CONCEPT OF AGING

Today, people are living longer than ever before due to advances in education, technology, medicine, food distribution, and sanitary conditions. So, nowadays, it is not unusual to meet people who are in their 70s, 80s, 90s, and some who are close to 100 years old. However, “adding the years to life,” does not mean that we are also able to “add more life to the extra years.” In other words, living longer does not always mean we will also have better or a good quality of life in later years. Some older adults in late life are healthy and independent and are still very involved in their family and community lives. Then again, it is not unusual to see older persons who can get very ill and are not able to get themselves out of bed.

There is no single universally accepted definition of aging. Aging is best looked at as a series of changes that occur over time, contribute to loss of function, and ultimately result in the death of a living organism. The maximal life expectancy for humans today appears to be 120 years.

Aging is a lifelong process of growing up and growing old. It begins at conception and ends with death. So, in this sense, we are all aging from the time of birth.

·         In our younger years, aging is called by other names. For e.g.,

o   During Infancy years => “growth and development.”
o   During teenage and young adult years => “maturation.”
o   After age 30, => “senescence.”  When our physical body begins to wear out and our functioning declines

·         based on these three parts, the human body changes in many noticeable ways with age,

·         Aging is often accompanied by decline in bodily functions.

·    Aging can be viewed in different way. We need broader eyes, views to understand the aging related issues. In this context aging is classified as biological aging, psychological aging, social aging, chronological aging, and functional aging.

Chronological Aging

·    Chronological Aging is the number of years a person has lived so far. An 85-year-old lady is chronologically older than a man who is 75 years old. It is used to the record keeping. However, chronological age may not match a person’s biological, psychological, or social age.

·      For example, the 85-year-old woman may be an active volunteer, while the 75-year-old man could be homebound. Sometimes we say, “he looks younger than his age,” or “she does not act her age.” In these cases, the biological, psychological, and social age do not match the chronological age.

Biological Aging

·       It refers to the physical changes that “slow us down” as a person getting older. It involves the loss of cells over time. With biological aging, tissues and organs are less likely to function efficiently, the body’s ability to repair itself slows down, and the immune functions decline, making the body more prone to infection. It is to measure by the Abilities and Performances of a person.

·    Biological aging is sometimes referred to as Physical Aging. A person who keeps fit and gets regular check-ups can appear biologically younger than someone who is the same age but does not keep fit. For example, the 70 yrs. (suffered from disease) older than 80 yrs. (healthy).

Psychological Aging

·    Psychological Aging involves changes in memory, learning, intelligence, personality, and coping. An older person who is mentally active and is able to deal with new situations can be said to be psychologically young.

·     The psychological changes that occur as a person getting older. It is measured by mental capacity - intelligence, memory, power, cognitive function etc.

Social Age

·     It refers to changes in roles and relationships as we age, both within their networks of relatives and friends and in formal organizations such as the workplace and houses of worship. For example, Husband/wife, Parents/Grandparents, employee/retiree. It shapes the meaning of aging for the person, and this can make aging a positive or negative experience.

·      For example, it is not unusual for older people to gain new roles, like becoming grandparents. Or they may change roles, from an employee to a retiree. With role changes in later years, society may expect people to behave in certain ways. So, for some people, it may not be proper for “grandma” to go roller skating or bungee jumping because “these are things that young people do.” The social age of a person in a given context can be very important because it shapes the meaning of aging for the person, and this can make aging a positive or negative experience.

Functional aging

·   “It refers to a combination of the chronological, physiological and psychologically ages.” It is related to how people compare psychologically to others to similar age. It is describing how that person functions in daily life. An important issue related to functional ageing is the relationship between length of life and the amount of time spent in the disabled state.

·    Active life expectancy - average number of years an individual at a given age will survive and remain in the active, or non‐disabled, state.

References

1.      Williams P, Wold G. Basic geriatric nursing. 6th edition. St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier; 2016. 382 p. 27

2.      Chalise, Hom Nath. (2019). Aging: Basic Concept. American Journal of Biomedical Science & Research. DOI: 10.34297/AJBSR.2019.01.000503, [cited 2020 Sep 20]; Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330116948_Aging_Basic_Concept

3.      Chalise, Hom Nath. (2017). Basic Concept of Ageing.DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.22347.08488 [cited 2020 Sep 20]; Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318137770_Basic_Concept_of_Ageing

4.      ‌Functional Age, APA Dictionary of Psychology [Internet]. Apa.org. 2014 [cited 2020 Sep 20]. Available from: https://dictionary.apa.org/functional-age

5.      ‌Guralnik JM, Melzer D. Chronological and Functional Ageing. Principles and Practice of Geriatric Psychiatry [Internet]. 2020 [cited 2020 Sep 20];71–4. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/0470846410.ch13