Lecture 29: Aging Flashcards
What are the 4 dimensions of a “Real Old Person”?
1) Attitude to self
- Old as you feel
2) Chronological age
- Old as your years
3) Social Attitudes
- Old as others make you
4) Biological changes
- Old as your arteries
What are the different theories of causes of ageing?
1) Death gene (genetic program for destruction)- not persued anymore
2) Bombardment by cellular mechnaism by products (free radicals/negatively charged particles) - 10,000 hits per cell per day
3) DNA, cellular membranes, processes
4) Mainteance and repair
- Repair mechanisms costs us- take lots of energy and wear out.
- e.g. photocopier idea
5) Disposable soma theory (vs germ cell line)
- Protective mechanisms fail gradually
- Nutrition- Prevents DNA damage? (we are not made for sedantary life)
What are the changes with age alone?
Psychological
- Verbal vs perfomance skills
- Attention e.g. competing voices
-Processing skills slower
-W_orking memory impaired_
Physiolgical
- _Muscle streng_th, stiffness
- Cardiac output
- Lung volume
- Renal function
Diseases more common in older age is not necessarily involved in changes due to age
What are some Diseases that are more common in older age
(not the same as changes with age alone)
Psychological
-Cognitive decline and dementia
Psychological
- Frailty, disability, arthritis
- Congestive heart failure
- COPD
- Renal failure
Increased risk from
- Medications (e.g. interactions)
- Minor illness
- Immobility- 15% muscle strength/day
Describe Functional reserve and threshold
Pink = range of function needed for usual ADL
Aerobic capacity training and Resistance capacity training significantly delays reaching the Pink line.
