Physical Aspects of Aging

Question 1

Describe the aging process as decline in physiological parameters (diagram).

Answer 1

as we age our physiological processes begin to decline. starting at 35 and continuing to worsen. examples are cognitive fxn, mobility, nerve conduction, mm strength, testosterone and estrogen, visual acuity, insulin sensitivity.

Question 2

What are some more changes in aging in addition to physiological decline?

Answer 2

OA’s have; less response to external/environment stressors (frailty), increased susceptibility to disease bc of decreased immune fxn, changes in molecular level to organism.

Question 3

Explain physiological dysfunction with aging and the cycle that comes with aging.

Answer 3

once we start to get decreased fxn (ie decreased motor, cognitive, vascular, metabolic kidney) , we’re more likely to get fxnl limitations, frailty and disability. this leads to contracting chronic conditions such as parkinsons, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, alzheimers, kidney disease, and type 2 diabetes. can also simply lead to mortality. the cycle is that when a chronic condition starts it will further increase dysfxn, which then can make other organ systems more susceptible to dysfxn, and it continues on.

Question 4

What are some examples of genetic and biological causes of aging?

Answer 4

decreased mito fxn (decreased NRG prod), increased ROS/oxidative stress wich increases mito dysfxn. epigenetic changes (change to expression of gene).

Question 5

What are some implications of physical changes with aging?

Answer 5

lessened reserve capacity, so slowness, stress, homeostatic balance. more complex patterns of disease, so comorbidities, and symptoms differ. importance of accident prevention as the recovery is longer, and more serious injuries occur. emphasize health promotion and prevention. So we’re trying to minimize and slow down changes with aging.

Question 6

What does the compression of morbidity health span and optimal longevity diagram mean?

Answer 6

means we want to shorten/compress the time we spend with morbidities and increase the time spent in good health. So that’s optimal longevity, where we have optimal health. Kind of implying if we figure out ways to increase the lifespan but dont increase health it will just be time spent with bad health.

Question 7

What is the integumentary system is composed of?

Answer 7

integ. syst. is hair, skin, nails, sweat glands, oil (sebaceous) glands, sensory receptors, pigment/melanin. three layers of skin; epidermis, dermis, subcutaneous fat layer.

Question 8

How is the skin affected by aging?

Answer 8

in the epidermis we have langerhans cells which are immune cells that prevent bacteria from getting in when we cut ourselves. also have melanocytes which produce melanin. both these cells prevent the development of skin cancer, meaning as these decrease with age, you have an increased risk of skin cancer. With blood vessels in dermis, they decrease and shorten with age so temperature regulation is much worse as vessels arent constricting as much which doesnt keep heat, and vessels arent dilating as much which leads to heatstroke. also in dermis less collagen and elastin which thins and wrinkles skin. Fat layer decreases which leads to wrinkles.

Question 9

What is photoaging?

Answer 9

damage to the skin due to UV And NOT aging. amount of skin damage depends on heredity, and exposure to UV. Uv leads to mutation of genes. with age have less melanin and less turnover in epidermis so UV light is more dangerous

Question 10

What are some changes to hair with age?

Answer 10

less melanin so become grey, and thin because hair follicles decrease. growth of nails decreases as well and they become more brittle.

Question 11

What are some components part of the sensory system?

Answer 11

Vision, hearing, taste, smell.

Question 12

What are the different kinds of hearing loss that can occur with age?

Answer 12

Hearing loss is inability to distinguish between sounds. Conductive hearing loss; sound isnt getting to the inner ear/tympanic membrane bc there’s problem with external and middle ear. Sensorineural hearing loss; sound isnt getting from inner ear to brain bc of problem with the auditory nerve or the inner ear. Central auditory dysfunction; cant hear bc of damaged nerve centres in brain. Presbycusis; inability to hear high frequency tones.

Question 13

What are some implications of OA’s experiencing hearing loss?

Answer 13

less likely so be social, will isolate themselves because its difficult to communicate. inner ear also has vestibular fxns so can affect balance and falls.

Question 14

What does vision impairment implicate for OA’s?

Answer 14

less ability to communicate, loss of basic skills, loss of confidence and lack of sense of belonging in community.

Question 15

What are some components in the structure of the eye?

Answer 15

lens; the middle portion that’s behind the pupil. iris; muscular sphincter that creates the pupil (contracts and relaxes). cornea; external surface of eye. retina; photosensitive portion at back of eye.

Question 16

What are some age related changes to the eye?

Answer 16

cornea and lens thicken and lose elasticity. the lens gets a yellowish tinge which decreases light that reaches the cells. vision at night impaired, increased sensitivity to glare. iris atrophies. loss of peripheral vision. decreased ability to discriminate colours in the green-blue range.

Question 17

What are some age-related pathologies of vision loss?

Answer 17

cataracts; clouding of the lens. glaucoma; fluid pressure build-up in eye that makes it hard to focus and strains eye. macular degeneration; loss of central vision, cells in area degenerate. diabetes retinopathy; blood vessels no longer supply retina.

Question 18

What are some age-related changes to taste and smell?

Answer 18

loss of taste, and loss of smell, both of these things affect how much person will want to eat bc dont smell or taste food. over 75% of adults experience this loss, usu btwn 70 and 80.

Question 19

How is the musculoskeletal system affected by aging?

Answer 19

mobility and independence are dependent on this system. many changes not life-threatening but greatly affect QoL. may also affect fxn of other systems.

Question 20

What are some age-related changes to mm?

Answer 20

Sarcopenia; the age-related loss of mm mass, strength, and quality of contractile fxn - which is due to the increase of lipids/FA’s in the mm. Effects of sarcopenia are changes in nutrition and NRG requirements, decreased metabolic rate, heat and cold intolerance, osteoporosis, reduced performance, risk of falls. decreases in fat-free mass and obesity, increase in glucose intolerance and insulin sensitivity. So the mm area decreases and is fattier.

Question 21

How can strength training affect mm changes?

Answer 21

strength training will increase mm strength by 174% on avg, and mm size 9% in 86-96 yr olds. this can happen at any age and its never too late to start exercising.

Question 22

What is the significance of the PolG mouse study?

Answer 22

they mutated PolG in 4 mice, whic hincrease aging processes such as alopecia, pancreatic dysfunction, sarcopenia, brain atrophy. decreases lifespan, BW, fertility. 2 mice were physically active and 2 weren’t, the PA ones looked and were way healthier then the other mice that were balding, smaller, not moving around and just looked like shit. Active mice lived longer as well.

Question 23

What changes happen in the bone with aging?

Answer 23

bone mineral density decreases, so more porous and fragile so more susceptible to fractures, and slower healing of fractures. Vertebrae thin.

Question 24

Why and when do changes in the bone happen with aging?

Answer 24

starts in middle-age, especially after menopause for women because estrogen levels decrease. this progressive bone loss happens because osteoclast activity (bone breakdown) exceeds osteoblast activity (rebuilding). so we have faster breakdown and slower rebuilding. can lead to osteopenia or osteoperosis.

Question 25

What is the difference between osteopenia and osteoperosis?

Answer 25

Osteopenia is when the loss is great enough to be seen radiologically (30-50%), and its describes as clinical boneloss, so loss of bone mass. Osteoperosis is a loss in bone mass and bone density, which predisposes ppl to risk of fracture.

Question 26

IN the cardiovasc syst. what changes happen to the heart?

Answer 26

It increases in size but gets less strong so it cant produce as much force, so there’s an inability to push blood which makes the blood pressure and heart rate increase. the left ventricle wall thickens, there is less elastin and more collagen in walls so less pliable. the valves stiffen and calcify, and they control blood flow so their closing and opening efficiency goes down and makes the BP increase. decreased pace maker cells, decreased coronary artery blood flow which affects the amount of o2 thats getting delivered to mms and heart.

Question 27

In cardiovasc syst what changes happen to the vessels?

Answer 27

Blood vessels are the veins and arteries, and their elastin decreases and they have more collagen so they become less pliable. they calcify so stiffer which makes them harder to dilate, Increased systolic blood pressure bc theres blockages in vessels so the pressure increases. walls are thicker

Question 28

what are the age related changes in the respiratory syst?

Answer 28

decrease in lung elasticity (less elastin), increased stiffness in chest wall, decreased respiratory mm strength (btwn ribs) so cant inflate as much or take in as much o2. the gas exchange decrease affects maximum capacity (so exercise) not resting capacity (unless disease). so your ability to exercise decrease and you get tired more easily.

Question 29

Changes of nervous system in brain?

Answer 29

loss of nerve cells in some areas, structural changes in glial cells, so theres less myelin which slows the conduction rate of signals from neuron to axon terminal by 10%, this change affects reflexes. decline in cerebrospinal fluid which affects brain fxn, lipoofuscin is the access buildup of lipids that goes into nerve cells bc they werent cleared away properly. free radicals accumulate bc of increase in oxidative stress which affects fxn of cell. changes in neurotransmitter balance.

Question 30

Changes of nervous syst. in spinal cord?

Answer 30

number of cells decrease (loss of n. cells), decrease in nerve conduction due to changes in peripheral nerves.