During my reading of "An Aging World: 2015" I realized just by how much the population of older people is going to grow. The report states that by 2050 over 1.6 billion people are projected to be over the age of 65. I think that more needs to be done to incorporate older people into society and take from their knowledge. Those of previous generations have a ton of wisdom from the past that could play a key role in current events. As the numbers of seniors continue to rise, this is going to be more critical than ever. I do not agree with the idea that people should just be put into a retirement home, for they have so much more to add to a world.

During my conversation with Priscilla, a 77-year-old woman living in the Mt. Pleasant home, she shared many of the reasons for why she chose to move into a home. At around 73 years old, she was living with her granddaughter in her home. After a coming out of a 7-month coma, she found herself without a home. She chose to come to Mt. Pleasant to work on herself and make her last years happy. She mentioned how her whole life has been full of taking care of others, now was her time to have fun and be carefree.

I did, however, find it hard to believe that many of the seniors are helpless when it comes to some problems. For example, Betty, another senior living at the home is a wheelchair user. She got a second-hand wheelchair that veers to the right, hindering her movements significantly. The fix could be a screw too tight, something that no one will fix, and something that she can not fix herself. I believe there should be more communication, empowering seniors to overcome problems like these.

The population of old people is dramatically raising, but not enough money or time is dedicated to the care of seniors. The senior center that we visited showed me that old people require a lot of care. Many of them had trouble doing things we find trivial such as standing up, walking, typing, etc. We are figuring out how to keep people alive longer, but now we need to focus on keeping the elderly happy, healthy and independent. If projections of rising numbers of old people hold up to be true, we will need to dedicate more resources into the care of seniors. In lower-income countries, the number of old people is estimated to rise dramatically, This will cause problems of neglected needs of these people.

At the Mount Pleasant senior center, we interviewed a few seniors and asked them about what they enjoy, what's challenging for them, and what we could do to help them. Talking to Prisilla, I was interested in her inability to easily stand up. This task to me seems so easy, but to her, it is difficult and scary. This simple interaction showed me that we should focus more on keeping people healthy and happy longer rather than alive longer. We also talked to Bobby Joe and learned a little about him before he fell asleep. He told us about his trouble tying. He is able to write for fifteen-minute sessions before he has to take a break and let his hands stop hurting. Bobby Joe was not able to give us much information because he was too tired. This also showed me how fatiguing it is to simply be old and how much energy he has to use in daily life. 

From the passage I learned that as humans we require attention and a feeling of purpose to stay healthy. However, in todays society, many elderly people are neglected and left in the dust as their family moves at such a fast pace. This makes them feel lonely and unhappy, they are left to spend time alone or with their, often patronizing, caretakers. This unhappiness deteriorates their health and leads to an untimely death. If society embraced aging and accepted that it is something everyone goes through then more physical activities could take place and as a culture we could come together more fully.

At the home I realized how hollow their lives are when they are left alone in these retirement homes. they were so happy to have visitors they don't even know it makes me wonder how often they see outsiders.

This reading gives me the impression that the more positive about yourself aging, the better you health will be. If you are more confident you will have to will to wake up everyday and get out of your bed. Although this is a possibility, many older people do not feel this way. They are always thinking about the negative affects of aging and this makes it hard for them to want to get out everyday. Part of being positive is to think as yourself as useful. Like the reading said the people who felt like they had a purpose and were useful, were the people that lived longer.
Some very important things and activities to think about and act in were mentioned in the reading. They said that physical exercise was very good. Not only physical but also mental. Exercising both parts can be very good for you and improves one's brain. Being social will also help you a lot. This will give you more confidence about yourself and make you more happy. Some things to remember when you are getting older is to be positive about it. Also while you are being positive about it you have to get exercise and be social. If you do all of these things it will lead to a good aging process

My first thought upon reading the essays was that they seemed to describe both a de facto and a de jure marginalization of the older population. De jure: Much of the hardships brought on to the older population are a result of policies that don't properly economically support them. Pensions don't last long enough. . . healthcare doesn't cover enough. . . it's too expensive too live outside of a retirement home. . . etc. De facto:  Retirement homes whisk retirees out of society making it impossible to have an impact. Even someone living within society is a pariah and not respected. The technology boom has left the older population behind, making it so the younger generations do not respect the older generations' knowledge. Technology will continue to develop - probably at a faster rate than now - what will make the new generations respect us when we are old? The older population is a colony to the rest of society. 

It is necessary to innovate to aide the older population to participate in society. As the world population continues to grow, it will be impossible to support that many non-participants. The older population is already under-supported, what happens when there are twice as many of them? We need to find ways to increase people's working spans, and to aide them in contributing to society. We need to create programs that help them adapt to changing technology. We need to integrate them back into society and give them the tools to have power over their lives - or just kill people when they turn 65.

Younger generations are concerned about the new lifespan they wonder if it will cause bankruptcy. We dismiss the older generations saying that kids are the future and they are the past which is a toxic mindset for both parties.

When seniors go into retirement homes they have to give up their hobby's. A resident of Mt.Pleasent told me how he had played piano all his life but had to give it up because it upset the other residents. Many seniors are put into retirement homes too early and from my visit to Mt.Pleasent I've found its not always the best option. When seniors are put into homes they are forgotten by society. They don't get opportunities to keep up with the outside world even if they wanted to. There are padlocks on the doors and most visitors are there to talk about health. When they need something they have to do long applications just to get it. A few people I talked to today told me how they needed medicine but their health care wouldn't provide it. In conclution, we need to focus on the happiness of everyone and not just the younger generations.

https://blog.ted.com/what-its-like-to-grow-old-in-different-parts-of-the-world/

The world’s population is getting older. Across the globe, people are living longer thanks to improvements in healthcare, nutrition and technology. This population shift brings with it incredible possibilities, but also a new set of challenges. How do we care for our elderly?

Jared Diamond: How societies can grow old better

In today’s talk, Jared Diamond examines the vast differences in how societies across the globe view and treat their senior citizens. Some groups revere and respect their oldest members, while others see them as senile and incompetent, making them the butt of jokes. In some societies, children care for their parents at home, while in other cultures, children put their parents in homes where others care for them. Some cultures even see their elderly as a burden and resource drain, and opt for more violent approaches to senior care.

The Western system for elder care is far from perfect, notes Diamond, and everyone stands to learn something from how different societies care for their seniors. Watch his talk to hear what he means, and below, read some further insights on how people across the globe treat their old folks.

Who is considered old?

As Diamond mentions in his talk, the perceived value of the elderly is an important factor in determining whether seniors are respected or not. And this may be a function of who is considered old. In the United States a senior citizen is defined as someone who is 65+. But in other parts of the world, like New Guinea, anyone 50 or over is considered lapun, or an old man. As Diamond points out in his book, The World Until Yesterday, this difference has wide implications, as the two age groups tend to have a different set of physical and mental abilities.

The United Nations recently turned its attention to developing policy to support aging populations around the world — and their line for elderly begins at 60. In fact, the UN has started celebrating the International Day of Older Persons in October, which acknowledges the contributions to society made by those over the 60-line.

Where do the elderly live?

The Confucian teaching of filial piety shapes the living arrangements of elderly Chinese, Japanese and Korean people. About ¾ of elderly Japanese parents live with their adult children, a pattern replicated in Korea and China. China’s new Elderly Rights Law mandates that children visit their parents frequently, no matter how far away they live. If children don’t comply, they could face fines or jail time. “We raise our children to take care of us when we get old,” one Chinese senior citizen told the BBC.

But of course, it doesn’t take Confucian ideals to place value on spending time with the elderly. Article 207 of the French Civil Code, which was passed in 2004, requires that adult children “keep in touch” with their elderly parents. The law was passed, according to a recent article in The Week, in response to a study that showed a high rate of elderly suicides in France, and to a heat wave in which 15,000 mostly elderly people died,

In India and Nepal, the tradition has long been: a newlywed couple moves in with the groom’s family, in what’s called a patrilocal living arrangement. But shifting economic forces are reshaping residence patterns, according to the University of Maryland’s India Human Development Survey. As parts of the country urbanize, children are moving hundreds of miles away from their parents. The Indian and Nepalese governments are addressing this by developing state-run elderly care programs.

What words describe the elderly?

A culture’s respect for the elderly is often reflected in its language. Honorific suffixes like –ji in Hindi enable speakers to add an extra level of respect to important people — like Mahatma Gandhi, who is often referred to as Gandhiji. According to Wikipedia, mzee in Kiswahili — spoken in many parts of Africa — is a term used by younger speakers to communicate a high level of respect for elders. And as this report reveals, the Hawaiian word kūpuna means elders, with the added connotation of knowledge, experience and expertise.

And then there’s the suffix –san in Japanese, which is often used with elders, reveals the nation’s deep veneration for the old. The country regularly holds Respect for the Aged Day, with the media running special features that profile the oldest Japanese citizens. The Japanese also see a person’s 60^th birthday as a huge event. Kankrei, as the celebration is called, marks a rite of passage into old age.

What special foods can the elderly eat?

Around the world, a number of traditional societies reserve certain foods for the elderly, Diamond reveals in his book. In Nebraska, only senior members of the Omaha Indians eat bone marrow — they believe that if young men do so, they will sprain an ankle. Similarly, the Iban of Borneo advise that only old men eat venison because, if the young taste it, it could make them timid. In Siberia, the Chukchi believe that reindeer milk will make young men impotent and young women flat-chested, so it’s reserved only for older people.

The group with the strongest food taboos: the Arunta Aboriginies, who live near Ayers Rock in Australia. Eating certain foods can lead to a “series of dire consequences for young people,” as Diamond notes in The World Until Yesterday. The Arunta believe that eating parrots will create a hollow in a young man’s head, and a hole will grow in the chin. If young Arunta men eat wildcat, they will develop painful and smelly sores on their head and neck. According to societal belief, young women who eat kangaroo tails will age prematurely … and go bald. Meanwhile, quail consumption will lead to stunted breast development, and conversely, eating brown hawks will lead the breasts to swell and burst, without even producing milk.

Do the elderly have special powers?

As Diamond mentions in his talk, many elders are respected because of highly specialized skills and knowledge. For example, Hawaiian grandmothers are revered for their unique knowledge and skill at creating ornate leis and feather accessories. Similarly, since an elderly woman in New Guinea was the only person alive who witnessed a devastating typhoon, her people looked to her for guidance on which plants are safe to eat if another disaster were to strike. Even Western societies revere the experience associated with age — the average age for a US President is 54; the average age for a Supreme Court justice is 53.

But certain societies take this a step further and attribute magical powers to the elderly. The Huaorani people of Ecuador believe that elderly shamans, called mengatoi, are endowed with magical powers, according to this Thinkquest article. This society believes that shamans can transform into jaguars. These elderly healers sit with the infirm to channel their animal spirits a cure for disease.

And what does the end of life look like?

End-of-life decisions vary drastically across cultures. Some societies do everything possible to keep their elderly alive. Other groups, however, see old and frail members as a burden, and thus take steps to end their lives. In his talk, Diamond notes that eldercide typically happens in communities that are either nomadic, or that live in harsh climates with limited resources.

According to a study in American Ethnologist, the Chukchi of Siberia practice voluntary death, in which an old person requests to die at the hand of a close relative when they are no longer in good health. And in The World Since Yesterday, Diamond notes that the Crow Indians in the US and Norse tribes in Scandinavia follow similar practices — the elderly put themselves in an impossible situation, like setting out to sea on a solo voyage. Finally, the Ache of Paraguay let their men wander off to die on the “white man’s road,” and — perhaps shockingly to some — they kill elderly women by breaking their necks.

On the flip side, the curious Greek island of Ikaria seems to have life-extending magic in its soil, notes The New York Times. Residents of this small Mediterranean island are four times more likely than their American counterparts to live to 90, and they live on average 8 to 10 years longer after being diagnosed with cancer or cardiovascular disease. Its residents don’t rush through life: they stay up late, eating Kalamata olives, drinking mountain tea and swimming in the crystal-clear water. The answer to this island’s longevity probably lies in its eating patterns and relaxed lifestyle, but nobody can definitively explain the magic behind this island of centenarians.

What are the traditions surrounding old age in your culture?

Please see attached a pdf file of chapter 5 (The Creative Process) from Edward Wilson's Letters to a Young Scientist.

Write 2-3 paragraphs expressing your ideas & views on ONE of the readings. Include reflections from today's visit to Mt. Pleasant.

• What is a "Reflection"
  • Thoughts, Opinions, Observations gathered Post-Event/Synthesis

Monday, March 28, 2016

World’s older population grows dramatically

NIH-funded Census Bureau report offers details of global aging phenomenon.

The world’s older population continues to grow at an unprecedented rate. Today, 8.5 percent of people worldwide (617 million) are aged 65 and over. According to a new report, “An Aging World: 2015(link is external),”  this percentage is projected to jump to nearly 17 percent of the world’s population by 2050 (1.6 billion).

“An Aging World: 2015” was commissioned by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, and produced by the U.S. Census Bureau. The report examines the demographic, health and socioeconomic trends accompanying the growth of the aging population.

“Older people are a rapidly growing proportion of the world’s population,” said NIA Director Richard J. Hodes, M.D. “People are living longer, but that does not necessarily mean that they are living healthier. The increase in our aging population presents many opportunities and also several public health challenges that we need to prepare for. NIA has partnered with Census to provide the best possible data so that we can better understand the course and implications of population aging.”

“An Aging World: 2015” contains detailed information about life expectancy, gender balance, health, mortality, disability, health care systems, labor force participation and retirement, pensions and poverty among older people around the world.

“We are seeing population aging in every country in every part of the world,” said John Haaga, Ph.D., acting director of NIA’s Division of Behavioral and Social Research. “Many countries in Europe and Asia are further along in the process, or moving more rapidly, than we are in the United States. Since population aging affects so many aspects of public life — acute and long-term health care needs; pensions, work and retirement; transportation; housing — there is a lot of potential for learning from each other’s experience.”

Highlights of the report include

• America’s 65-and-over population is projected to nearly double over the next three decades, from 48 million to 88 million by 2050.
• By 2050, global life expectancy at birth is projected to increase by almost eight years, climbing from 68.6 years in 2015 to 76.2 years in 2050.
• The global population of the “oldest old” — people aged 80 and older — is expected to more than triple between 2015 and 2050, growing from 126.5 million to 446.6 million. The oldest old population in some Asian and Latin American countries is predicted to quadruple by 2050.
• Among the older population worldwide, noncommunicable diseases are the main health concern. In low-income countries, many in Africa, the older population faces a considerable burden from both noncommunicable and communicable diseases.
• Risk factors — such as tobacco and alcohol use, insufficient consumption of vegetables and fruit, and low levels of physical activity — directly or indirectly contribute to the global burden of disease. Changes in risk factors have been observed, such as a decline in tobacco use in some high-income countries, with the majority of smokers worldwide now living in low- and middle-income countries.

The report was prepared by Wan He, Ph.D., and Daniel Goodkind. Ph.D., of the International Programs Center in the Population Division of the Census Bureau, and Paul Kowal, Ph.D., of the World Health Organization’s Study on Global Aging and Adult Health. Research for and production of the report were supported under an interagency agreement with NIA’s Division of Behavioral and Social Research.

About the National Institute on Aging: The NIA leads the federal government effort conducting and supporting research on aging and the health and well-being of older people. The Institute’s broad scientific program seeks to understand the nature of aging and to extend the healthy, active years of life. For more information on research, aging, and health, go to www.nia.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health^®