Physical and cognitive development during middle adulthood Flashcards
middle adulthood- age range
The developmental period for adults ranging 40 to 45 years of age to 60 to 65 years of age.
A full evaluation of age requirers consideration of:
Chronological age Biological age Psychological age Sociocultural age Perceived age
middle adulthood is a time of:
Greater awareness of the young-old polarity and of the shrinking amount of time left in life.
Seeking to transmit something meaningful to the next generation.
Reaching and maintaining career satisfaction.
Declining physical skills and increasing responsibility
Late midlife is likely to be characterized by:
Death of a parent.
The last child leaving the parental home.
Becoming a grandparent.
Preparation for and actual retirement.
Physical changes that occur in midlife
The developmental focus shifts here - no longer a description of universals, but instead a focus on accounting for individual differences.
This period of life may be the intellectual and creative peak
Visible signs of physical changes
Skin wrinkles and sags. Age spots appear. Hair thins and grays. Nails thicken and become more brittle. Teeth yellow.
what are the negatives of being overweight
critical health problem, associated with shorter longevity and increased risk of death due to cardiovascular disease.
How do your lungs decline?
Exercise capability declines ~ 1% per year beginning between 35 and 40
Maximum oxygen update (VO2 MAX):
a measure of the body’s ability to take in and transport oxygen to various body organs
What happens to lung tissue?
becomes less elastic around age 55, decreasing lung capacity.
Sarcopenia
an age-related loss of muscle mass and strength.
What happens to your sleep?
Wakeful periods become more frequent in the forties, as do sleep-disordered breathing and restless legs syndrome.
Ineffective immune system functioning is linked to less sleep.
when does white matter volume crest?
Middle adulthood
what happens to grey matter in your brain?
grey matter volume continues its decline that began in childhood and does not level off until about age 60
rule of brain maturation
the areas of the brain that develop last are the ones that begin to decline first
frontal and parietal lobes
if your an alcoholic what area of your brain is effected
electrical activity and grey matter volume
Speculation
the middle-aged brain is not as efficient at directing attention/attentional control, and/or perhaps is not as efficient at inhibiting responses to irrelevant stimuli.
Vision changes
Accommodation of the eye—the ability to focus and maintain an image on the retina—declines most sharply between the ages of 40 and 59.
people in middle adulthood have trouble viewing
close objects
Presbyopia
Normal loss of visual acuity with aging, especially the ability to focus the eyes on near objects (ie, things get blurry)
Primary aging in regards to vision
Requires behavioural (reading glasses) and psychological adjustment
Presbycusis
Normal loss of hearing with aging, especially of high-frequency or very low-frequency tones
