Healthy Aging Flashcards
General Trends
Globally, people are living longer today than ever before…
-by 2030, 1/6 people will be 60 or older
-by 2050, people aged 60 or older will reach 2.1 billion, up from 1.4 billion in 2020.
In Canada, older adults (65 or older) are the fastest growing age group, accounting for 18.8% of the population…
-as of 2022, there were 13,484 centernarians (people aged 100 or older) in Canada
-indigenous people aged 65 or older rose (and continues tor ise) from 7.3% in 2016 to 9.5% in 2021.
-in 2023, overall life expectancy for Canadians was 82.96 years.
-84.6 years for females
-80.6 years for males
-Canadians aged 55-64 now outnumber those aged 15-24
What are some reasons for the aging Canadian population?
The three main reasons include:
1)low fertility rates (ie. economic uncertainty, societal norms).
2)increase in life expectancy (ie. increased education, modern science).
3)effects of the baby boom generation (ie. retiring).
What are some of the implications of the aging population?
Many older adults are continuing to occupy jobs in Canada due to lack of savings, high inflation costs, possible impending health costs, and the impact of COVID.
If many/most retire at once within the next decade or so, there may be a major worker shortage.
Retirement costs - with more and more Canadians living to 65 and older, the cost of federal income support for older adults continues to rise (taxes on younger workers may increase to support this).
Health costs - people 65 and older use more health services and require more medical care.
Grey-Power Politics - older Canadians vote in larger numbers than younger Canadians, which may lead (through influence) to increased programs/supports and a larger share of federal and provincial budgets.
Ways to define age?
Chronological age
Physiological age
Psychological age
Social age
Emotional age
Functional age
Chronological Age
How old we are in calendar years, measured by time (years, months)
Physiological Age
the normal functioning of our bodies as controlled by the interactions between physical and chemical bodily states.
Psychological age
An individual perception of how old a person feels, sometimes based on an individuals behaviour
Social age
determined by how well people cope with their social roles
Emotional age
The growing ability to appraise and remember life events more positively with age
Functional age
A combination of chronological, physiological, and emotional ages
Optimizing the aging process with PA
Engaging in a full range if physical activities is important and includes aerobic conditioning, muscle fitness, and flexibility and balance training.
Despite some inevitable physiological changes that occur with age, as much as 50% of these declines are due to sedentary behaviours and can be reversed.
Regular participation in MVPA associated with maintenance and improvement of both physical and mental health related quality of life measures.
Above all else, proactive health-promoting behaviours like exercise contribute to increased quality of life and decreased mortality.
Regular PA is related to reduced risk of chronic diseases.
In Canada only 40.4% of older adults (65+) self-reported 150 minutes/week of PA in 2021 (44.1% of males; 37.1% of females).
Optimizing the aging process with diet
Healthy eating habits can slow frailty (ie. the process of aging as our bodies slowly loses their built-in reserves, which cause changes leaving us weak, tired, unable to participate fully in PA, and unintentional weight loss).
Many older adults do not get adequate amounts of one or more essential nutrients, so supplements are often recommended by dieticians (ie. vitamins D, C, B6, B12; minerals calcium and iron as well).
What are some reasons that older adults may not get enough essential nutrients?
limited income
difficulty going shopping
chronic diseases
medications that interfere with metabolism of nutrients.
problems chewing or digesting
poor appetite
inactivity
illness
depression
lack of sunshine in parts of Canada
Older Adults and Living Conditions
Many older adults live alone in Canada, oftentimes due to a partner/spouse entering into a care home or passing away.
This can result in a disruption of normal patterns of eating, meal skipping, lack of dietary variety, reduced home food preparation.
What can be done to help older adults diets?
Nutritionists recommend….
-planning for meals and snacks
-online grocery shopping or delivery service (particularly for immobile older adults).
-preparing smaller meals that require little or no cooking.
-preparing extra meals that can be used as leftovers or frozen
Age-Related Changes
When we age, we typically have changes to our body composition (ie. reduced lean muscle mass; increased body fat percentage) and the rate at which our brains repair themselves when neurons die off.
However, regular physical activity, including the key recommendations for older adults, can drastically reduce or even halt these changes.
The Aging Brain
Unfortunately, we are susceptible to some inevitable challenges as we age, regardless of our lifestyles (though it can reduce impact/risk).
Recalling information takes longer.
-by our late-to-mid 60’s, recalling information takes slightly longer, but we are typically able to adapt and perform as well as younger people.
Distractions become more disruptive
-as early as 50, our ability to multitask diminishes
-it becomes harder to divide attention or to remember details of a story if our attention is switched to something else
Accessing names gets harder
-between 25 and 65, our ability to remember names diminishes by as much as 50%
-it can help to use strategies like repeating a person’s name, writing it down, or making associations with it
Learning new information is harder
-the speed at which we receive, absorb, and react to information slows when learning new skills, but adding to existing knowledge remains in-tact.
As we get older, we are significantly more likely to develop dementia
-dementia can be caused by more than 50 different disorders, but the most common is Alzheimer’s (50-70%), followed by vascular disease (20-30%).
-the number of Canadians living with dementia is rising to the point where it is now considered an epidemic.
What can we do to reduce the aging of our brain?
The healthiest older adults are actively engaged in life.
-they are resilient, optimistic, productive, and socially involved
Successful agers bounce back after a setback, and have a can-do attitude about challenges they face.
They tend to be lifelong learners who take up new hobbies late in life, which leads to more connections between neurons and may slow aging with the brain.
Dementia
A clinical condition that includes symptoms such as difficulties with language, judgement, and reasoning, loss of memory, and changes in mood and behaviours.
1 in 4 Canadians aged 85 and over have been diagnosed with dementia.
The rate at which Canadians are diagnosed with dementia doubles every 5 years among those who are 65 years of age and older.
In Canada, an average of 350 people are diagnosed with dementia every day.
Alzheimer’s Disease
Involves a gradual cost onset and progressive deterioration of brain cells and mental capacity.
Causes changes to our brain structure many years before we notice memory problems.
Symptoms resemble ordinary memory lapses and eventually, people lose their ability to learn and remember anything new, along with the names of their friends/family and their way around.
Alzheimer’s Dementia
Late stage Alzheimer’s disease
Many people avoid social contact, become upset a trivial events, and end up having trouble dressing or feeding themselves because they are unable to remember how to function.
The brain loses capacity to regulate body functions, and people with Alzheimer’s dementia die of malnutrition, dehydration, infection or heart failure.
Average life span between early symptoms and death is 7-10 years, but can range from 2-20.
What can we do to reduce the risk of dementia?
Treating hypertension
Becoming a lifelong learner
Getting regular PA
Connecting with others to improve our thinking, concentration, and memory skills.
Eliminating smoking
Managing health conditions like diabetes, obesity, and depression.
Upside of the Aging
Despite some inevitable declines with memory, older adults possess a particularly valuable virtue known as wisdom.
In memory tests involving knowledge of the world, vocabulary, or judgement, older people outperform their younger counterparts.
Sex-Specific Aging: Males
Reduced testosterone levels.
Gradual decline by 30-40% between 48 and 70.
Can lead to decreased muscle mass, greater body fat, loss of bone density, reduced energy, lowered fertility, and loss of libido.
Lifestyle can mitigate these effects.
