Understand Aging And Your Bodily Changes

We need tools as we aged such as walking stick

We all love to be young and stay young. Yet, we all get old as it is a fact of life. However, understand it and truly experience it are two differently things. Looking after my parents, it opens up my eyes to the world of the old. 

We need to understand how our body changes as we aged and how it affects our bodily functions and appearances. Since our birth, our body goes through a series of changes due to changes in our cells and organs. These changes make significant decline in bodily functions and appearances.

Our bodily functions normally peak before age 30 and then gradually and continuously decline. The first signs of aging always begin with musculoskeletal system. At this time, the eyes, followed by the ears will start to decline. That’s why many people over the age of 40 starts to wear glasses, contact lens, bifocals, etc. as the lens of eyes become stiffens and cannot remain focused on objects up close.  

As we age, it becomes more difficult to hear high pitched sounds and gradually, even hearing low pitched sounds also become difficult. When hearing is impaired, the use of hearing aid may become a necessity. In this regard, we need to be patient and speak louder and clearly while communicate with old people.

We start growing white or gray hair as less pigment or melanin is produced. Our hair also becomes thinner and for some, they experience hair loss. It is because hair follicles stop producing new hair.

We start to have wrinkles and dry skin. We have muscle mass loss which means loss of flesh, yet our body fat increases. The body fat starts to change up to 30% by the time a person reaches 40. This can create health problems, such as diabetes. The distribution of fat also changes, thus changing the shape of our torso. Our weight also changes.

We tend to break our bones easily as bones become less dense. We find it hard to move and less flexibility as less joint fluid is produced. We also have tight or stiff joint. 

Most internal functions also decline with aging. We feel dizziness when standing because the heart responds less to changes in position and couldn’t pump enough blood to the head. We become less stable and easily off balance because related organs degenerate.

We become less interesting in eating because taste and smell decreases, making food less appetizing. Chewing is hard because teeth are missing and jaw muscles are week. Even swallowing is a difficult task for us.

We find it hard to remember things, learn new things and focus on things. We tend to be very forgetful for recent events but can recall old memories vividly.
As we grow old, we are less able to handle various stresses, do strenuous physical activity, adjust to extreme temperature changes in the environment, and handle any disorders. This decline also means that older people are more likely to experience side effects from drugs.

Aging healthy becomes essential. We can increase our health by regular exercising, eating healthy, socializing with positive thinking people and be happy and joyous all the time. Periodic medical checkup is a good practice to prevent any disease. It also helps to detect any disease early and to give cure and treatment early.

It is crucial to know the aging process and how your bodily functions change to prepare yourself as you aged. It also allows you to make necessary adjustment and apply devices that assist you as you grow old. If you can accept aging wisely, you will live a happy and joyful senior life.