Week 12 - Aging: beliefs vs reality Flashcards
What are the causes of low life expectancy of indigenous Australians?
Access to healthcare in remote communities
Poverty
Hidden racism
Poor health and nutrition, preventable chronic conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, chronic lower respiratory diseases
Compared to indigenous peers, stolen generations survivors have increased levels of…
Mental health disorders
Government assistance
Smoking
Physical harm
poverty
Early death
What happens if people do not have the opportunity to heal from past trauma?
they may unknowingly pass it on through unstable parenting practices, violence, harmful substance use etc.. (intergenerational trauma)
How does intergenerational trauma effect children?
Difficulties with attachment, trust, self-worth, resilience, disconnection from their extended communities and high levels of stress and anxiety
What disadvantaged australians have reduced life expectancy?
Culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
Live in rural/remote areas
Homeless or at risk of becoming homeless
Identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex
Who are at risk of developing mental health disorders?
Older people are at a greater risk than younger people
Why are older people at a greater risk of developing mental health disorders than young people?
increased likelihood of bereavement
Adjustment to physiological changes. lifestyle changes, loss of privacy, giving up driving/independence, leading to isolation
Major disability may alter person’s status
What are some barriers to mental health care in older people?
Lack of mental health services for old people
prioritising physical health over mental health
Poor mental health literacy
Stigma
Different symptoms of depression compared to young people
Assumptions that depression is a normal part of ageing
What can untreated mental ill health lead to for older people?
Poor wellbeing and quality of life
Deterioration in overall health
Increased hospital admissions
Earlier transition to residential aged care
How can we promote mental health so that we can create living conditions and environments that support wellbeing and allow people to lead a health life?
Adequate housing through supportive housing policy
Social support for older people and their caregivers
Health and social programmes targeted at vulnerable groups (those who live alone, rural populations who suffer from chronic mental or physical illness)
Programmes to prevent and deal with elder abuse
Community development programmes
Promote active and healthy ageing
How many people over the age of 75 live alone?
50%
What is a comparable risk factor for early death to smoking 15 cigarettes a day?
Loneliness
Who is twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease?
A lonely person
What increases with age?
Social reasoning
Life satisfaction
Body positivity
What have cross-sectional studies found about older people’s personalities?
Older people are more altruistic
Older people are more trusting compared to younger people
Older people have lower levels of the dark triad of personality traits (machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy)
What is a significant predictor of the frequency and intensity of psychological and somatic symptoms of menopause?
Neuroticism
What has narcissism (subclinical) been associated with?
lower rates of loneliness
What did a longitudinal study by Damian et al., 2019 find about how personality changes with age?
Self rated scales
50 years later
Better emotional regulation and less neuroticism as you age
What personality traits change as we age?
Better emotional regulation and less neuroticism
Stability of moods and conscientiousness
interpersonal trust increases with age
less open and less extraverted
Although personalities shift in a certain direction as we age….
What we are like relative to other people in the same age group tends to remain fairly stable
What is alzheimers disease?
Generalised brain cell loss, especially in the cortex, plus extracellular plaques and intracellular tangles. It has a progressive unremitting course with widespread loss of function and abilities
What is vascular dementia?
Vascular lesions cause focal damage in the brain with resultant focal neurological signs. Stepwise deterioration in cognitive and physical function. Often a history of cardiovascular pathology (eg. hypertension
What is lewy body dementia?
symptoms include clouding of consciousness, paranoid delusions, visual and auditory hallucinations, falls, depressive symptoms
What is the preclinical stage of cognitive decline?
Silent phase: brain changes without measurable symptoms
individual may notice changes, but not detectable on tests
“A stage where the patient knows, but the doctor doesnt”
What is the MCI stage of cognitive decline?
Cognitive changes are of concern to individual and/or family
One or more cognitive domains impaired significantly
Preserved activities of daily living
What can increase the risk of dementia?
Physical and mental inactivity
smoking
obesity
diabetes
hypertension
depression
What percentage of dementia cases can be prevented by modifying risk factors?
40%
How do older people benefit from working?
Have greater levels of wellbeing and increased longevity
What exercises increases longevity?
HIIT increases mitochondria function
What type of diet is the most recognised for disease prevention and healthy aging?
The mediterranean diet, possibly due to anti-inflammatory and antioxidative properties
What is the mediterranean diet associated with?
longer telomere length
How many elderly men in Western societies report feeling isolated and lack social contacts?
20%
How many elderly women in Western societies report feeling isolated and lack social contacts?
40%
Telomere shortening can be considered a measure of…
Biological aging
What are the quantitative aspects of social support?
Social interaction which is measured in terms of the quantity of friends and relatives as well as frequency of social interactions an individual reports
What are the qualitative measures of social support?
Evaluating the quality of emotional (receiving love, acceptance and empathy)
or instrumental supports(practical help)
What are potential mitigating mechanisms that cause social support to improve the quality of life and alleviate existing health conditions?
reduced pro-inflammatory processes and
Dampened hormonal responses
along with other changes in biophysiological mechanisms
