Dementia and Normal Ageing
Old age comes with quite a number of complications and change of behavior as well as physical changes. On the other hand, dementia also comes in with several symptoms that are closely related or similar to those displayed by people in old age. This makes it quite tricky for the family members of an ageing individual to tell whether the person is undergoing normal ageing or has been affected by dementia. This is made even harder to tell apart by the fact that dementia is more frequent among people of old age than the young people. The research paper looks at the two aspects and strives to contrast the two taking into account the biological, psychological, physiological as well as the sociological perspectives towards the two concepts.
Normal ageing
As we advance in years, the body gives way to several other signs that we did not have previously and these come at different rates for each person. It is indicated that the rate of ageing and the rate of the symptoms depends on genetics as well as the lifestyle that an individual used to live and/or lives in.
There are several symptoms that are expected to set in as an individual slides into the old age bracket as depicted below by Alistair B & Michael Z, (2002:2):
There are physiological signs that can be seen on looking at the person like the less elastic skin, slowing of fingernails growth and dryness of the skin. The hair turns grey and they develop scalp, there could also be change of height by losing as much as 5 cm through compression of joints and change in posture. There could develop hearing difficulties as well as change in tone and fluency in speech. Most of the ageing people will also develop presbyopia which is the need for reading lenses that sets in mainly at the age of 40s and above. Night vision may also set in accompanied by decline in visual sharpness and fear of glare (Rawan T & David M., 2012:2).
It is also noted that there could be change in sleeping patterns where the person will most likely sleep less during the night and not as deeply as the previous younger years. They are also prone to waking up early in the morning and also waking up haphazardly at night.
Old age also comes with natural bone loss where the bones get less dense and lose strength. This is due to the fact that in the course of adulthood, people lose some of the minerals in the bones consequently leading to weaker bones in old age. It is said that this condition known as osteoporosis can be slowed by regular weight bearing activities for instance walking, avoiding foods and drinks/smoking that will weaken bones and taking enough calcium and vitamin D
There are as well some internal changes in the body mechanism like slowing in the metabolism, the heart becomes generally less efficient with age hence slowing circulation particularly during heavy activities, the lung may also become less active hence depriving the body of oxygen particularly among inactive people. The kidneys are also noted to decline in size and function as the person ages. The ageing person can also display urinary incontinence as well as lesser sexual drive particularly among women after menopause.
However, despite the above, the most crucial in this case is the nervous system as the person ages. It is noted that in the third decade of an individual, there is a general decrease in the weight of the brain as well as the size of the nervous network on the brain. This is occasioned by lesser flow of blood within the brain. The best part is that as the person ages, the brain adapts to these changes within the brain and develops new patterns in the nerve endings. The memory changes are deemed part of normal ageing hence very much expected and at this stage, these people are expected to have less recall power of the very recent memories to a wider extent be slower in remembering details and names that it was during the younger years.
Such loss of brain activities can however be revived and revitalized regularly by constantly engaging in social activities, the person can also challenge oneself to do and learn new things. Being physically active is also part of the revival process as it helps increase the flow of blood within the brain.
At old age, the information processing generally slackens and they cannot multitask and it is noted that they develop a lot...
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