MIDDLE ADULTHOOD

• -          THE CHANGING MIDLIFE – many of today’s 50-year-olds are in better shape, more alert, and more productive than their 40-year-old counterparts from a generation or two earlier. What is middle adulthood?
• -          Begins at approximately 40 to 50 years of age and extends to about 60 to 65 years of age, a time of declining physical skills and expanding responsibility.
• -          The age of gains (GROWTH) and loses (DECLINE)
• -          VISIBLE SIGNS

  -          – physical appearance (VISIBLE BY 40’S to 40’S), skin begins to wrinkle and sag because of a loss of fat and collagen in underlining tissues, small localized areas of pigmentation in the skin produce age spots, especially in areas of that are exposed to sunlight, such as the hands and face, hair becomes thinner and grayer due to a lower replacement rate and a decline in melanin production.

   
• -          STRENGTH, JOINTS, AND BONES – maximum physical strength often is attained during the twenties.

   
• -          HEIGHT AND WEIGHT – individuals lose height in middle age, and many gain weight.
• -          The term SARCOPENIA is given to age-related loss of muscle mass and strength.
• -          MUSCLE LOSS – with age occurs at a rate of approximately 1 to 2 percent per year after age 50 a loss of strength especially occurs in the back and legs.
• -          Many individuals experience JOINTS STIFFNESS and more DIFFICULTY IN MOVEMENT.
• -          PROGERESSIVE LOSS OF BONE – women lose bone mass twice as fast as men do by the end of midlife, bones break more easily and heal more slowly.
• -          VISION AND HEARING – ACCOMODATION – of the eye (the ability to focus and maintain an image on the retina) experiences its sharpest decline between 40 and 59 years of age.
• • -          HEARING LOSS occurs in up to 50 percent of individuals 5- years and older. Sensitivity to high pitches usually declines first, men usually their sensitivity to high-pitched sounds than women do.
• • -          CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM a time when high blood pressure and high cholesterol often take adults by surprise.
• -          METABOLIC SYNDROME ­– a condition characterized by hypertension, obesity, and insulin resistance this often leads to the onset of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

   
• -          LUNGS - at about age 55, the proteins in lung tissue become less elastic, this change, combined with a GRADUAL STIFFENING OF THE CHEST WALL, decreases the lung’s capacity to shuttle oxygen form the air people breathe to the blood in their veins.

   
• • -          SLEEP beginning in the forties, wakeful periods are more frequent and there is less of the deepest type of sleep, the amount of time spent lying awake in bed at night begins to increase in middle age.
• Ø  HEALTH, DISEASE, STRESS, AND CONTROL – the frequent of accidents declines and individuals are less susceptible to colds and allergies, however, disease and persistent health problems become more common in middle adulthood for some individuals.
• -          CHRONIC DISORDERS – are characterized by a slow onset and a long duration. These are rare in early adulthood, increase in middle adulthood, and become common in late adulthood.
• -          ARTHRITIS – is the leading chronic disorder in middle age, followed by hypertension. Men have higher incidence of FATAL CHRONIC, CONDITIONS (such as coronary heart disease, cancer, and stroke); women have higher incidence of NONFATAL ones (such as arthritis, varicose veins, and bursitis)
• -          The IMMUNE SYSTEM – keeps up healthy by recognizing foreign materials such as viruses, tumors, and harmful bacteria’s and then destroying them.