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Since
the beginning of the 20th century, life expectancy
has increased in the developed world more than in all of recorded
history prior to 1900.
Today, in the United States, over 34 million persons
are 65 years of age or older, accounting for about 13% of
the population. In the year 2030, their numbers will
more than double resulting in one in every five Americans
being over 65.
In other parts of the world, 16-18% are already 65+, and by
the year 2025, Japan is expected to have twice as many
old persons as children. Also, by this time, there will be
over one billion olderpeople worldwide. This increase in life
expectancy to 80 years of age and beyond, is the result
of better public health measures, improvements in living conditions,
and advances in medical care. The next increases in life expectancy
will, no doubt, come from medical research and technology.
 
Psychology
Gerontologists
at the Baltimore Longitudinal Study have been following
a group of older people for several decades. The results show
that our personalities really don’t change much over time.
So if someday someone says you are a mean-spirited old codger,
you were probably that way when you were 30 -- age didn’t
have any thing to do with it. And, as we age, we still like
to do the things we did when we were young.
Contrary to popular belief, older people can still drive safely,
run in the Olympics (the Senior Olympics, of course)
and more good news: older people maintain an interest in sex
all of their lives, if they are healthy. Click here to read
the piece, "Old Flames," about love lost and found
60 years later.
While most older people do quite well, there are those who
do not.
 Clinical depression is often misdiagnosed
Alcoholism is no respecter of age
Up to 33% of all older people live alone, most of
them widowed women over the age of 85
At any point in time, about 5% of our elderly population live in
some type of long-term care facility
Almost 25% of all older Americans live within about
150% of the federal poverty level.
That means that these older people have around $1000 per month
from Social Security and other sources. While covered
by Medicare, the federal health program for persons
65 years of age and older, many of these people still spend
out-of-pocket as much for drugs, eyeglasses, etc, as they
did when Medicare was first started in 1965. The trade off
is in food, shelter, and the fun things in life. Thus, there
are social gerontologists and geropsychologists who help us
understand better those nonphysiological/health-related aspects
of aging that involve where and how well we live our lives.
Demographics
Yet another new projection in aging, is that we will see a
dramatic increase in the number of centenarians; e.g.,
in the United States there may be as many as 2.5 million 100+
year old people in the year 2060 vs. the 60,000 now. These
remarkable people are still leading interesting lives –come
here and read about these centenarians, including Mr. George
Dawson of Dallas, Texas, the man, who, at age 98, decided
to go to school and learn to read and write. And the number
of "supercentenarians," those 105 years of age and older will
be as commonplace in the next century as centenarians are
fast becoming now. The questions are these:
Will you be one of them?
 Who will take care of you?
Will there be enough well-trained geriatrics health
care professionals to provide the health care you will likely
need? (There aren’t enough now.)
Will the baby boomers -- those 76 million persons
born in the U.S. between 1946 and 1964 turning age 50 at the
rate of 10,000 per day for the next ten years -- have enough
money to live well that long? Will you?
Will our governments have sufficient social policies
in place to accommodate a rapidly aging population?
All of these questions require answers, and they all affect
you. To envision how they might, why not close your eyes and
see yourself some 40 or 50 years from now and think about
those things you did well –
Exercised 3-5 times weekly
Ate a low-fat diet
Maintained a recommended weight level
Kept your blood pressure within normal range
Did not smoke
Consumed alcohol in moderation (no more than 1-2
oz./day), coped effectively with stress
Had a circle of friends with whom you socialized
frequently, saved enough money to be comfortable in your old
age
Remained active in learning new things. Did you
see yourself doing these things?
This is called prospective aging, aging in place, even productive
aging. I think you know why. So like the proverbial Nike "swoosh,"
just do it!
Chapter
1: The Enigma of Aging
Chapter
2: Processes of Aging
Chapter
3: Social & Psychological Aspects of Aging
Chapter
4: Research
Summary
References
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