Week 15 Post 2

 When reading Chapter 25 about the caring for frail elderly, one issue stood out to me: elder abuse.  Caregiving sometimes results in resentment and social isolation which increases the risk of depression, poor health and abuse.  Abuse occurs when the caregiver suffers from emotional problems.  These caregivers often believe that overmedication, locked doors and physical restraints are their only options to cope with difficult, frail, elderly relatives.  All of those options are considered to be abuse by professionals.  Studies found that 5% of elders say they are abused and one-fourth of elders are vulnerable but do not report abuse.  Usually the elders that do not report abuse choose not to because they are being mistreated by their relatives and are ashamed to admit it.  Since not all elders report it, the actual rate of elder abuse is closer to one-fourth of all elders.  This statistic surprised me.  I was surprised that so many caregivers would abuse their related elders.  I understand why some of the elders did not report abuse but I just don't get why it would happen to begin with.  If a caregiver cannot take care of the elderly properly, the elder should be placed in long-term care or find some other caregiver.  I understand it could be hard to place your elderly relatives in long-term care but I know if I couldn't properly take care of someone so important to me, I would want to do what is best for them. 

Week 15 Post 2

In chapter 25 I found the self theory very interesting. Self theories is theories of late adulthood that emphasize the core self, or the search to maintain one's integrity and identity. In self theories a person ultimately depends on himself or herself. One self theory came from Erikson. In his 8th stage of development he called it integrity versus despair. Which is a period when older adults seek to integrate their unique experiences with their vision of community. Many older people will show pride and contentment regrading their personal history. Another theory of late adulthood is called stratification theories. Stratification theories are theories that emphasize that social forces, particulary those related to a person's social stratum or social category, limit individual choices and affect a person's ability to function in late adulthood because past stratification continues to limit life in various ways. One version of stratification is disengagement theory. Disengagement theory is the view that aging makes a person's social sphere increasingly narrow, resulting in role relinquishment, withdrawal, and passivity. In this theory people as they age, traditional roles become unavailable or unimportant, social circle shrinks, coworkers stop asking for help, and adult children turn away.

Week 15 Post 1

In chapter 24 it mentions Alzheimer Disease, which is the most common cause of dementia, characterized by gradual deterioration of memory and personality and marked by the formation of plaques of beta-amyloid protein and tangles of tau in the brain. My grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer Disease, and eventually passed away because of the disease. In the book it says the disease progresses quickly reaching the last phase within 3-5 years. After my grandpa was diagnosed with the disease he lived about 7 years, the last three years of his life the disease, it progressed quickly. The book talks about the three stages the disease goes through. Stage 1 people forget recent events, or new information. In stage 2 confusion develops with deficits in concentration and short term memory, speech comes aimless and repetitive, vocabulary is limited, and words get mixed up. In stage 3 memory loss becomes dangerous. Examples would be not dressing properly or forgetting to turn off the stove. In stage 4 full-time care is needed. People with the disease cannot dress themselves, or take care of daily needs for themselves. Finally in stage 5, people become unresponsive.

Week Fifteen Post Two

While reading chapter fifteen I was most interested on the section on holding on to one’s self. Older people consider their personalities and attitudes to have remained quite stable over their life span, even as they recognize the physical changes of their bodies. Older persons who are the victims of a crime feel that their sense of self-efficiency is threatened, especially if they are African American. The tendency to cling to familiar places and possessions may be problematic if it leads to compulsive hoarding. This urge to accumulate old papers, pieces of furniture, and mementos becomes stronger with age, and family members often complain that an elderly person foolishly saves things that take up space and become a fire hazard.  I found this section most interesting because I’ve actually had first hand experience with a hoarder. My grandmother was a huge pack rat and hoarder and she saved everything. Well when she decided to sell her house, we had to go through each and every thing she had packed up in the numerous rooms she had. It took weeks, so many hours of our time was invested in trashing the useless items and saving the valuable. The need to protect oneself explains why many of the old strive to maintain the cultural and religious values of their youth. For intense when, grandparents may painstakingly teach a grandchild language that is rarely used in their current community or encourage the child to repeat rituals or prayers, they themselves learned almost a century ago. This is also true about my grandma. Although the facts about  elders seem to stereotype them, they are pretty accurate.

Week Fifteen Post One

While reading chapter twenty-four, I felt most informed by the section on the aging brain.  It interests me how senescence reduces production of glutamate, acetylcholine serotonin, and dopamine, which allows a nerve impulse to jump quickly across the synapse from one neuron to another.  I am a biology major and never heard of this before so it really struck my interest. Neural fluid then decreases, myelination thins the corpus callosum and is then reduced, and cerebral blood circulates more slowly. I find this process very intriguing.  The result of this is an overall slowdown, evident in reaction time, talking, and thinking.  These are a lot of different senses that are affected in this process. According to most neuroscientists, brain aging is measurable not only in speed but also in size: The brain gets smaller. I was honestly shocked when I learned this fact; I truthfully thought your brain stayed the same size no matter what through life, because as a kid I used to believe my brain would continue to grow as I learned new things. Some areas shrink more than others, among them the hypothalamus and prefrontal cortex. Prefrontal shrinkage may explain inadequate inhibition, evident when some older people talk too much, with “off target verbosity,” to inattentive listeners. And lastly I didn’t ever know the explanation of the elderspeak and what caused it. I think I found the section on the brain to be most interesting because I love to learn how the body develops. Each and every organ, and how it affects our actions.

Week 15 Post 2

The section titled "control processes" in chapter 24 really grabbed my attention. I have learned about control processes before but I have never learned about control processes in late adulthood. Control processes regulate the analysis and flow of information and for many elderly individuals, these processes are impaired. Most control processes are dependent on the prefrontal cortex which may shrink with age. When making decisions, older adults rely mostly on prior knowledge, general principles, familiarity, and rules of thumb which is referred to as the top-down strategy. The top-down strategy involves deductive reasoning and intuitive thought. Intuitive thinking is quicker and older adults' decisions are generally good ones but for complex decisions, analytic thinking may be best for the elderly. The two aspects of memory are storage and retrieval. Storage refers to memories stored in the brain and the ability to produce a stored memory on demand. It is predicted that there is an issue with retrieval  which explains many deficits found in the cognitive tests of adults. Older adults have extensive vocabularies but limited fluency and they are much better at recognition than recall. In addition, they have tip-of-the-tongue forgetfulness and their spelling is much poorer than their speech. Priming is another control strategy in which a person is given a clue before being asked to remember something or when some technique is used to jog the person's memory. Hearing a word before being asked to remember it primes the brain to recall the word later. 

Week 15 Post 1

While reading chapter 24, I found the section titled "Information Processing After Age 65" to be very interesting. As individuals approach and reach the age of sixty-five, their senses are no longer as sharp as they used to be. The reduced acuity impairs cognition because information must cross the sensory threshold which is the divide between what is sensed and what is not, in order to be perceived. Some details and conversations never reach older people's minds because the senses do not detect the stimuli. When elderly people have sensory deficits, the brain automatically fills in missed sights and sounds which means information may be distorted or lost without the person realizing it. One study concluded that input led to the older adults' inaccuracy. Many older adults keep talking after their listener loses interest. They may also miss irony, humor, or sarcasm which are all signaled with facial expressions as well as words. Reduced sensory input affects cognition by increasing interference which is a major impediment to effective and efficient cognition in the elderly. Vital information may be lost because other less important information captures attention. Dealing with gaps in a heard message tires the mind which depletes the mental energy needed to take the next step in information processing. Older adults spend more effort reducing mental interference. This information was intriguing to me because I have never learned about cognition in late adulthood before.

Week 15, Post 1

I thought the process of cognitive decline was interesting. Cognitive decline slows down due to reduction of neurotransmitters of the brain such as glutamate, acetylcholine, serotonin, and especially dopamine (Berger, p.666). Several items contribute to the slowing down of cognition such as current intellectual challenge, past education, and current health. Better health, means better circulation, and faster thinking. Another consequence of cognitive aging is the shrinkage of the hypothalamus and prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex in particular, leads to off-target verbosity (OTV). OTV is prolific speech that is lacking in focus (Arbuckle, 2004). It’s caused by inadequate inhibition (Berger, 667). A high level of OTV is a strong motivation for talking to others and thus may offer protection against loneliness (Arbuckle, 2004).

Gray matter inevitably (brain process responsible for comprehending new experiences) decreases in old age. I found it interesting if gray matter is small to begin with in young age, then the person’s openness to new experiences in old age decreases even further. As a side note, I think this reduction of openness to new experiences is a survival mechanism to prevent older adults from adventuring out into unknown territory without full mental and physical functioning capacity.

Arbuckle, T., 2004. Off-target verbosity, everyday competence, and subjective well-being. Gerontology.  Sep-Oct; 50(5):291-7.

Week 15: Post 1

While reading Chapter 25, the “Home Sweet Home” topic in the “Activities in Late Adulthood” really caught my attention. Berger informs readers that one of the most popular activities of retired persons is caring for their homes. They participate in various types of home renovations such as yard work, redecorating, building shelves, rearranging furniture, and gardening (2011, p. 703). When reading this section, I immediately thought of my paternal grandmother. A widow of eight years, my grandmother focuses a lot of her time on cleaning her house. She has about two acres of property, so oftentimes my dad and brother will mow the lawn and rake leaves at her house. The appearance of her home is important to her.

Another topic that made me think of my grandmother is aging in place, which is when older adults choose to remain in the same home and community in later life (Berger, 2011, p. 704). My grandmother has lived in her home for over fifty years, and because my aunt lives with her, I’m sure she will continue to live in the same house. In correlation with the information in our textbook, the neighborhood that she resides in is on its way to becoming a naturally occurring retirement community (NORC) since it is a small neighborhood and most of the residents there are around her age.

Berger, K. S. (2011). The developing person through the life span (8^th ed.). New York: Worth     

        Publishers.

Week 15 post 1

I began searching for articles attempting to explain the occurrence of both spouses dying in a given time period after the first one dies. There are several cases, one recently, where the husband or wife dies and them the partner is so grief-stricken that they pass away not long after. I was search through articles, but I came across one that is relevant to my family. The article is entitled "Cardiometabolic Effects in Caregivers of Nursing Home Placement and Death of Their Spouse with Alzheimer's Disease." My grandfather took care of my grandmother for about 10 years until her disease progressed to a point where he could not physically do it anymore and had no other option, but to put her in a nursing home. When he did that, he was stressed about it for a while, but not long after we noticed a relief of stress in my grandpa. He became more stressed about the fact that his wife of 54 years was no longer herself and was totally taken over by a disease, but she eventually died short of 2 years in the facility. Anyway, the research objective was to test the hypothesis that "cardiometabolic risk is attenuated when caregivers are relieved of caregiving stress when the caregiving recipient transitions out of the home." Basically speaking, cardiac stress decreases in the caregiver when the one needing care is admitted to a care facility where they passed away. This involved 119 spouses caring for their partner with Alzheimer's disease. This was compared with a control of 55 non-caregiving controls (Känel, Mausbach, Dimsdale, et. al., p. 2037). A longitudinal study was performed and 3 yearly stress assessments were completed. The results was that stress in caregivers decreased within 3 months of the death of their spouse. After the death of the spouse with Alzheimer's, a decrease in blood pressure was seen and the level of triglycerides decreased (Känel, Mausbach, Dimsdale, et. al., p. 2043). 

After my grandmother had passed away, be noticed some depression in my grandpa, he was often quiet and wanted to be alone. It has been two years since then and I have noticed that my grandpa is  talking and laughing a lot more. We have seen an improvement in my grandpa, so this study definitely correlates to him.

Känel, R., Mausbach, B. T., Dimsdale, J. E., Mills, P. J., Patterson, T. L., Ancoli-Israel, S., & ... Grant, I. (2011). Cardiometabolic Effects in Caregivers of Nursing Home Placement and Death of Their Spouse with Alzheimer's Disease. Journal Of The American Geriatrics Society, 59(11), 2037-2044. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2011.03634.x

Week 15 post 1

These two chapters really opened my eyes to how important exercise really is. It amazed me how much it benefits you in your future. Being active helps you live longer, have stronger bones, and better health in general. This has encouraged me a lot to start exercising more. Getting in the habit of exercise is best to start sooner rather than when it's too late. When I get old I want to be able to live the longest I can, in order to do that I need to be healthy and active. It also says that this could help slow down or even prevent dementia progression. Dementia/Alzheimer disease is a scare that we face because it's really inevitable, so any chance I could have to slow down that I would want to take. I encourage everyone to become active, because what we do now really does affect what happens in the future.

Week 15 post 2

For my second blog post for this week is going to be about how relationships between older adults and society do not end when entering this stage of life. Some stereotypes that people within our society is that older adults retire and do want ever they want and then end up moving to an assist living facility. In some situation that may be true but a more realistic perspective of older adults it they build bond and relationships with friends, volunteer, maybe even still work, and travel. It has been found that more and older adults are working longer and stop working when they become ill or maybe when they die (Berger, 701).  Some other adults may work until the retirement age and then volunteer at a place of interest such as  local food bank a couple times a week or travel to different places of enjoyment. The level of intelligence or strength in adults do not automatically decrease as some may think. One may lose their strength over time and ability to complete tasks but not right away. Another way one who is older stays healthy is being active in religious events being involved politically. From observing my grandparents behavior when I was younger they were greatly involved in the community such as delivery meals to other older adults (meals on wheels), donating their time to putting together letters at a local foster and adoption agency (COBY’S) and events within their church. Seeing them being involved allowed me to gain a stronger understanding in what it is like for them to be retired not only having fun but contributing to society. My perception on older adults has changed while reading this chapter and understanding changes that may happen over time.

Week 15 post 1

While reading chapter 24 the one topic that caught my attention was dementia. I already knew about dementia but learning about the different types and how it affects the individual allowed me to have a greater understanding of the topic. Dementia is defined as an irreversible loss of intellectual functioning caused by organic brain damage or disease (Berger, 678). As we have read in pervious chapters the one’s level of intelligence is not necessarily lost or depleted once they get older but the mind functions in a different way. One branch or type of dementia is Parkinson’s disease which I did not really know about but always heard about fundraisers such as walking for awareness. Parkinson’s is a “progressive” disease which begins to show by shaking and losing control of one’s muscles. Not only does the individual struggle with signs of memory loss or confusion muscles can become weakened making one prone to falling. From my own personal experience my grandpa recently started showing major signs of Parkinson’s disease. Before being fully diagnosed with the disease he already was confused and was losing his balanced which are signs of dementia. It is hard to grasp the concept that a family member or one that we know is changing and has developed a disease but it is part of the ageing process. Ways to prolong or somewhat prevent dementia is doing daily exercises; mentally and physically, eating healthy, and getting checked regularly (Berger, 682). Dementia and Parkinson’s is not curable at this point but funds are being raised to go towards research which can find the leading factors of the diseases.

Week 15 Post 1

Chapter 25 discussed the psychosocial development in late adulthood.  One section of the text discussed volunteer work among adults.  Although volunteering is not paid, it offers benefits to the individual, such as generativity, social connections and better health.  Society also benefits from volunteers.  A cross sectional research found that there is a strong connection between good health and people who volunteer.  Volunteering aides in a person's well-being.  Self theory would predict that volunteer work attracts older people who are strongly committed to their community, especially those who have volunteered earlier in adulthood.  This prediction was found to be false.  Studies found that older, retired individuals are less likely to volunteer than middle-aged employed people.  By looking at the bar graph on page 703 of our textbook, there is a bell curve on the ages of people who volunteer (Berger 2011).  Adults between the ages of 35-54 have the highest volunteer rates while adults over the age of 65 have the lowest volunteer rates. 

I found these findings to be interesting.  When I retire, I think I'm going to volunteer.  What else do elderly people do after they retire?  I know when I retire, I will have too much free time and would love to do volunteer work to help people.  I am planning on being a physical therapist.  In order to get into grad school, I needed volunteer hours so I worked as a volunteer at a hospital.  I took patients back and forth from their room to the physical therapy gym.  As a retired physical therapist, I would love to volunteer again, even if it is forty years from now.  I'm surprised at how many elderly people don't volunteer. 

Week 15 Post 2

While reading Chapter 25, I really enjoyed learning about the long-term partnerships between elderly people. I think one of the main reasons why I liked learning about this, was because in previous chapters Berger (2010) discussed the relationships between people whereas this is a partnership. In my opinion, I believe that this is known as a partnership because the elderly couple has been together for so long and is truly willing to help each other as they both enter into old age. I never realized this but elderly married couples are often wealthier, healthier, and happier than the elderly who are divorced. I feel like they are wealthier because they both have each other’s money to help support them. Therefore, they are healthier because they can afford doctor visits and different medicines that they may need. Their mental health may also be healthy just like their physical health because they have each other to talk to as well as remember each other of things. Overall, I feel like being both wealthy and healthy would definitely make an elderly couple happy, especially since they have each other. Fortunately for me, I have had the opportunity to watch my grandparents enter old age together. In my opinion, it is one of the sweetest things to watch because they truly do care about each other. They both encourage and challenge each other to continue doing stuff like play games such as Scrabble and Banana Grams to stimulate their memory. They also do puzzles to help their minds sharp. I can only hope that someday I too have as strong as a partnership with someone, as my grandparents have with each other.

Week 15 Post 1

My knowledge about Alzheimer disease increased as I read Chapter 24. Previously to reading this chapter, I already knew that Alzheimer disease that was an illness that slowly affected someone’s memory as well as their personality traits. After reading more about this illness, I feel like Alzheimer disease would be one of the saddest and most difficult illnesses to go through. It wasn’t until I read this chapter that realized Alzheimer disease can sometimes be genetic. The best way to tell when this disease is genetic is when someone gets it before the age of 60 (Berger, p. 679). Unfortunately, if someone gets Alzheimer disease before the age of 60, the disease will quickly reach the phase between three or five years. Fortunately for me, I never knew anyone who had Alzheimer disease. I have however, watched movies that had characters who acted out traits that a real person with this disease would have. I noticed that the people closest to the person with Alzheimer often tried to act normal with them around. I observed that despite losing memory, a person with Alzheimer disease can having periods of remembrance. These times of remembrance are often triggered by something that was either done or said. Sadly, this time is also very short compared to the time how a person with Alzheimer disease usually acts. Yet, when a person with Alzheimer disease remembers something it is one of the most exciting thing for both the people closest to them as well as themselves.

week 14 post 1

In the beginning of this chapter the author discusses two major theories by both Erikson and Maslow. Just to discuss Erikson’s stages of adulthood a little bit, his theory begins with Identity Versus Role Confusion is basically dealing with identity concerns which can be a long term issue with all of throughout our lives. This involves collaboration between values and traditions from childhood, with their current social context.  There are four types of identity that we are continuously plagued by us during are adult life are sexual/gender, vocational/work, religious/ spiritual, and political/ethnic. I honestly have to stay that I agree with Erikson because throughout our lives we are faced with so many different situation and were always changing.

                The second stage in his adulthood theory is Intimacy Versus Isolation. This stage discusses adults seeking intimacy and or a close, reciprocal connection with another human being. Erikson elaborates saying that intimacy is mutual and is not self-absorbing, in other words adults need to devote time and energy to one another. Isolation generally happens when divorce or death interrupts intimate relationships. While ideally I know that we all crave for someone to share our lives with not all of us ends up how we envision it with that special person. The way how society is going a lot of people are considered isolate but the cause is not by death or divorce but just the way of life. Not that much people are concerned with settling with just one person.

                The third stage is Generosity Versus Stagnation deals with adults needing to take care of the next generation by raising their own children, mentoring, teaching or helping younger people. At first the stage focused on and parenthood but later involved other ways to achieve generativity.  Adults extend beyond their household to their culture and their generation with ongoing care and creativity and sacrifice. This is an interesting concept I have seen such things done before especially on the cultural side of it and actually admire the way how people go about caring for others.

                This the last stage in this theory it’s the Integrity Versus Despair which deals with integrity and the importance of it. According to Erikson integrity and the goal of combating prejudice and helping all humanity was too important to be left to the elderly. He also thought that t each person’s entire life could be directed towards connecting a personal journey with the historical and cultural purpose of human society , the ultimate achievement of integrity.  This is a wonderful way to live one’s life. Its always a great thing to give a helping had to those in need no matter what. Helping others is a great feeling 

week 15

During this chapter I was able to connect with it. One of the things I was able to connect with was when people have either dementia or Alzheimer. My great-grandmother, who I loved dearly, recently passed away and she was one of the many adults that had that had Alzheimer disease.  It was sad at times because she lost some memory but she was happy as well because she was always around the people she was closely familiar with. This chapter taught me the different stages of dementia. My grandmother was never at the last stage she recognizes many people including myself but sometimes she would have a change in personality. One minute she might be completely sweet and then later on she would become aggressive mainly verbally.  I wish someone could find a cure for dementia, but since is many different types of dementia the cure may not work for all types. There are numerous elders that have or getting dementia; more and more are dying from it.  There are many people that do not care for their elders, but I for one love the elderly. If it were not for the elderly no one would be where they are now. Our society does not love and appreciate the elderly like other countries or societies do. For instance, when an elder gets sick there children or loved ones are quick to put them in a nursing home; instead of taking them into there homes and taking care of them. In China, when older children take care of their elders, they either live with them or the elders lives their children. Studies have shown the more active an elder is, regardless if he or she has Demetria or not, the better the chance he or she will live longer. My grandmothers doctor used to always to the family to keep her active.

week 14

All human beings’ needs someone they can be intimate with. It could be a friend boyfriend/girlfriend and family. In the text it says that each person is part of a social convoy. Social convoy is defined as a group of people who provide a protective layer of social relations to guide, encourage and socialize individuals as they go through life. In other words it is someone that is there for you as you grow.  I learned that as people get older, their social convoy functions as it did earlier in life. My social convoys are my family. No matter what I go through in life I know they will always be there for me. Another thing I found interesting was the effects of frequent change in jobs. In the text I found one particular study interesting, which is “People who frequently changed jobs by age 36 were three times more likely to have various health problems.” I thought this was amazing to learn because there are a large amount of people who change jobs constantly throughout the year. With the frequent change people are known to have some health problems. I would have never correlated the two.