The Pros And Cons Of The Aging Population

Alzheimer 's is a brain disorder that affects more than 5.3 million people in the United States. The elderly are mainly affected by loss of memory. Scientists have not yet found a cure for this disease which is destroying minds. The government has been helping with a plan giving $600 million a year. Their goal is to prevent or treat the disease by 2025. In coming decades, Scientists predict the number of people will rise to 13.8 million. The aging population is increasing because of low birth rates and increased life expectancy. As America 's population ages, there will be other health issues emerging. The most common health concerns for seniors are diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, and cancer. All of these conditions are the leading cause of death.

Since the United States is a developed country I wanted to see if their death rates compared to other developed countries. While doing this research, I came across a book title, “Death and Dying in America” by Fontana and Keene. The book provided with a chart of life expectancy for the overall US population and in 2004 the average age for women was 80.4 and for men it was 75.2 (Fontana and Keene). Knowing this facts I decided to find if these numbers were correct. In general most Americans do die from old age, but there are some cases where accidents occurred on younger people. Therefore, it all depends on the cause of death to determine the age of the

Since men hate to ask questions, they prefer to get information by themselves by reading manuals or by watching instructional videos or computer screens. Some retail stores are focusing on men’s love of technology and gadgetry as well. For example, at Target, they placed electronics and gadgets next to the men department. The times I’ve gone there, I have seen how men spend more time reading software packaging, watching instructional videos, or checking out the new video games.

Annie Lee McKinney was born on June 23, 1944 in Savannah Georgia to Larcy and Sidney McKinney. Annie was the youngest of 12 children. Unfortunately, Annie’s mother died when she was a little girl. Being that Annie was the youngest of 2 girls and 9 she was raised by her maternal grandparents. Even though Annie was raised by her grandparents she remained close to her siblings because the lived across the street from each other. Annie attended Arthur E. Beach High School in Savannah, Georgia but she dropped out in the 9th grade to take care of her nieces and nephews while her older brothers and sister’s worked.

Today, we take living for granted. It is a given that we live past age of ten and an extremely common thing, living past the age of 50. However, back in the times of ancient Greece and Rome, life was not guaranteed. The chances of extended life were able to go up during the time, and after the studies done by respected philosophers like Hippocrates regarding health and medicine. Some of his work is still seen today including the Hippocratic Oath. The innovation of medicine took place in ancient Greece and Rome from 500-300 BC. The innovations took place largely due to the fact that Athens was in the middle of a golden age which improved education resulting in many studying medicine. During the golden age Athens, like many other city-states, functioned as independent countries but were close because of the similarities in language, culture and religion. Athens really became the first successful democratic society because of their cutting-edge practices like trade. However, success was limited because of the issue of death at a young age from disease and other health complications. Greece’s discoveries and advancements surrounding medicine helped cure

Age is just a state of mind. Despite the natural degradation of cellular frameworks in the aging body, the mentality of aging and the acceptance is a notion created in one 's mindset. With the right diet and healthy living, people can age graceful, enjoying a healthy reproductive life, strong bones, and healthy lives. Some elderly individuals can take an interest in extreme games and achieve pretty impressive feats, however, pessimistic dispositions can indeed limit individuals’ opportunities. The elderly make imperative contributions to families, society and communities as a whole. How old age is experienced relies on upon the person 's health, environment and how they perceive aging. With the proper mindset, proper dietary subscriptions, and routine exercise, aging individuals can enjoy healthy sexual lives, strong bones, and satisfying

Many people in the United States and other industrialized countries are living longer. The life expectancy at birth now is 81 years old. Although this is an important achievement, it is important for social workers to understand the affects that increase longevity have on the individual, family life and social work practice. (https://www.nia.nih.gov). There are many negative stereotypes associated with older adulthood. These negative stereotypes arise from the assumption that late adulthood is considered to be the closing period of life span. Some of the commonly held beliefs about late adulthood include the belief that older adults are less active, do not have goals, are retired and are unable to learn new things. Social workers

The process of aging in not an unfamiliar topic to society and is an inevitable phase of life. Since 2011, the number of older individuals are increasing annually particularly those from the baby boomer generation. The life expectancy has been increasing with people living longer thanks to modern medicine. These occurrences are proof that civilization is growing exponentially, however the process of aging also means that the older individuals are facing dilemmas such as decreased physical functions, financial instability from retirement, and abuse. Even older adults who are independent may face some limitations. To address these issues, Congress has passed several acts to decrease the number of elderly abuse and improve living conditions.

Life expectancy has increased by thirty years during the twentieth century. It is “the average number of years a population of a certain age would be expected to live, given a set of age-specific death rates in a given year (Health People.gov).” Within different ethnic groups, “women have a higher life expectancy than men.” Also, life expectancy “provides global information about disparities (Kominski, G. (2014).” There are gaps between men and women, and between blacks and whites. According to Changing the U.S. Health Care System, Latino females have the highest life expectancy rate, and African American man had the lowest life expectancy rate.

Ageing is something that can be split up into many groups like aa variety of things in society. Older people can be categorized into the young-old, the middle-old and, the old-old. That last one seems ridiculous to me. People in each of these groups are generally happier in this time period rather that the previous one because the United states has given the resources for us to be more prepared for aging. Also nowadays people can start planning for their retirements before they even think about getting old.

Medicare is greatly impacted by the increase in longevity. The life expectancy in the United States is currently 78.8 years, but Medicare

Though the average life expectancies have continued to increase since the creation of the baby boom generation, those who live longer lives will most likely be burdened with the constantly increasing cost of healthcare in the United States. More money required to be paid to healthcare for the betterment of older life means less money that can be dedicated to lifestyle choices like foods, living arrangements, etc.. With the baby boomers reaching retirement age, the social security fund will most likely decrease and may be expected to go bankrupt by the sheer amount of people to retire in upcoming

Growing old in America i feel that its a bitter sweet moment in life because transitioning from a younger person navigating through life living to build  the American  Dream to actually living the American Dream in your later years,  to come to  the conclusion to think about death on as life progresses, i know that death is inevitable  so yes  preparing for death can be a bit strange to do but according to the text research has indicated that older people think about death more than younger people and elders seem to be less fearful and have less anxiety about it ( Leming &Dickinson,2011) . Given that  we we are young we care less about it because we think life is forever and we  all do not know will it will happen. However i think it is very

As I emerged myself into this week’s material, my main takeaway is that I do not think about aging. I know most men in my family live to be in their 70s and women into the 70s to 90s, but I do not think about aging from a personal aspect. I am aware that death will eventually come but with my son about to turn two, it is not something I sit and ponder. Not to mention that I will be reaching the 25 year mark next April, which to me is still very young. This made me recall the comments that Dan Buettner made in his TED lecture and how he compared other cultures to the American culture in terms of aging. I think one of the things that concerned me was the increase in isolation it appears that Americans have put themselves in. Buettner explains, “That fifteen years ago the average American had three good friends, and that is now down to one and half” (2009). This leads me to two questions and whether or not the make an impact when it comes to increasing the life spans of Americans. The first deals with friends and whether having them can help to expand one’s life or not? The second deals with

The United States experienced an "explosion" of births after World War II. Sociologists refer to this resulting group of people as baby boomers. The first of about 76 million baby boomers recently turned 65, and they are looking forward to a life expectancy that is higher than that of any previous generation. The average life