickly. Prescription medication requires adjustment. Reflexes are also slowed while driving, therefore an individual might want to lengthen the distance between him and the car in front and drive more cautiously.
- Muscles – muscles mean decline especially with lack of exercise.
- Skin – nail grows more slowly. Skin is more dry and wrinkled. It also heals more slowly.
The aging process also brings social and emotional change and loss into our lives. Inevitably, as we age, older relatives die, then some of our friends may grow frail and die, then loss of a spouse affects many. Physical losses and social losses that can accompany ageing may be very difficult emotionally. Greif and sadness are normal reactions to such situations, and we cannot stamp out these reactions in our selves or our older relatives.
In general, we can say ageing is a natural process in terms of the structure and functions of our body which cannot be prevented but yes… can be managed with the help of adopting the healthy lifestyle and positivism.