Many researchers describe that in the process of aging, we must analyze the context, the complex nature of man who is a biological being. "Old age is built from youth" because its movement during youth is related to the actions and inattentions that each person performs throughout his or her life. However, aging is normal, natural and inevitable, but it leads to different outcomes.
Introduction
Throughout life there are many factors that determine the health of elderly people, many see that the capacity of their lives is not the same because of mobility difficulties, chronic pain, fragility or other physical or mental problems, so they need assistance because they have a poorer performance. We know that human beings are aging, they are losing many qualities that take them away from activities, from their life this research seeks to study people who reach an adult age or older and who have a psychological care, who lead an adequate quality of life. Old age is the set of biological, psychological and social changes, normal and inherent to every individual, which affects the physical level and behavior of each one, which begins from birth itself and transcends the social and economic system of society.
The older adult is a human being, who is at constant risk is affected by external factors that lead to diseases, derived from the natural aging process. Among the diseases and physical injuries to which it is normally exposed, are falls. This is why it constitutes a social priority that deserves all attention; this being the fundamental basis of this study, bearing in mind that the majority of falls in this population are potentially preventable, being a priority the need to establish effective and adequate strategies in order to avoid and stop the amount of fearsome consequences that accompany these elderly adults.
The World Health Organization defined Old Age as the physiological process that begins at conception and causes changes in the characteristics of species throughout the life cycle; these changes result in a limitation of the adaptability of the organism in relation to the environment. The rhythms at which these changes take place in the different organs of the same individual or in different individuals are not the same. Among the changes that occur, there is a decrease in bone and muscle functions, a decrease in cardiorespiratory capacity, important losses of capacities such as coordination, balance, attention, retention, among others, which potentially affects the functional capacity of older people. Other changes are conditioned by lifestyle, diseases or traumatic accidents and opportunities.
The Problem
Deterioration, both physical and mental, causes older people to reduce their social and emotional lives, thus enabling depression and chronic illness to increase in people. From this context, the possibility of functional losses are increasingly greater as human beings age, so it is common to see older people losing their good mental and physical functioning.
Ageing is a very complex process, so there are many and varied causes that we are going to be able to study as risk factors in this population, due to the abruptness of physical and psychological events that affect the quality of life, since they are illnesses of long duration and slow progression. It is important to know all the circumstances that may include this type of negative event, which has considerably increased the mortality rate in old age.
From this context, dementia and depression in people over the age of 60, is attributed to mental and nervous system disorders are the most common neuropsychiatric disorders. As well as older adults with diseases such as heart disease show the highest numbers of depression. Through the study of this problem it has been seen that older adults are also vulnerable to neglect, physical, emotional, psychological abuse, lack of attention among others.
These problems indicate that they cause serious psychic problems of chronic character in these people, being important to study to avoid greater mental damage, is paramount for people who cross the barrier of 60 years by health problems that are very common in this population, all the more reason to pay attention because as we get older, these needs increase and is when we should do controlled physical exercise or practice some sport, because it is good for health because it will help prevent disease.
However it is true that the aging process is associated with a number of factors but mainly the functional deterioration that predisposes people to disease, but we can also find older people with a good state of health, it is wonderful to see happy grandparents, a better physical condition of these grandparents can provide the necessary skills to develop in daily life with greater security and autonomy, responding more skillfully to events of danger, and continuing active both in the workforce and in the family.
The older person usually becomes more sedentary and this factor may be the cause or consequence of pathologies. The happiness that it represents for people to be able to walk autonomously to meet basic needs, leave home and participate in different activities, be distracted, relate to others, is the key point in the perception of good health.
In addition, physical exercise has multiple advantages, not only physically but also mentally and emotionally because it is an excellent stimulant for the brain and can serve to keep the body active so that bones and muscles do not become fragile. Much of human beings consider that age is an excuse or limitation of many activities, we think that doing exercises not for the third age. For that reason, it is necessary to habituate our old people to make sport because for the health there should not be impediments, but fundamentally they need that to the body they give life to him with a routine of exercises and not to the sedentarism that worsens his state of health.
The influence of factors so variable that they are sometimes not modifiable, hinders the success of prevention measures, being important a multidimensional assessment, to know the risk factors and thus improve the quality of life of the elderly, since knowledge of the signs and symptoms of this physiological aging helps us discern which changes are typical of old age, which create limitations in the functionality of the elderly, so it is essential to intervene also in the prevention of everything related to this adverse circumstance.
To the previous consequences, we have to add the fragility, loss of functionality, loss of strength, balance and physical capacity that make this population more prone to accidents because falls in the elderly can have serious consequences for health in general. Falls in the elderly have a negative impact on the overall individual, and therefore prevention generates a need for care that affects the social and family circle of this vulnerable population.
The main factors associated with ageing have to do with each person's own conditions or characteristics. At an older age, the changes inherent in the ageing process influence the different systems, in addition to diseases that alter cognitive, physical, functional and sensory capacity, together with a socio-familial situation of isolation.
On the other hand, both genders are exposed to suffer from these fortuitous accidents, but the woman appears with more predisposition than the man to fall because the osteoporotic process is more common in them. Other cases is the use of drugs known as polypharmacy, causing dizziness and drowsiness, which decreases skills and general physical condition, running the risk of re-injury.
From this context, external risk factors are determining factors of the situation and circumstances of the elderly, such as housing conditions, public spaces, habits and lifestyles. Generally, they cause physical injuries, sometimes falls not only have physical consequences, but also psychological ones, due to the post-fall syndrome or distrust when falling, a situation that destroys skeletal muscle, leading to stronger complications.
The study of various disciplines that favorably affect the prevention of falls, improving the overall physical condition of grandparents. These include physical activity, physical medicine and rehabilitation, physiotherapies, which enhance the physical skills that maintain stability and balance, leg strength, walking, in order to maximize the effectiveness of any intervention, as there is a complex interaction between the causal factors of risk and the occurrence of the action. The preventions carried out in different areas with physical exercise programmes prevent risk situations that can lead to dependence.
They can also reform the quality of life in order to live many years in good health. Turning sixty years old corresponds to beginning to live, although one must begin to take more care of oneself. Logically, exercising, taking care of your diet is no longer a choice, but a necessity. Certainly, the rhythm of life of people of adult age varies and they cannot move with the same speed as before, since aging causes physical deterioration, making the greater population become more dependent, by the amount of limitations that appear through the passage of years.
For this reason, illnesses can be delayed by maintaining the habit of exercising, taking into account the needs of the elderly. Life-prolonging and therapy against many diseases. It is universally known that systematic physical exercise promotes health and contributes decisively to the longevity of man as a species. Physical exercise is a component of the lifestyle which in its various facets constitute vital activities for the health, education, recreation and well-being of man; the practice of sport and physical exercise can do for humanity what millions of physicians could not achieve.
As a consequence, those who suffer from any kind of illness need to carry out some kind of physical activity, which can be adapted to the grandfather according to his particular needs. Some studies have determined that physical exercise has the capacity to delay the aging of the brain, because keeping the mind busy doing exercises helps to establish neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or common senile dementia in old age.
In old age, physical exertion should be avoided. As well as suffering falls that injure or fracture the body, because they are much more difficult to heal. For those older people who have never in their lives have practiced sport, this will imply that the effort is greater, In addition, being able to perform some activity will help them face this last cycle of life with greater security and in a healthy way but will be appropriate according to the physical state of it, being doubly positive for people who feel good about what they are doing and enjoy it.
The knowledge of the enormous benefits of exercise induces changes in the lifestyles of older people who must establish a system of actions aimed at seeking health that contributes positively to extend life in these people allowing their development improves the quality of life. Likewise, physical exercise is the fundamental organic means in the fight against any danger induced by systematic inaction and the lowering of the functional load or sedentarism.
Main Causes of Aging:
- There are older people who live totally alone, whose state of health is bad, are sedentary people who do not exercise regularly. One of the main factors is cognitive impairment.
- Alterations responsible for the balance problems associated with aging can be multiple and they can intervene vestibular alterations, arrhythmias, ocular deficiencies, hypertension, hypotensive crises, cervical disorders, heart disease, osteo-muscular alterations (walking), problems in the feet that affect the heel, nerves, fingers, ligaments and joints.
- Alterations such as distensions, tendinitis, sprains and other more serious as muscular dystrophy, which affects the muscle intrinsically or can affect the whole process of transmission stimulus-response of the motor sequence.
- Skeletal muscle transformation, such as sarcopenia that causes loss of muscle strength mainly in the lower limbs, by the decrease in muscle fibers and by the loss of motor units.
- Another direct cause is the number of drugs consumed by the elderly, depressive syndromes or cognitive disorders which, in addition to being treated with drugs, can contribute to the postural balance being affected, through vertigo, presyncope or syncope, dizziness that originates in the central nervous system or in the peripheral organs that affect physical condition. Generally drugs classified as psychotropic (benzodiazepines).
- Cardiovascular problems, heart rhythm disorders, valvular heart disease, heart failure, and cerebrovascular disease.
Positive Aspects to Stop Physical Deterioration
- Exercising reduces stress by improving rest
- Physical exercise is an ally to prevent falls, being essential for older people to maintain their mobility by making them more coordinated and protects them from muscular atrophy.
- Physical activity stimulates the secretion of key substance endorphins that produce a feeling of joy, fullness and well-being that helps to satisfactorily reduce the levels of depression that is very common in older adults.
- It avoids overweight, causes the strengthening of self-esteem and body image, helping to avoid cardiovascular diseases.
- Prevention of metabolic diseases such as blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol, osteoporosis, diseases very common in the elderly. At the same time it prevents the wearing down of bone mass helping the health of the bones.
- Aids in the prevention of cerebrovascular, neurodegenerative diseases.
- Exercise increases muscle mass, endurance, improving fragility syndrome, such as walking speed.
- Exercises such as walking, jogging, swimming are very suitable for strengthening the heart.
- Evaluation by a trainer or qualified personnel to certify that the exercise is being performed safely and properly so that the elderly feel healthy and happy.
The increase in fat mass in old age is a major risk factor for mortality, which also increases mobility problems in older people, which is why in the day to day physical exercise, sport are effective disciplines and prepare humans for life. However, it is important to establish a system of strategies aimed at improving the quality of life of the elderly, orienting the work towards ensuring that adults who maintain an active life reach older ages with excellent willingness to work and less dependence on those around them.
General Objective
Analyzing Aging and Physical and Mental Impairment
Specific Objectives
- To assess the risk factors in older people that cause physical and mental impairment.
- To study lifestyles that help improve the quality of life in the elderly.
- Establish a system of strategies aimed at raising the quality of life in the elderly, to achieve maximum physical and emotional well-being.
This research leads to the implementation of programs to prevent falls and injuries caused by various factors that these produce, ensuring a high level of success in reducing these risks affecting the elderly.
Prevention begins with due information to the elderly population in general, especially to those fragile people, focusing on the habits and routine of the day taking into account the spaces in which they move, as well as the habits of interaction in the home.
Another positive factor in this issue, are the grandparents who perform regular physical activity, are better prepared for the eventualities of daily life, and respond more effectively, as their body can be prepared at the musculoskeletal level to withstand those impacts, which perhaps an older person who does not perform any physical work.
Conclusion
In reality, the aim is to give older people the attempt to live longer and in better physical, social and mental conditions, it is to build a competent aging system where these people feel the need to reorganize their scale of desires, even if they are not active, it is to encourage in the elderly a positive appreciation of their attitudes and abilities to offer them the necessary opportunities to unfold their potentialities, but above all to feel loved and loved by society, by their families, who can consider themselves as capable people in the last stage of their lives. Approximately 60+ adults mostly suffer from some mental disorder.
As the years go by in life there is a progressive reduction in our basic physical capacities, affecting the capacity to carry out the activities of daily life, since ageing is an inevitable process, we are capable of delaying it and reducing the risk factors by adopting healthy practices. Physical activity is an enriching source of health, creating the habit of physical exercise, not only improves our physical health, but mental, preventing premature aging, starting by inducing substantial changes in lifestyle, leaving behind sedentarism and obesity, depression and other diseases, achieving a more dynamic life, with greater energy that leads us to enjoy good health.
In the analysis of this research we can conclude that elderly people feel that the most important thing in their lives is to be happy with those around them. It is to reach that stage and be active, healthy, healthy, with a lucid mind that remembers activities of their youth, which will help with their memory, that they can read a book, in addition to remembering pleasant moments of their lives. That is why the best aging is achieved by people in the different stages of their cycle.
With this study it has been learned that the activities that surround the older adult give motivation and is the secret to reach and remain dignified, is to reach a healthy and active physical and psychic life for as long as possible, is to teach him to face the circumstances in a positive way, which they feel are still useful for society, especially for their families.
Recommendations
- Optimisation of physical and mental health and well-being
- Education, training and support for carers, i.e. to provide older adults with effective mental health care at the family level.
- Care for chronic diseases that accompany old age, such as mental problems.
- Creation of services and environments that favour older people, through the promotion of active and healthy habits.
- To provide social support to older persons through the existence of social programs aimed specifically at people living alone, or with mental illness.
- Early treatment of mental disorders in older adults.
- Adequate information and support to the direct carers of this population and disorders related to old age.
- Health and social care to improve health, prevent disease and treat chronic conditions in older people.
- Education programs and fall protocols to provide primary health care to patients and their caregivers, including the importance of fall prevention, risk factors for falls, and transfer techniques.
- Instruction in safe mobility, with emphasis on high-risk patients, to be provided to patients and families.
- Prevention in the home, with non-slip floors, stairs with handrails, spacious bathrooms where you can even introduce a wheelchair or chairs at the time of bathing, where the elderly population can sit and bathe properly without major complications.
- To evaluate the risk factors in this population in order to undertake positive actions aimed at reducing the prevalence of falls, such is the case of architectural proposals in homes as a possible measure of prevention and help to the limitations that older people are developing.
Final Recommendation:
In the elderly, physical exercise and maintaining an active lifestyle promote and maintain good health. Getting maximum benefits since physical condition is the most disturbed by the age of this population. So the physical training improves the self-esteem and the physical aptitude of the individual diminishing considerably the risk of suffering many diseases and disabilities.
For all these reasons, it is of great interest to develop a change of consciousness towards the methodical practice of exercises because most of the human beings do not know the use of this powerful tool as a preventive, therapeutic and rehabilitation method to raise the quality of life, as a fundamental link to extend the life of the elderly
References:
- Alvaro, lucia. Astudillo, Christian. Sánchez Janneth. (2014). Degree Thesis. Prevalence of Falls in Older Adults and Associated Factors. Ecuador.
- Hernandez, Lucia. Project for the Prevention of Falls in Patients with Fractures. University of Valladolid.
- Garcia, Maria. (2017). Descriptive Analysis of Falls and Associated Risk Factors in the Elderly. Murcia.