Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Mar/84

Contributor - Nellie Tuinhof

Title - Aging And Our Response

Topic - Aging

Today, as medical research continues and new methods are found to preserve life, society is faced with a fast growing population of senior adults. Today, one in eleven of the population is over 65; fifty years from now, the ratio will climb to one person in five.

Often called 'the golden years, senior adulthood can be just the opposite for many. Biological, psychological and sociological factors combine to make life unpleasant for many, if they do not know how to handle their individual situations. Seniors, no matter who they are, need support from the family, community and church.

In many cases, the question must be asked - what is the church doing to assist senior adults, not only in their own particular church, but in the community around them? The church needs to involve itself with people of all ages, including seniors, if the church claims to truly serve Christ.

Biologists call the process of aging senescence, and cannot determine any reason for the phenomenon's occurance. Aging creates an increase in one's vulnerability, this vulnerability being at different levels, in varying individuals. The time onset and rate of aging and its consequent decline varies from person to person; however, each person notes diminished strength and lower reserve capacities. It should be noted that this decline is inevitable and natural, and that aging is different from a decline due to diseases.

All important in the process of aging is the senior adult's attitude. What one thinks and feels in any situation is important for often it influences life. Chemical substances are released by the body that either help or harm a person, keep him/her youthful or age her. A good healthy attitude has been proved to aid in the longevity and quality of life.

Much of society possesses the idea that function declines with age, therefore asking people to retire at age 65, though they are still able and productive. There is truth in the fact that senior adults experience twice as many hospital stays which are double in duration compared with the remainder of the population. However, the number of seniors who do go to hospital amount to only seventeen percent of the total population of seniors obviously a minority. To make a generalization then, that seniors experience a sever, decline in function is false. It is true that many face some activity limitation due to aging or a chronic condition. However, it is also true that many are healthy in spite of their age. The elderly that suffer from poor health are a minority group with more men than women sufferers. It is thought that the male life style being more rugged than that of the female accounts for this.

Individuals and industries within society often take advantage of the vulnerability of those experiencing age-related health problems. Doctors, for instance, will tell them that they should not expect to be in perfect shape 'at their age', often giving them less than adequate health care. As far as society is concerned, seniors have no real role to play and are less effectively treated. The profession also has not been properly prepared to treat seniors. Physicians often hold stereotypic views of the elderly, caught up with the idea that seniors must physically and mentally deteriorate. To break down this view, doctors and society must be re-educated. Fortunately, colleges and universities are implementing courses in geriatrics and gerontology.

Medical care tends to lengthen life, increasing the senior's discomfort giving a life of reduced quality rather than the instant cure that doctors like. The needs Of the elderly, especially the chronically ill, are misunderstood as well as ignored. With better understanding of the needs of the elderly, medical conditions would improve significantly.

Hospitals and institutions are often inhospitable and insensitive to the elderly that must stay in them. Social and psychological problems are ignored and treated as physical ailments. Frequently, through unnecessary drug therapy, passive behaviour is facilitated and as a result there is less need for sufficient staff. Until aging becomes a psychologically more comfortable phenomenon, the potential for exploitation of aging and the aged by the health care system will likely continue.

Biological Factors Influencing Aging

Vision for the aging senior deteriorates for two possible reasons. First the pupil size of the eye tends to diminish thereby reducing the amount of light reaching the retina; and second, the eye's lens loses its flexibility. These two factors cause the senior to become sensitive to glaring light. Fixtures placed at eye level contribute to glare, therefore lighting should be strong, indirect and diffused. The smaller pupil allows less light to enter the eye, therefore most seniors at age sixty need double the amount of light and those eighty and over need three times the amount of light in comparison to their earlier years. Due to the rigidity of the lens there is reduced ability to accommodate to light changes.

The lens of the seniors eye also tends to yellow, filtering out violet blue and green colours. To accommodate then 4 reds, yellows and orange colours should be used to keep their physical world bright cheery and colourful.

Also common among seniors is farsightedness, usually easily corrected by glasses.

Loss of hearing can seldom be equated with the physical aging process. Rather time and the environment cause the majority of deterioration. This deterioration is usually evident in the later years. Older people, victims of their environment will often not hear high-pitched or low sounds. Statistics now show that deafness is more prevalent in men than women probably due to the harsher environment men have experienced.

Though one's taste and sense of smell change as (s)he ages, this has not been proven to be caused by any biological factor. The older adult also experiences some sensitivity to touch, pain, temperature, vibration and muscle and joint senses. This sensitivity is not always due to age, but could be defective due to injury, conditions affecting the skins receptors or the nervous system Much can be done through the provision of safeguards to prevent somesthesis, as this sensitivity is called. Rooms can be comfortably heated and free of drafts, to prevent sensitivity to temperature; furniture can be arranged so that falling will not be a problem; in effect common sense measures united with a true concern.

There are more common and inescapable biological factors that influence aging. The skin tends to wrinkle and become rough, often with splotches of dark pigment noticeable on the extremities. The skin tends to lose hair, become dry and is sensitive to bruising and vulnerable to malignancies.

Muscle strength decreases causing frailness. The joints also stiffen in the knees and hips and posture often becomes bent. This stooped posture is due to the thinning and compression of bone and is called osteoporosis. Osteoporosis increases the likelihood of an easy fracture when falling or bumping oneself

The nervous system also undergoes aging as the nerve tissues develop slower reflexes and reaction time. Blood vessels tend to deteriorate and reduce in elasticity causing interrupted blood flow. Heart disease is prevalent among older adults.

Seniors experience fatigue, swelling of the extremities, most often the legs, lower resistance to disease and are frequently found to suffer from malnutrition, due to the high costs of food containing protein. Some of the elderly are also victims of physical deterioration giving them added disabilities. Strokes cause speech impairment limit the use of arms or legs. The personality also tends to change. Arthritis is painful, limiting the physical activity of the senior and causing him or her to move much more slowly. Those with diabetes must follow a strict diet giving up choice foods and taking daily medication. Diabetes can lead to blindness, in extreme cases, and for the most part is not pleasant. These are just a few of the biological factors influencing aging, some a result of the natural course the body follows, others the result of disease. Life for the senior is not an easy one as (s)he adjusts to many physical changes.

(to be continued)

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