Aging, What to Expect

Many day to day tasks are significantly more difficult as the effects of aging take hold on the body. Naturally, these signs could be precursors of a pressing need for a lifestyle change or additional care in order to maintain a functional quality of life. What skills are the first to go?Memory While Alzheimer’s disease is the most serious memory afflicting issue affecting the elder members of the community, a less acute short term memory is very common among even healthy senior citizens. Just like physical tools such as the ability to run at a certain pace or lift a certain weight will fade as a person passes their physical peak, memory also will gradually dull. This can be a particularly pressing issue in terms of self-sufficiency as the well-being of many older men and women is often dependent on scheduled routines and medications.Mobility Though it is expected for a person who is 70 or 80 to be subject to a much more limited range of motion than their 17 or 18 year old grandchildren, mobility can decrease at sudden stages even by senior standards, and vary on an individual basis. Mobility can also be greatly altered by injury, with bone structure trending towards fragile as age count continues to tick upwards. Likewise, a stroke, heart attack or other ailment more common to the elderly can leave a victim almost fully immobile almost overnight with few, if any, signs of forewarning.Eyesight Countless Americans have problems with eyesight, even at a very young age, many times a genetic condition an individual will have to deal with from birth. However, decreasing range and depth of vision is common as men and women grow older, which can not only be a problem in and of itself but also cause issues across a range of other skills. Though eyesight problems are largely correctible through prescription glasses and other means, coupled with memory loss and limited mobility, locating, remembering and putting on these lenses can cause problems for once fully-capable senior citizens.Hearing Like eyesight, a lack of hearing is dealt with by countless otherwise physically and mentally sound individuals on a daily basis, but when compounded with other factors of increased age can result in dire consequences. Hearing provides the ability to alert us to oncoming threats, whether in the form of alarms, sirens, horns, etc., all of which indicate some sense of impending danger especially if an individual is also suffers from limited eyesight or mobility, as they will have need more time to adapt to this warning and navigate their way to safety.