The author will discuss the image they have created for themselves at 87 years old while reflecting the aging process they are experiencing. The first part of the paper will explain Gurdeep's life story and how her life at 87 years old is going for her. The second part will be a more in-depth reflection and exploration of aging in relation to the various aging theories.
Part One
It is the year 2085 and I (Gurdeep) am 87 years old now. I have been married to the love of my life Harman for 62 years now and have two kids together; Aayan and Aria. We moved to Vancouver a year after I finished my nursing degree at Medicine Hat College. I worked as a correctionals nurse for the first six years of my career and then switched over to psychiatric nursing,
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I can function quite well myself; though my son does not always agree with that. I know I am still functioning well enough to take care of my own activities of daily living such as; my personal hygiene, continence management, getting dressed by myself, feeding, and I am able to ambulate by myself. I may talk time to move from spot to spot but I am capable of doing so. My Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) require some assistance from my family but overall I consider myself healthy. Every 87-year-old needs help with medications or cleaning the entire house sometimes, and yes I cannot drive anymore or completely manage my own finances anymore, but I have a family that can look after that and they do. I just do not want to be a burden on them and ever since we moved in they manage a majority of my IADLs. My health sometimes affects my ability to function especially when my iron gets very low and I have to go get iron infusions so I do not get dizzy and faint, which has happened quite a few times and I have the scars to proof it. I am still Synthroid and antidepressants ever since I was a teenager and probably will be on them until I die. I tried to come off my antidepressants after college but the symptoms came back and I had frequent reoccurring suicidal thoughts and ever since then I have been too scared to try decreasing the dose and coming off them again. I do not want to have those thoughts at this age or potentially even act on them because it would destroy my family. My vision has been stable recently but the hardest part is not the vision but that I forget where my glasses are some days or that I even need to wear them. My ADHD and Alzheimer’s together is not that great for my cognitive abilities but since it is still the beginning stage I want to stop the cognitive decline so I can live freely without being a burden on my family. I guess I should be happy that this is my only major
Finally, another influence the new technology has on the citizens in their daily lives is the prevention of aging, especially in their physical state. “Work, play—at sixty our powers and tastes are what they were at seventeen. Old men in the bad old days used to renounce, retire, take to religion, spend their time reading, thinking-thinking!” (60) In the world there is no age restriction, this is because everyone looks the same.
Over the course of a lifetime many individuals do not get the chance to reach 100 years old. There are many environmental influences as well as human behaviors that contribute to one’s expected life span. Citizens in today’s society are working towards extending their natural life. One’s personal health, well-being and overall life course are a few factors that play a major role in the aging process. This document is a biography of 100 year old Porcha Petteway’s life course. Personal data, accomplishments, professional agencies, jobs and careers held will be discussed. People she helped, her legacy, life during her senior years and daily regiments that assisted in reaching 100 will also be conversed. Finally, her end of life journey, activeness during her senior years along with contributing environmental influences and behaviors that extended her life span will also be revealed.
Aging is an inevitable process where we as living beings grow old. Aging has some benefits and may bring some problems too. There is a great variety of researches done with different purposes which provide us with some information and statistics.
Aging is the process by which the human body undergoes changes and maturation over time, mainly because dead cells are not replaced in sufficient amounts to maintain optimum performance. In addition, changes in behavior are expected, (Gall, Beins, and Feldman, 2001). Due to the distinctive physical and psychological changes, this period of life can be one of much confusion for the elderly. Fortunately, technological advances in medicine and lifestyles have made life expectancy increase significantly since the fifties to the present, (Hiller & Barrow, 2011). For this project I used a phenomenology method. Phenomenology is the study of life events as they appear in the consciousness of a person or group of people; moreover is the study of experiences as they come to pass in our lives, (Desjarlais & Throop, 2011). This paper aims to analyze, visualize and illustrate various aspects of aging from the point of view of older adults.
Aging is universal and it is a process that everyone has to go through. The only difference is that everyone goes through this process at their own pace influenced by factors that will be discussed later on in this paper. When we think about factors that have an influence on older adults and how their life may be affected, we must consider the different social institutions while analyzing influences from social factors, cultural factors, and personal values. Abuse to older adults, stereotyping and informal care and technological advancements that affect older adults are the three topics that will be discussed in this reflection. Furthermore, will connect the three topics I have chosen to the knowledge that I have gained from my interaction
Successful Aging Elderly (SAE) Introduction In the elderly population most of the research carried out so far emphasizes on the functional problems and diseases. When it comes to successful aging elderly (SEA), it has been recommended that health status should be used to distinguish between elderly subgroups and disease-free people who can describe successful aging elderly (SAE). The research papers aims to describe a transitory overview of successful aging elderly research, illustrated in their chief sections: cognitive aspects, psychological and social aspects. It is proposed that future studies will unemployment an extensive demonstration of SAE, where the emphasis will be more on biological, health and cognitive perspectives.
My name is Katelyn Sandoval, I was born in Dallas, TX. I am 21 years old, full-time student at Tarrant County College. I am the oldest of three sisters. I am also married to my husband Jose; we have two beautiful kids named Joshua he is a year and a half and Susana is 7 months. I love to spending time with my kids, they have changed completely my perspective of how I view the world. I grew up motivating myself, and no matter what I faced, I have educated myself to hustle through the issues, life can bring. I give thanks to God, that I have been successful in everything that I have accomplished thus far, and I have established more goals and dreams in my life, that I am determine to fulfill.
This reflection paper is based on the life history interview conducted on me and a 78-year-old woman who is soon going to celebrate her 79th birthday on Sep 21st. I would call her with a fictitious name “Smita” in the entire paper to maintain and protect her privacy. The interview was about our life. It was divided into six major life categories: childhood, adulthood, identity, the present, aging, and life lessons. Having an opportunity to interview a 78-year-old woman and writing this reflective paper about the life history and experiences had made me realize that I have a lot to learn about the stages of human life. Every individual lives are different and it varies tremendously. As an interviewee my goal was to collect the details of life, different stories, and experiences that makes our life unique from the rest of the people.
Ageing is something that everyone will eventually experience if they are fortunate to live a long life. The process of ageing comes with various negative and positive outlooks. In western culture, ageing for both genders is particularly condemned. In the media in particular, the process of ageing for men and women vary greatly. Where, women are condemned for ageing more than men are. Media greatly highlights on the stereotypical notion of ageing especially in the aspect of portraying men and women and their social roles through advertisement. I will be discussing
The elderly represents a large amount of the population in our society and continues to grow each day. As the population grows, it is important to meet the demands and resolve the challenges that we encounter in regards to the overall quality of health and well-being of the elderly. Mental health of the elderly is a major issue but majority of the time goes unnoticed and untreated by caregivers and loved ones. About 20 percent of adults 55 and older are suffering from some type of mental health disorder, and one in three elderly adults do not receive any type of treatment (The State of Mental Health, 2008). Those suffering from mental illness are hesitant to seek out help or any type of treatment because of the stigma, services and cost for care that then comes with mental health disorders. Mental health issues that affect elderly include dementia, delirium, and psychosis. Some of the most common conditions include anxiety, mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder and cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer’s disease. Mental health is essential to the
Older adults are a very knowledgeable population and have had a lot of life experiences. As people age, things start to change physically, mentally, and socially. It’s important to understand the process of aging, so that older adults can be taken care of properly. I interviewed P.R. who is a 71-year-old male that lives alone in his home. P.R. is a retired coal miner, and is currently living off his social security and savings. He lives close to both his daughter and son, who frequently help him out with things that are needed. P.R. was able to give me a lot of insight about specific challenges that he has experienced in his life that is associated with aging. I will be discussing challenges that P.R experienced physically, mentally,
Ageing is a continuing life cycle, it is an ongoing developmental event that brings certain changes in one’s own psychological and physical state. It is a time in one's own life where an elderly individual reminisce and reflect, to bask and live on previous accomplishments and begin to finish his life cycle. There is a significant amount of adjusting that requires an elderly individual to be flexible and develop new coping skills to adapt in the changes that are common in their new life. (Dhara & Jogsan, 2013).
Late adulthood should be a time in a person's life where they feel fulfilled. They can look back on their memories and be happy with the way they have lived their life. Now, too many elderly people are not satisfied and look at this stage as depressing. Most fear death of either a loved one or for themselves. This topic is interesting to me because elderly people should make the best of their last stage of life. This topic discusses about getting older, the life changes that they go through physically, emotionally, and mentally. We should know more about it so that we can help our family and friends get through one of the best, yet toughest part of our mortal life.
As human beings age, according to Erik Erikson, they go through developmental stages that help to create and transform their personalities. If needs are met and the ego is gratified, then the individual is able to move on to the next challenge. Onward they march in life and in stage until they find the end level: integrity versus despair. This has been categorized as adults 65 years and older by Erikson. Here, people are to reminisce and judge their lives in terms of merit or disappointment. Erikson himself had a lot to comb through in his later years.
It is important for you to commit to life changes, find the best treatment option for you and get the support you need from others.