OLD OLDEST

Hello!

Here is a brief information about old age people or elderly. I hope you like it.

I think that the boundary between middle age and old age cannot be defined exactly because it does not have the same meaning in all societies. People can be considered old because of certain changes in their activities or social roles. Examples: people may be considered old when they become grandparents, or when they begin to do less or different work—retirement.

There is often a general physical decline, and people become less active. Old age can cause, amongst other things:

- Wrinkles and liver spots on the skin due to loss of subcutaneous fat
- Change of hair colour to gray or white
- Hair loss
- Reduced circulatory system function and blood flow
- Reduced lung capacity
- Reduced immune system function
- Changes in the vocal cords that produce the typical "old person" voice
- Lessened hearing
- Diminished eyesight
- Reduced mental/cognitive ability.
- Depressed mood
- Lessening or cessation of sex, sometimes because of physical symptoms such as erectile dysfunction in men, but often simply a decline in libido, but it doesn't happens all the time for I've seen old men or women with their equal sexual satisfaction as their youthful.
- Greater susceptibility to bone and joint diseases such as osteoarthritis and osteoperosis.

It must be stressed that each individual is different, and health issues that affect one elderly person may not affect another.

In most parts of the world, women live, on average, longer than men; even so, the disparities vary between 9 years or more in countries such as Sweden and the United States to no difference or higher life expectancy for men in countries such as Zimbabwe and Uganda.

The number of elderly persons worldwide began to surge in the second half of the
20th century. Up to that time (and still true in underdeveloped countries), five or less percent of the population was over 65. Few lived longer than their 70s and people who attained advanced age (ie. their 80s) were rare enough to be a novelty and were revered as wise sages. Accidents and disease claimed many people before they could attain old age, and because health problems in those over 65 meant a quick death in most cases. If a person lived to an advanced age, it was due to genetic factors and/or a relatively easy lifestyle, since diseases of old age could not be treated before the 20th century.