Middle Adulthood

• Physical changes in Middle Adulthood

  • Visual declines
  • Hearing declines
  • olfactory cells diminishes
  • taste buds become less sensitive
  • loss of muscle strength
  • Simple reaction time slows very little until about age 50
• Middle age is marked by growing individual differences and a multiplicity of life paths
• Presbyopia (Farsightedness) Age-related, progressive loss of the eyes’ ability to focus on nearby objects due to loss of elasticity in the lens
• Myopia is Nearsightedness (ex. sobrang lapit ng libro pag nagbabasa)
• Presbycusis Age-related, gradual loss of hearing, which accelerates after age 55, especially with regard to sounds at higher frequencies
• In midlife, hearing loss DOES NOT cause significant distress or impairment to the vast majority of adults
• By age 70-79 (During Late adulthood) adults have mild to moderate hearing loss and some adults begin to show profound or total hearing loss
• What factors affect hearing loss?

  • Gender: men
  • Environmental noise (most important factor): noise experienced in work site
  • social noise (including concerts and personal music players)
• Loss of muscle strength is usually noticeable by age 45
• Basal metabolism is the minimum amount of energy, typically measured in calories, that your body needs to maintain vital functions while resting.
• aging brain can be described in two ways:

  • as working more slowly
  • as having difficulty juggling multiple tasks
• ability to ignore distractions gradually declines with age, which makes multitasking increasingly challenging
• Keeping your body and mind busy is important to slow declines
• Aerobic exercise and resistance training interventions have shown they are effective in

  • improving attention
  • processing speed
  • executive function
  • memory
• mind activities that help retain cognitive functions

  • Reading and writing in regular basis
  • Working in cognitive stimulating environment
  • Meditation
• Even if declines do occur, knowledge based on experience can compensate for the physical changes.
• Middle adults generally gain weight and lose height due to shrinkage of the intervertebral disks
• age range of Middle adulthood is between 40 to 65 years old
• Bone loss accelerates in the fifties and sixties; it occurs twice as rapidly in women, sometimes leading to osteoporosis
• Factors that speed bone loss

  • Smoking
  • alcohol use
  • poor diet
• How do we slow down bone loss?

  • aerobic exercise
  • resistance training with weights
  • increased calcium intake, and vitamin C
• Stress associated with Lower childhood socioeconomic level and adult educational attainment have been linked to lower bone mass density in late adulthood.
• Large proportions of middle-aged or even older adults show no decline in organ functioning
• However, heart disease begins to emerge in the late 40s or early 50s
• Vital capacity the maximum volume of air the lungs can draw in and expel—may begin to diminish at about age 40 and can drop by as much as 40 percent by age 70
• body temperature in middle adulthood is LOWER and less able to maintain an appropriate body temperature in extremely hot or cold environments
• Menopause Cessation of menstruation and of ability to bear children
• Menopause happens on Average age of 50-52 and with most women experiencing it between 45 and 55
• Menopause is not a single event; it is a process called the menopausal transition
• Menopausal transition often starts with Perimenopause (Climacteric), production of mature ova begins to decline, and the ovaries produce less estrogen
• menopausal transition generally begins in the mid thirties to mid forties, and can take approximately 3 to 5 years
• Symptoms of Menopause

  • Hot flashes
  • Night sweats
  • Painful intercourse
  • Mood Disturbances
• The average duration of hot flashes is over 5 years
• Treatment of Menopausal Symptoms

  • MHT
  • SSRIs
  • antihypertensive clonidine
  • anticonvulsive drug gabapentin
  • soy isoflavones
• Menopause Hormone therapy (MHT) most effective intervention for night sweats, hot flashes, and deterioration of the urinary tract and vagina
• At about age 30, testosterone levels begin to decline at a rate of about 1 percent a year
• Andropause decline in male testosterone levels (menopause but male version)
• Testosterone replacement therapies (TRT) have been used by men for decades to address midlife declines in testosterone
• HEALTH TRENDS AT MIDLIFE

  • Hypertension
  • Type 2 Diabetes (MATURE-ONSET)
• Type 2 Diabetes (MATURE-ONSET) wherein body produces TOO MUCH INSULIN. It is most common type that typically develops after age 30 and becomes more prevalent with age