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3e. ESSENTIALS OF LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT JOHN W. SANTROCK. 15. Physical and Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood. Chapter Outline. Longevity, biological aging, and physical development Health Cognitive functioning Work and retirement.
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3e ESSENTIALS OF LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENTJOHN W. SANTROCK 15 Physical and Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood
Chapter Outline • Longevity, biological aging, and physical development • Health • Cognitive functioning • Work and retirement
Longevity, Biological Aging, and Physical Development • Longevity • Biological theories of aging • The aging brain • Physical development • Sexuality
Longevity, Biological Aging, and Physical Development • Longevity • Life span and life expectancy • Life span: Maximum number of years an individual can live • Between 120–125 years • Life expectancy: Number of years that the average person born in a particular year will probably live • Average is 78.3 years
Longevity, Biological Aging, and Physical Development • Differences in life expectancy • Female life expectancy 80.8 years, males 75.7 years • Beginning in the mid-thirties, women outnumber men because of: • Social factors such as: • Health attitudes • Habits • Lifestyles • Occupation • Biological factors
Longevity, Biological Aging, and Physical Development • Centenarians • Genes play an important role in surviving to an extreme old age along with: • Family history • Health (weight, diet, smoking, and exercise) • Education • Personality • Lifestyle
Longevity, Biological Aging, and Physical Development • Biological theories of aging • Evolutionary theory: Natural selection has not eliminated many harmful conditions and nonadaptive characteristics in older adults • Cellular clock theory: Cells can divide a maximum of about 75 to 80 times • Age makes cells less capable of dividing • Telomeres – Tips of chromosomes; DNA sequences that cap chromosomes
Longevity, Biological Aging, and Physical Development • Free-radical theory: People age because: • When cells metabolize energy • By-products include unstable oxygen molecules known as free radicals • Emphasis on a decay of mitochrondria–tiny bodies within cells that supply essential energy for function, growth, and repair • Hormonal stresstheory: Aging in the body’s hormonal system can lower resistance to stress and increase the likelihood of disease
Longevity, Biological Aging, and Physical Development • The aging brain • The shrinking, slowing brain • Brain loses 5% to 10% of its weight between the ages of 20 and 90 years • Volume decreases due to: • Shrinkage of neurons • Lower numbers of synapses • Reduced length of axon • Slowing of function in the brain and spinal cord begins in middle adulthood and accelerates in late adulthood • Affecting physical coordination and intellectual performance
Longevity, Biological Aging, and Physical Development • Aging - Linked to a reduction in the production of certain neurotransmitters • The adapting brain • Neurogenesis - Generation of new neurons • Dendritic growth • Decrease in lateralization • Improve cognitive functioning
Figure 15.2 - The Decrease in Brain Lateralization in Older Adults
Longevity, Biological Aging, and Physical Development • The Nun Study • Intriguing ongoing investigation of aging in 678 nuns • Research provide hope that scientists will discover ways to tap into the brain’s capacity to adapt in order to prevent and treat brain diseases
Longevity, Biological Aging, and Physical Development • Physical appearance and movement • Most noticeable changes - Wrinkles and age spots • Shorter with aging due to bone loss in their vertebrae • Weight drops after age 60 • Muscle loss • Older adults move more slowly
Longevity, Biological Aging, and Physical Development • Sensory development • Vision • Sensory decline in older adults is linked to a decline in cognitive functioning • Color vision • Depth perception
Longevity, Biological Aging, and Physical Development • Diseases of the eye • Cataracts: Thickening of the lens of the eye • Causes vision to become cloudy, opaque, and distorted • Glaucoma: Damage to the optic nerve because of: • Pressure created by a buildup of fluid in the eye • Macular degeneration: Deterioration of the macula of the retina • Corresponds to the focal center of the visual field
Longevity, Biological Aging, and Physical Development • Hearing • Impairments becomes an impediment • Some, but not all, hearing problems can be corrected by hearing aids • Smell and taste • Smell and taste losses typically begin about age 60 • Touch and pain • Decline in touch sensitivity is not problematic for most • Decreased sensitivity to pain can help adults cope with disease and injury • Mask injuries and illnesses that need to be treated
Longevity, Biological Aging, and Physical Development • The circulatory system and lungs • Cardiovascular disorders increase in late adulthood • Lung capacity drops 40 percent between the age of 20 and 80, even without disease • Can be improved with diaphragm-strengthening exercises
Longevity, Biological Aging, and Physical Development • Sleep • 50 % of older adults complain of having difficulty sleeping • Result in earlier death and is linked to a lower level of cognitive functioning
Longevity, Biological Aging, and Physical Development • Sexuality • Orgasm becomes less frequent in males with age • Many are sexually active as long as they are healthy
Health • Health problems • Exercise, nutrition, and weight • Health treatment
Health • Health problems • Probability of having some disease or illness increases with age • Arthritis is the most common followed by hypertension • Causes of death in older adults • Nearly 60% of 65–74-year-olds die of cancer or cerebrovascular disease • 75–84 and 85+ age groups • Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death • Ethnicity is linked with death rates of older adults
Health • Arthritis: Inflammation of the joints accompanied by pain, stiffness, and movement problems • Osteoporosis: Extensive loss of bone tissue • Accidents - 6th leading cause of death in older adults • Falls are the leading cause
Health • Exercise, nutrition, and weight • Exercise • Linked to prevention of common chronic diseases and increased longevity • Associated with improvement in the treatment of many diseases • Improves older adults’ cellular functioning and immune system functioning
Health • Nutrition and weight • Getting adequate nutrition • Avoiding overweight and obesity • Role of calorie restriction in improving health and extending life
Health • Health treatment • Quality of nursing homes and other extended-care facilities for older adults varies enormously • Source of continuing national concern • Factor related to health and survival in a nursing home: • Patient’s feelings of control and self-determination • Geriatric nurses - Helpful in treating the health care problems
Cognitive Functioning • Multidimensionality and multidirectionality • Use it or lose it • Training cognitive skills • Cognitive neuroscience and aging
Cognitive Functioning • Multidimensionality and multidirectionality • Attention • Selective attention • Divided attention • Sustained attention
Cognitive Functioning • Memory • Episodic memory: Retention of information about the where and when of life’s happenings • Younger adults have better episodic memory • Semantic memory: Person’s knowledge about the world • Older adults take longer to retrieve semantic information, but usually they can ultimately retrieve it • Working memory and perceptual speed - Decline during the late adulthood years
Cognitive Functioning • Explicit memory: Memory of facts and experiences that individuals consciously know and can state • Implicit memory: Memory without conscious recollection • Noncognitive factors - Health, education, and socioeconomic status can influence an older adult’s performance on memory tasks
Cognitive Functioning • Executive functioning • Involves managing one's thoughts to engage in goal-directed behavior and self control: • General aspects of executive functioning decline in late adulthood • Considerable variability in executive functioning among older adults
Cognitive Functioning • Wisdom: Expert knowledge about the practical aspects of life that permits excellent judgment about important matters • High levels of wisdom are rare • Factors other than age are critical for wisdom to develop to a high level • Personality-related factors are better predictors of wisdom than cognitive factors
Cognitive Functioning • Use it or lose it • Certain mental activities can benefit the maintenance of cognitive skills • Reading books, doing crossword puzzles, going to lectures and concerts • Research suggests that: • Mental exercise may reduce cognitive decline
Cognitive Functioning • Training cognitive skills • Improve the cognitive skills of many older adults • Some loss in plasticity in late adulthood, especially in the oldest-old • Cognitive vitality of older adults can be improved through cognitive and physical fitness training
Cognitive Functioning • Cognitive neuroscience and aging • Cognitive neuroscience - Discipline that studies links between the brain and cognitive functioning • Changes in the brain can influence cognitive functioning, and changes in cognitive functioning can influence the brain
Work and Retirement • Work • Adjustment to retirement
Work and Retirement • Work • Older workers have lower rates of absenteeism, fewer accidents, and higher job satisfaction than their younger counterparts
Work and Retirement • Retirement in the U.S. • When people reach their sixties, the life path they follow is less clear • Some individuals don’t retire, continuing in their career jobs • Some retire from their career work and then take up a new and different job • Some retire from career jobs but do volunteer work • Some retire from a post-retirement job and go on to yet another job • Some move in and out of the workforce, so they never really have a “career” job from which they retire • Some individuals who are in poor health move to a disability status and eventually into retirement • Some who are laid off define it as “retirement”
Work and Retirement • Older adults who adjust best to retirement: • Are healthy • Have adequate income • Are active • Are educated • Have an extended social network including both friends and family • Usually were satisfied with their lives before they retired
Mental Health • Depression • Dementia, Alzheimer disease, and Parkinson disease
Mental Health • Major depression: Mood disorder in which the individual is deeply unhappy, demoralized, self-derogatory, and bored • Less common among older adults than younger adults • Common predictors • Earlier depressive symptoms • Poor health or disability • Loss events • Low social support
Mental Health • Dementia: Involve a deterioration of mental functioning • 23 percent of women and 17 percent of men 85 years and older are at risk for developing dementia
Mental Health • Alzheimer disease: Gradual deterioration of memory, reasoning, language, and eventually, physical function • Women are likely to develop Alzheimer disease because they live longer than men • Alzheimer involves a deficiency in the brain messenger chemical acetylcholine • Formation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles
Figure 15.9 - Two Brains: Normal Aging and Alzheimer Disease
Mental Health • Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) • Represents a transitional state between the cognitive changes of normal aging and very early disease • fMRI shows smaller brain regions involved in memory for individuals with MCI
Mental Health • Drug treatment of Alzheimer disease • Cholinerase inhibitors and other drugs slow the downward progression of the disease • Caring for individuals with Alzheimer disease • Support is often emotionally and physically draining for the family • Respite care services
Mental Health • Parkinson disease: A chronic, progressive disease characterized by muscle tremors, slowing of movement, and facial paralysis • Triggered by the degeneration of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain • Several treatments are available