Task 4 - Comparisons of theories
Sarah Jane Rubio
Compare two theories of ageing
Changes in demography
Life expectancy at age 60 reflects the overall mortality level of a population over 60 years. In 2013, the global population aged 60 years can expect to live another 20 years on average, 2 years longer than in 1990. Life expectancy at age 60 in high-income countries (23 years) is 6 years longer than that in low-income and lower-middle income countries (17 years). Life expectancies at age 60 were longer and the increases larger in high-income countries. In such countries, life expectancy at age 60 had increased by almost as much as life expectancy at birth – around three years for both men and women. http://www.who.int/gho/mortality_burden_disease/life_tables/situation_trends_text/en/ last accessed: 05/06/2015
It is a fact of life that men enjoy certain physical advantages over women. On average, men are stronger, taller, faster and less likely to be overweight, as most can agree that they are very athletic and sporty. But none of these attributes seem to matter over the long haul. For whatever the physical virtues of maleness, longevity is not among them. Women, as a group, live longer than men. In all developed countries and most undeveloped ones, women outlive men, sometimes by a margin of as much as 10 years. In the U.S, life expectancy at birth is about 79 years for women and about 72 years for men. Women outnumber men nine to one. The gender gap has widened in this century as gains in female life expectancy have exceeded those for males. The death rates for women are lower than those for men at all ages, even before birth. http://jerrymondo.tripod.com/lgev/id2.html last accessed: 05/06/2015
Changes in later life
Other than the physical and mobility side, there are other effects that will slowly become recognisable, old people will soon realise that their vision may become blurred as well as having hearing loss; they may have reduced metabolism meaning old people will find weight gain is decrease in resting metabolic rate. There are some old people that find it easier to put on weight and others will be fairly underweight which is why it is important for the elderly to be more careful with their intake of food, making sure they are taking enough nutrients and always having a balanced diet but watching out for their salt and sugar.
Diseases
Ageing increases vulnerability to age-associated diseases, whereas genetics determines vulnerability or resistance between species and individuals within species. Some age-related changes (like growing grey hair) are said to be unrelated to an increase in mortality. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aging-associated_diseases last accessed: 09/06/2015