My Body at Age 50

As one gets older, their body changes dramatically in height, eye sight, memory, attention, weight, women go through menopause, and men go through reproductive changes. During middle age, vision and hearing both decline. The lens of the eye enlarges and becomes less flexible and less transparent, making it more difficult to perceive images in sharp focus and to see in dim light. The number of rods and cones, used to detect light and color, in the eye diminish to half by the age of sixty impairing vision. The consequences of these changes are most evident in vision for reading. Few people tend to need glasses for reading prior to middle adulthood, even if they needed visual assistance to perceive distant objects clearly, but by age 60 most people need reading glasses. Hearing declines for high pitched sounds. Just like hair on the head, the tiny hairs in the inner ear, known as cilia, which transmit sounds to the brain, thin out during middle adulthood. The eardrum and other structures in the inner ear become less flexible, making them less sensitive to sounds, and the auditory cortex in the brain becomes less efficient in processing information from the inner ear. Hearing aids can help aid this change.

One of the most important physical changes of midlife occurs in the reproductive system as fertility declines, a change known as climacteric; for women the cessation of ovulation and menstruation while for men it’s the gradual decline in the number and quality of sperm. Menopause, a process that takes place in every woman during their early thirties to fifties, is the permanent end of menstruation and fertility. “Menopause is a natural biological process. Although it ends fertility, you can stay healthy, vital and sexual. Some wo...

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...r alcohol abuse, a stable marriage, exercise, healthy weight, optimism, and resilience had a healthier life after middle adulthood. When considering others who are around fifty years old, I believe that everyone is equally affected by the ‘typical’ biological aging process to a certain extent. Cancer and diseases sometimes are inherited which can damage them and decrease their survival rate. However, most factors that influence how someone is affected by the aging process depend on their choices. The way they take care of their body and put into it will determine how fast they age. If a person doesn’t take much care of their body it makes the aging process come much faster. Smoking, drinking, and drug abuse affect a person’s appearance and make them seem older than what they are. Healthy life styles will slow down the aging process and allow adults to live longer.