Welcome to old age
Late adulthood
Age 65 to the end of the lifespan
Balance of gains and declines gradually shifts
Importance of culture for support, respect, purpose
Industrialized nations average nearly two more healthy decades
Physical changes in late adulthood
Functional age
Actual competence and performance may not match chronological age
Variation exists between and within individuals
No single biological measure can predict rate of aging
Life expectancy in Late Adulthood
Older adults now represent almost 17% of US population, compared with 4% in the early 1900s
Life expectancy has been increasing in US for decades
Steady decline in infant mortality
Decrease in adult death rates; improved nutrition, medical treatment, sanitation and safety
In 2023 US life expectancy nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels, but still lagged behind comparable countries
Factors influencing Life expectancy
Variations due to heredity and environment
Sex: women outlive men
SES increases with education and income
10 + year difference in life expectancy by high and low ses in the US
Lifestyle factors: behaviors, jobs, social supports
Public policies and programs: health care, housing, social services
In developing nations, greatly reduced by
Poverty, malnutrition, disease
Armed conflict
30-40+ year difference in life expectancy
Average healthy life expectancy: years expected to live in full health, without any disease or injury
Japas ranks first
Low rates of obesity and heart disease, low fat diet
Favorable health care policies
US lags behind overwhelming majority of industrialized nations
What can we learn about aging from centenarians
Biological, psychological, social influences combine
Factors contributing to long life:
Genetics: efficient immune system, few brain abnormalities, family members who also live long
Health: diet, low substance use exercise
Personality: optimism, independence, emotional security
Social support: close family bonds, happy marriage
Activities: community involvement, stimulating work, learning
But it may not be as the book portrays
Maximum lifespan
Species specific biological limit to length of life
Currently 122 years
Should we invest in lengthening maximum lifespan
Important goal is not just quantity of life, but quality
Quality of life
Activities of daily living (ADL)
Basic self-care tasks
Bathing, dressing, eating
Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLS)
Conducting business of daily life
Require some cognitive competence
Shopping, food preparation, housekeeping, paying bills
Limitations rise sharply with age
Aging and the nervous system
Neuron loss, especially in:
Prefrontal cortex (executive function)
Corpus Callosum (links cortical hemispheres)
Hippocampus (memory and spatial understanding)
Brain can compensate to an extent
Other issues include body temperature regulation, decreased immunity, sleep problems, etc
Vision
Increased sensitivity to glare
Impaired color discrimination
Poor dark adaptation
Decreased depth perception
Lower visual acuity
Cataracts
Clouding of the lens
Affects 50% of those in their 80s
Macular degeneration
Central vision loss due to degeneration of the central part of retina (macula)
Leading cause of blindness among older adults, affecting 30% of 75-85 year olds
Not all affected are impaired and for many it goes undetected
Hearing
Declines in detecting sounds:
High frequencies most affected
Soft (quiet) sounds throughout frequency range
Speech perception: greatly affects life satisfaction
Do not predict cognitive declines
Difficulties in perception doesn't mean that cognitive capacity is diminished, necessarily
For most, not disruptive to daily life until age 85+
Compensation relies on intermodal perception (facial expressions, gestures, lip movements) quiet environments, hearing aids and devices
Rates of visual and hearing impairments among US men and women by age
Taste and smell
Decline in taste buds on tongue
Greater difficulty recognizing familiar foods
Increased likelihood of dietary deficiencies
Decline in odor sensitivity
Decrease in smell receptors
Loss of neurons in brain regions that process odors
Perception distorted “food no longer smells and tastes right”
self-protective function of odor sensitivity
Effects of sensory changes
Vision problems
Difficulties with daily activities changes in leisure activities
Aging body systems
cardiovascular /respiratory systems
Heartbeat less forceful, reduced maximum heart rate, blood flow
Less oxygen delivered to tissues during exertion
Vital lung capacity reduced by half
Immune system
Effectiveness declines
Increased risk of illness (infectious, autoimmune, cardiovascular disease, cancers, arthritis, diabetes)
Stress-related susceptibility
Sleep
Total sleep needs remain constant
Sleep timing changes: earlier bedtime and wakening
Less time spent in deep sleep
Sleep difficulties
Insomnia
Nighttime waking
Fostering restful sleep
Consistent bedtime, waking time,
Regular exercise
Using bedroom only for sleep
Physical appearance and mobility
Skin creases and sags “age spots”
Nose and ears broaden
Hair thins, teeth yellow
Weight declines after age 60
Height continues to decline especially for women
Accidents in late adulthood
Motor vehicle
Among the highest rates of accidents/fatalities
Vision problems, slowed reaction time
Loss of personal control when no longer driving
Falls:
Vision, hearing, mobility, strength and cognitive difficulties
Hip fracture most common, severe complications possible
Limits mobility, social contact, fear reduces activity
Person–environment fit is extremely important
Match between person’s capabilities and their living environment
Cognitive functioning in late adulthood
Mental disabilities in late adulthood
Dementia is an umbrella term (not a specific disease) for severe cognitive decline
Involves impairments to thought and behavior that disrupt daily life
Alzheimer’s disease 70% of all dementia cases
Most common type of dementia
Selective optimization with compensation
Making the most out of available cognitive resources
Select
Choose personally valued activities, avoid others
Optimize
Maximize returns from diminishing energy
Compensate
Find new ways to offset losses
Example
A musician may perform fewer pieces within his/her range of skill/ stamina to conserve and optimize his energy
May also devise compensatory techniques that make up for declines such as playing speed (varying tempo with more contrast)
Long term memory
Explicit- conscious
Implicit- unconscious
Semantic- general knowledge about the world, concepts, facts and meanings that are not tied to personal experiences (eg dog is type of animal, paris is capital of france)
Declines less than episodic memory because it depends more on familiarity
General knowledge is more rehearsed and reinforced throughout life,
episodic - retrieval of everyday experiences
Implicit memory
Memory without conscious awareness
Ex riding a bike, playing an instrument
Recognition easier than recall
Supported by environmental cues
Implicit memory
Declines far less than explicit memory
Depends on familiarity, not conscious use of strategies
Associative memory deficit in late life
Associative memory deficit
Difficulty creating and retrieving links between pieces of information
Essential for linking related information and is present in both explicit memory( conscious recall of connections) and implicit memory (where connections are formed unconsciously, often affecting behavior and emotional responses
Remote memory
Long term recall
Autobiographical memory (recall of personally meaningful events) stronger for both remote and recent events than for intermediate events
Recent events: events that happened recently (within the past few months or years)
Reminiscence bump- a period of heightened autobiographical memory between ages 10 and 30 (adolescence to young adulthood)
Evident across cultures
Strengthened through lifetime of recalling, retelling
Why might this be?
Word-cue method
Given a series of words and asked to report a personal memory cued by each
Tends to evoke more recent events
important -memories method
Prompted to describe important life events, noting the age at which it occurred
Prospective memory: remembering to engage in planned actions in the future
Which is different from every type of memory we have been discussing so far which is retrospective memory (remembering things in the past)
Older adults often set up events based reminders to compensate
For example, using a timer or notes to help remember tasks they need to do
With complicated tasks, harder to deactivate intention, risk of repeating
Challenge inhibiting after task completion
Risks can include