LATE ADULTHOOD:
BIOSOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
What happens to your body when you are older?
How does age effect prejudice and predictions?
• Ageism
• Judging people only on the basis
of their chronological age
• Any age
• Can become a self-fulfilling
prophecy
• Elderspeak
• Condescending way of speaking
to older adults
What is the difference between
gerontology and geriatrics?
• Gerontology
• General study of old age
• Geriatrics
• Medical specialty
How has the elderly
effected the demographic
(population) shift?
• More older people & fewer younger
people
• Centenarians
• 100 years or more
• Fastest-growing age group
• Demographic pyramid (age-sex
pyramid)
• Changing from triangle to square
• People are living longer
• Fewer babies being born
Do you remember?
• What is the difference between ageism and elderspeak?
• What is the difference between gerontology and geriatrics?
• What has occurred in the population (demographic) shift in
America?
• How has the American demographic (age-sex) pyramid changed
over the years?
• Why is this occurring?
Aging and disease
What are the types of elderly?
• Young old (60-75)
• Healthy, financially secure
• Old-old (75-85)
• Physical and mental problems
• Oldest old (over 85)
• Dependent on others
• Nursing home care or hospital
What is primary and secondary
aging?
• Primary
• Universal and irreversible physical changes
• No specific physical illness, body just wears out
• Secondary aging
• Specific physical illness
• Become more common with aging
Will you get high blood pressure and
cardiovascular disease?
• Cardiovascular disease is the
leading cause of death in
both men and women
• Not everyone develops it
• Six risk factors:
•
•
•
•
•
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Diabetes
Smoking
Abdominal fat
High blood pressure
Lack of exercise
High cholesterol
• High blood pressure is also
effected by age & genes
Compensating for age
• More sleep
• More sleep difficulties
• Sleep Apnea = You stop breathing for a few seconds
many times a night
CPAP machine for sleep apnea
• Drive more slowly, not at night, or not at all
Compression of morbidity
• People are ill before dying a shorter period of time
• Better lifestyle, medicine, and technological aids
Osteoporosis
• “Fragile bones”
• Bones become more porous
How are senses affected?
• Taste, smell, touch, and hearing are impaired
• Technology helps
• Visual problems
• Brighter lights, glasses
• Hearing problems
• Hearing aids
Do you remember?
• What is primary and secondary aging?
• What is the leading cause of death in men and women?
• How does the compression of morbidity effect people?
• What is osteoporosis?
• How does it effect people?
Theories of aging
Wear and tear
• Body just wears out
• Genetic clock
• Changes in DNA that regulates aging, cellular reproduction and repair
• Cells losing the ability to duplicate perfectly creates aging
Telomeres
On chromosomes
Cellular aging
• Oxygen free radicals
• Electrons have become detached
(freed) from their nuclei
• Oxygen atom with unpaired electron
• Can cause cancer, diabetes, and
arteriosclerosis
• Antioxidants
• Vitamins A,C,E
• Nullify free radicals
• Form bond with unattached oxygen
electron
Combine with free radicals
& neutralize them
Steal an electron from
cells to become stable,
damaging the cell
Cell replication problems
• Hayflick limit
• Every species have a limited number of
times cells will duplicate before they die.
• Humans = 50 divisions or less = about 120
years
• Related to errors in duplication (copying)
• Telomeres
• On ends of chromosomes
(correlated with longevity)
• Shorten with each duplication
• When gone, duplication stops & creature
dies
• Telomerase
• Enzyme that increases length of telomeres
• May slow down aging
Calorie restriction
• May slow down aging
• Reduces sex drive
• Temporary infertility
The centenarians
• Diet: Little meat or fat
• More fruit, vegetables & fish
• Work throughout life
• Family & community (social activity)
• Exercise and relaxation
Do you remember?
• What is the genetic clock?
• What causes cellular aging?
• Human cells stop dividing after about how many divisions?
• Where are telomeres located, and what do they correlated with?
• What are the characteristics of centenarians that live to advanced
age?