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Anatomical and Physiological Changes in Old Age

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“We all admire the wisdom of people who come to us for advice”

“The best way to gain wisdom is by spending time with people that are older than you”

The older generation or the older adults are the most important part of the society. They are the diamonds of the society. They have wisdom. They admire us. They are the source of positive energy for us. They are helper for us.

Old age means no more young. This start at the beginning of the 60. This is the stage later to a normal life. It is the part of the aging. “Aging is the process in which a person lost all of its normal cellular, hormonal, metabolic gain with the passage of time and have weak cellular hormonal and metabolic function”. In aging a person is growing older and older in a specific life span but it can make a person old early and fastly due some reasons and behavioural changes like inactivity, smoking, obesity etc.

Geriatrics is define as the “taking care of the older one or aged people”. Gerontology - is the study of the older adults, the changes that occur in their lifestyle, behavior patterns,and also the physical changes. There are several branches of gerontology or geriatrics, some of which are: clinical gerontology; social gerontology; experimental gerontology; preventive gerontology.

When a person become old and reaches to the later stages of aging there are many changes take place in his/her body as well as behavior patterns even in their total life style. These changes can be: anatomical changes, physiological changes, psychological changes.

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Anatomical Changes

With aging there are many anatomical changes occur. These changes may be muscular or be bones and joints related. Musculoskeletal related changes: muscle strength, power, endurance, flexibility all these are the components of the physical fitness. These components changes with aging or when you get older. The loss of these components (muscle mass, strength and function) due to aging is called as sarcopenia. In general as we aged we experience atrophy of the muscle fibers as well as decreasing the number of muscle fibers present. In short overall muscle mass and strength are decreased. Over adults there may development of muscle tremors associating with the generation of extra pyramidal system. In addition to all tendons of the body tendons to shrink and harden. The purpose of the tendon is to attach a muscle to a bone. In older age there is chances of tendon fibrosis.

As we aged both bone density and bone mass decreases. This happen specially in women that after menopause they reduce bone mass. If this bone loss is not prevented on time can lead to osteoporosis. Osteoporosis can cause the thinning of the vertebral disk and shortening of the vertebrae. This can also leads to the kyphosis of the neck as well as flexion on hip and knees. In addition to all of this, older adults commonly experience the deterioration of the joints which may lead to limitation of the activity. All of these factors together placing the older adults at risk for fractures.

Physiological Changes

With the aging there is changes occur in cell, respiratory, cardiovascular and other system of the body as well. As we aged the total number of cell in our body decrease, muscle and body mass decrease and this leads to decrease also in lead body mass. With the decrease in lean body mass will come an increased proportional amount of fat in our bodies with the decrease in lean body mass there is also decrease in the total body water. This in turn will make older adults much more susceptible to dehydration.

Many aging changes occur to respiratory system. Changes to the connective tissues of the nose leads to tipping of the nose downward. Older adults are also more likely to breathe through the mouth which may contribute to snoring and possibly obstructive sleep apnea. The mucus in the nose of older adults become more dry leading to the feeling of continual nasal stuffiness.

In terms of the chest itself the ribs and tissues within the lungs become more rigid making it difficult to expand and contract for older adults.

The cilia become less effective in removing mucus and bacteria from lungs. Older adults also experience the total number of alveoli within the lungs themselves and overall lungs become smaller less firm, lighter and more rigid. All this increased the residual volume and decreased lung capacity. All these make an older to develop respiratory infection such as pneumonia.

There is changes in the anatomy and physiology of the heart as well as the blood vessels of the heart through out the body.

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Anatomical and Physiological Changes in Old Age. (2022, August 25). Edubirdie. Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/anatomical-and-physiological-changes-in-old-age/
“Anatomical and Physiological Changes in Old Age.” Edubirdie, 25 Aug. 2022, edubirdie.com/examples/anatomical-and-physiological-changes-in-old-age/
Anatomical and Physiological Changes in Old Age. [online]. Available at: <https://edubirdie.com/examples/anatomical-and-physiological-changes-in-old-age/> [Accessed 29 Mar. 2024].
Anatomical and Physiological Changes in Old Age [Internet]. Edubirdie. 2022 Aug 25 [cited 2024 Mar 29]. Available from: https://edubirdie.com/examples/anatomical-and-physiological-changes-in-old-age/
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