When Does Someone
Attain Old Age?
Aging is a highly individual
experience. Chronological age may differ from a person's functional age. Age
related changes occur at different rates for different persons. In our country,
mandatory retirement fixes "old age" at 65 years. Many authors feel
that fixing mandatory retirement at 65 years is an unsatisfactory, arbitrary
requirement for four reasons:
1) Age-related changes within
any one individual can differ greatly. For instance, intelligence and memory
change in a complex manner rather than generalized declines.
2) Age-related changes differ
greatly from one individual to another in the same manner as each person differs
from one another while moving from infancy to maturity.
3) No sharp differences occur
either physically or psychologically when a person reaches 65 years of age.
Absolutely no clinical evidence exists for selecting this chronological age as a
retirement age.
4) Some impairments and
deficiencies do occur as a person ages, but the person often finds ways of
adjusting and compensating.
Most older adults are not in
poor health. Physiological, sensory, emotional, and physical changes do occur,
but the human body and a person's ingenious method of compensation often allows
the older person to successfully function in today's complex world.
Aging Is Natural
The aging process is a very
natural one. It begins at conception and continues throughout the life cycle.
The manner in which someone ages depends on heredity, physical health,
nutrition, mental, and other unknown factors. Some scientists feel that human
beings have a built-in "biological clock," which would run for 130
years if no diseases or illnesses affected the body.
The need to understand the
normal aging process is increasing rapidly as this nation's population grows
older. Where once it was unusual for families to have three living
generations, now it is not unusual for families to have four living
generations. Many persons experience full lives for two to four decades past
60 years of age. Unfortunately, professionals, policy makers, and families are
often unprepared or ignorant about aging. One professional group issued the
following statement: "The stereotype of an older person who must
inevitably suffer because of reduced mobility, health, and status is not
consistent with the fact that most older persons, given supportive
circumstances and conditions, are quite capable of enjoying life fully until
the end of their lives."
Perhaps, Longfellow sums up
the aging experience best: "Age is opportunity no less, than youth
itself, though in another dress; and the evening twilight fades away, the sky
is filled with stars, invisible by day."
References
Gillies, John. A Guide to
Caring for and Coping with Aging Parents. Thomas Nelson Publishers,
Nashville, 1981.
Halpert, B.P., Ph.D.;
"Health Tips on Aging," May & December 1985. Center on Aging
Studies, University of Missouri at Kansas City (Missouri).
Extracted from: Senior
Series Volume 1, The Center on Rural Elderly, University of Missouri System.
Ohio State University
Extension
Adapted by: Linnette Mizer
Goard, Extension Agent
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