Aging Challenges and Choices

The average life expectancy of Americans is growing. The fastest growing field is the age group over 85 years old. However, despite advances in health care, many elderly people are suffering from chronic incurable progressive diseases that require daily activities. As we get older, the biggest challenge we face is preventing disability and prolonging "prospective average life expectancy". Fortunately, recent studies have shown that healthy ("success") aging is achievable and reasonable plans are being made for the elderly.

Diabetes, congestive heart failure and certain dementias may be delayed or even prevented. It can be prevented even if muscle strength declines with age. Probably most importantly, a positive attitude helps us overcome disease and individual losses, and we are looking forward to the future.

As we get older, we choose our lifestyle, health care, personal pursuit and old age program. Several "steps for success" will help guide the healthy and lively golden era.

Maintain regular weight, maintain triple load, balance with aerobic exercise

Prevent falls, head injuries, and drug confusion (over-the-counter sales or prescription)

We will judge whether there are physical restrictions such as walking difficulties and balanced problems. Actively discuss these limits and start using medical resources to overcome them. Use local materials and nearby materials such as local high-class centers

Another challenge in the decision-making process for elderly patients over the age of 80 is that the physician's choice tends to be more intuitive than "rational". Rather than using evidence-based decisions, overestimating "impression" and "intuition" may lead to unintended consequences. In a recent study, Rodríguez-Molinero et al. The decision to allow elderly patients to admit to the ICU has been shown to be primarily based on age and estimation of physician's functional and mental state. Unfortunately, doctor's assessment of patient function and mental status is not consistent with family evaluation. For example, the functional status of patients admitted to the ICU is often underestimated and the functional status of patients admitted to the ICU is often overestimated.

What is the aging challenge? In the latter half of our life our journey requires each one of us to adapt to a variety of age related challenges. The physical problem of aging causes deterioration of various forms of the body. The psychological challenges posed by aging affect our living sense, autonomy, and goals. The spiritual task of aging needs to think about problems such as loss, sadness, death, and eternity. Cultural issues of aging include mandatory retirement, financial planning, age discrimination, participation and contribution. Finally, aging environmental problems include change, transformation, transitivity, limits, and correspondence to limits. This white paper identifies three major challenges to the limits of these five aging populations.

To clarify aging issues is a way to deepen clarity, understanding, and self-compassion. Challenges and choice of aging affect the quality of our lives. It is important to understand the basic characteristics of our body, mind, spirit, culture, and environment and the effects of aging in order to gain the opportunity for us to tackle future challenges with a creative spirit. The main challenges of aging are doubt, despair, difficulty, discomfort, uncertainty and anxiety. We tend to approach aging with hostility. We tend to avoid, deny and hide from our original reality of aging. Perhaps this is the most important issue facing everyone to overcome our fear of aging.