EB1765

As We Grow Older

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Aging - A Natural Process

Becoming more ourselves

Normal aging reinforces a person's basic personality. We are unique individuals as a result of the individual experiences of our lives. The more life experiences someone has, the more individualistic that person is likely to be. Knowing what kind of a person someone was as a young adult will tell you how they are likely to be as they reach old age.

Provided aging has not been compromised by a disease process, older adults will retain their earlier personalities. If an older adult's basic personality seems to change, a thorough examination should be conducted to diagnose the reasons for that change.

Learning never stops

People can learn throughout their lives. Although intellectual functioning varies widely across all ages, we know that the learning styles and strategies of older people are different from those of younger people. Some of these differences include:

• Reaction time increases with age. Tasks requiring more choices increase reaction time the most.
• Older adults aim for accuracy when problem solving as opposed to speed. Tasks requiring more choices take longer to complete.
• Older adults have more trouble remembering things most recently heard or experienced, but can often remember things from the past with great accuracy.
• It is easier for older adults to remember what they hear, as opposed to what they see. What is both seen and heard is the easiest to remember.
• "Use it or lose it" is a principle applying to all ages. People who exercise their minds tend to experience less memory loss than those who don't.

Changes in our senses

Sensory changes are another normal aspect of aging. By recognizing the sensory changes in an older adult, we can help maximize self-reliance and self-esteem, while providing whatever support may be needed due to physiological changes.

Often people with impaired senses compensate for a loss of one sense by using another; for instance, learning to read lips as hearing loss increases. But when both sight and hearing decline, it is even more difficult for people to communicate.

Vision

• Older people tend to be farsighted because the lens of the eye is less able to change shape to focus on near objects.
• Bright colors, such as red, orange and yellow, are more easily seen than violet, blue and green because the amount of light entering the lens reduces with age. Consequently, older adults are attracted to those colors and find them more pleasurable.
• Reading materials in larger typeface on brightly colored paper are more visible to older adults.

Hearing

Hearing is a complex sense that combines the frequency of sound (pitch), with the intensity of the sound, and the time interval of its occurrence. In addition, the inner ear is responsible for maintaining our balance.

• As we age, it becomes more difficult to hear low-intensity and high-pitched sound. Low-pitched sounds with low intensity, like organ music, are more pleasing.
• Men show more hearing loss than women, possibly due to their exposure to noise pollution in the workplace.
• If an older person falls frequently, the inner ear should be examined.

Taste

Taste and smell are intimately related to our enjoyment of food and drink. The threshold for the sense of taste increases with age. It takes more flavor to achieve the same level of sensation or satisfaction as in younger years. Since good nutrition is vital to the well-being of older people, food that is well flavored and appealing to look at will contribute to a healthy appetite and good nutrition.

Sex and Touching

Everybody needs affection, healthy touching, and love throughout life for optimal health and happiness. An older person's interest in sex will be related to the level of such interest in earlier years. Our cultural stereotyping often portrays older adults as incapable of sexual activity or considers it "dirty" or inappropriate. Older people are often deprived of touch because touching in our culture is usually associated with sexual touching.

Human sexual response is slower as we age, and it can be affected by psychological states, such as depression, and can also be related to the side effects of medications. In addition, older people may be less sensitive to pain, which can be dangerous, since pain serves as an early warning system.

 

Aging - A Natural Process

We all know that we change as we get older. Most adults are familiar with the developmental changes their children pass through from infancy to adolescence or the changes they have personally experienced going from young adulthood to maturity.

But for many people the normal changes that accompany becoming older adults are neither known nor understood, giving rise to fear and mistaken conclusions about illness and deterioration. There are many myths about aging. Separating these myths from the truth can result in a more positive outlook regarding this normal process.

Knowing what is normal empowers us. Age brings change but normal aging is not a disease. Knowledge will reduce anxiety as well as alert us when something does need special attention.

Elfriede Massier, Ph.D
Extension Gerontologist,
Department of Human Development
Washington State University

In cooperation with The Boeing Community Relations Center

Issued by Washington State University Cooperative Extension, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in furtherance of the Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914. Cooperative Extension programs and policies are consistent with federal and state laws and regulations on nondiscrimination regarding race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, disability, and sexual orientation. Evidence of noncompliance may be reported through your local Cooperative Extension office. Published December 1994. Subject code 635. X EB1765