The Future Of Aging

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Aging is a biological process, commonly defined as the accumulation of a variety of detrimental changes occurring in cells and tissues with advancing age, that are responsible for the increased risk of disease and death (Harman, 2003). Aging is a natural and universal process that cannot be avoided or modified (McDonald, 2014). However, given that the proportion of people over 60 years of age will double from 11% to approximately 22% of the global population, increased interest and attention to this age group, combined with advances in medicine and technology, has led to the development of research and understanding in the field of biogerontology (Kunlin, Simpkins, Xunming, Leis & Stambler, 2015). Though aging cannot be modified (McDonald, …show more content…

This is the idea behind the extended youth and compressed morbidity-scenario of the future of aging. McDonald notes that significant life extension must and will come with extended youth and relativity good health in old age (2014). Compressed morbidity means to squeeze or compress the time between the onset of chronic illness or disability and the time in which a person dies. This makes for a smaller window of time toward the end of the lifespan during which an individual experiences age-related symptoms like discomfort, sickness, and disability (Swartz, 2008; McDonald, 2014). At its core, this scenario of the future of aging boils down to individuals experiencing youth and health longer, and experiencing age-related symptoms later in life, for an equal (or shorter) amount of time before death. While this sounds like a likely and positive shift in the human lifespan, it does not come without a number of impacts and consequences on …show more content…

The cost of maintaining and providing care for a longer lived-older population is an important consideration (Crimmins & Beltrán-Sánchez, 2011; McDonald, 2014). Even if the length of disabled life stays the same, but the length of life needing treatment for disease (or basic health care) increases, lifetime health costs will increase (Crimmins & Beltrán-Sánchez, 2011). In the future, we may be dealing with overburdened health care and social security systems. Changes in the age at which a person retires and begins to receive social security will also have major economic impacts on society

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