Factors that influence ageing
Project Dementia and Elderly Care (Task 3 - 02/04/15)
What is old age?
There are many factors that can lead to someone being "old". These factors vary for each individual. For some these may be:
- Dependency
- Healh conditions
- Gender differences
- Pensionable age
- Changes in circumtances
- Loss of a parter who is of a smililar age
- Legibility for free services
Dependency
For some individuals ageing is when they start to lose their independence and start to reply on others more often. This could be because they feel that when they were younger, they were able to do things for themselves. Now that they are struggling to do this, they are beoming "old". Once an individual starts to believe this it will influence their attitude towards ageing and whether or not they are elderly.
Health conditions
Some health conditions such as arthritis can be considered a health condition that is experienced when an individual is is the later life. Therefore, if an individual expereinces this, they may believe that they are starting to age.
Once an individual starts to develop a health condition, it is often likely that they lead on to other health conditions, which causes an individual's overall health to decline.
Gender Difference
Differences in gender can contribute to an individuals ageing process. This is because the life expectancy differs for men and women, as doe the retirement age. Therefore this will contribute to the when men and women begin to think that they are ageing. The life expectancy for women in the UK is currently 82 years, whereas for men it is 78 years.
Pensionable Age
Pensionable age is the age when an individual is allowed to retire from their job. This is a factor of ageing because once an individual has retired they no longer need to work again in the future, because of their age. Therefore, when someone has reached this age, they may consider that they are starting to age.
Changes in circumstances
This can be considered a factor of ageing, because when an adult is in their later life, it is likely that many of their circumstances will change. This can include housing, health and family. One example of this could be needing to move to a smaller property because a large house is no longer needed.
Loss of a parter
When an individual loses a parter who is of a similar age to them and they are in their later life, this can contribute to ageing. The loss of a parter is likely to impact an individual and influence them to think that they are ageing. Often, an individual is also likely to become very sad when this happens, which will have a negative affect on their health and well being, which will also contribute the ageing process.
Legibility for free services
In an individuals life there are two stages where they are entitled to free services. These are when they are a child and when they are elderly. Some of the services that are available are free or reduced travel, free prescriptions, and free health services such as immunisations, that might otherwise need to be paid for. Once an individual is entitled to these services they may feel as if they are ageing.