During the last decades as the population has become older, the demand for acute hospital care for elderly people has increased and gerontologically adjusted services have become the norm for the highest standard of care. Compared with younger adults, elderly patients have more severe illnesses, including worsened functional impairment and more frequent and longer hospitalisations. Additionally, diagnosis is often challenging because clinical presentations of common disorders may often be atypical in the elderly. When prescribing medications, physicians have to take into account the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes observed with ageing. This book fills the gap in the literature available on acute geriatric care.

Personalisation in British social care is linked to both the principle and process that every adult who receives support, whether provided by statutory services or funded by them, will have choice and control over the shape of that support in all care settings. This adult social care policy agenda is firmly focused on the development of personalisation of support. The overall aim is for social care service users to have control over how money allocated to their care is spent. This book examines the social welfare system in Britain, with a particular focus on personal budgets and the quality of care received.

The U.S. population aged 65 and older, grew steadily through most of the last century. U.S. Census Bureau population projections to 2030 indicate that further and more dramatic growth is still to come. This increase is, in part, due to longer life expectancies and the ageing of the baby boom generation. This book explores the older population as it increases in size and proportion, and as individuals continue to live longer post-retirement. Topics discussed include the changes in where older Americans live, or the "geographic distribution" of the older population; older workers employment and retirement trends; income of Americans 65 or older; poverty among older Americans; and obesity among older Americans.

The idea of assessment in the fields of physical exercise and health refers to a process of attributing values or concepts. This attribution is certainly key for the prescription of physical exercise but it is not its most important role. This book presents and discusses research which shows physical exercise and health professionals the importance of a program of measurement and assessment which enables to safely prescribe physical exercise to elderly people, since this prescription must be supported by a scientific basis in order to be considered a credible and responsible piece of work.

This book reviews research on presently known theories and mechanisms responsible for the rate of ageing and maximum longevity of different animals including birds, mammals and humans (to explain "how" do we age and the velocity of the ageing process). In addition, this book deals with the historical evolutionary explanations of ageing and longevity ("why" do we age). The mechanisms discussed include mitochondria and oxygen free radicals, the presence of macromolecules constitutively highly resistant to deleterious modification in the tissues of long-lived animals, insulin/IGF-1 like signalling, telomere shortening, dietary restrictions, and other proposed molecular mechanisms.

This book presents a comprehensive review of the morphology and function of chromosomes in elderly people. The wide range of topics includes cyclical chromosome properties, mutations, repair, progressive chromosome heterochromatinisation with increasing age, roles of nucleolar organiser regions, sister chromatid exchanges, homologue relationships, heterochromatin regions and other chromosomal features in very old age. This ground-breaking book focuses on heterochromatinisation as a key determinant of the genetic apparatus function during senescence and an area to seek life-prolonging interventions. The book illustrates and updates progress in the field of cytogenetics of ageing.

The essential guide to making sure you have a fabulous later life. You're likely to live longer than you think. Today's fifty-year olds could have an astounding 36 or more years of life. What's your dream life for your later years? When We're 64 is a friendly, practical guide to preparing for what could be the best years of your life - from the essentials on work and how to fund retirement, to volunteering, where to live and what kind of housing you'll need. It covers how to stay healthy - and still live a full life if you get a health condition - and reveals how your attitude to ageing could actually increase your lifespan. There are sections on relationships with family and friends, as well as caring for older relatives and how to tackle loneliness. Packed with expert advice and new evidence and tips on how to age well, this route map will help you plan and prepare for the future.

As life expectancy continues to increase, so does the need to understand the factors that increase health and vitality. "Physiology of Exercise and Healthy Aging" applies the science of exercise physiology to an analysis of the aging process and identifies the positive effects that regular exercise and physical activity have not only on longevity but also on delaying specific diseases, decreasing morbidity, and increasing quality of life. It presents theories on aging, the aging process, the structural and functional changes that characterize advancing age, exercise programming concerns for the aged, drug use and abuse by seniors, and the benefits of exercise and physical activity.

This text offers a more expansive discussion of the particulars of exercise physiology of aging persons than is found in other texts on the subject. With "Physiology of Exercise and Healthy Aging," readers will gain a thorough understanding of the role of physical activity on the aging process, the principles of exercise and assessment considerations for elderly adults, and training for special needs of older adults. Information is presented in the context of three groups found in the aging and health spectrum: average aging individuals, frail elderly, and master athletes. This information is organized within a three-part structure:

-Part I explores age-related changes in the major physiological systems. The effects of physical activity on these systems, as well as necessary adaptations for those with impaired abilities in each system, are also discussed.

-Part II deals with the interactive roles of nutrition; age-related diseases, such as diabetes and osteoporosis; and physical activity.

-Part III presents the physiologic adaptability that may be expected with training and physical activity of older adults. It also addresses the practical issues that must be considered when working with this population, including training for aerobic, anerobic, and muscular fitness; exercise adherence and safety measures; and potential substance abuse of commonly used medications.In addition to the presentation of foundational concepts of physiology as they relate to the process of aging, chapters of" Physiology of Exercise and Healthy Aging" contain exercise regimens related to the chapter topic, other forms of physical activity that have proven beneficial to the aging population, and contraindicated exercises. Physiological responses to acute and chronic exercise perturbations are examined, including studies of cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle metabolism and strength, neurophysiology and the senses, and the effects of exercise on older adults with the diseases of aging, including type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, and cardiovascular disease. Chapter-opening quotes provide the insights of selected thinkers, scientists, and fitness professionals on the topic discussed.

Practitioners who work with older adults will find programming recommendations in each chapter to help translate the science into practice. An appendix offers easy access to forms and assessments, including a Three-Day Nutritional Assessment form and a Client History form. The language used throughout the text embraces the science of exercise physiology but also welcomes practitioners to apply the information presented.

For student readers, "Physiology of Exercise and Healthy Aging" incorporates these helpful features to assist learning and retention:

-Chapter-opening outlines offer quick reference to topics.

-Chapter-ending Questions to Consider provide tools for self-study and reflection.

-Numerous tables and figures reinforce chapter concepts and add visual or statistical information related to the process of aging, fall prevention, international demographics, and theories of aging.

-References provide additional opportunities for reading and research with selected books, articles, and Web sites.

-Appendixes contain information on specific Web sites and numerous tests and forms that may be photocopied for use with clients or patients or for course projects."Physiology of Exercise and Healthy Aging "contains a thorough discussion of the unique effects of aging on the human body and illustrates the power of exercise as a preventive tool to reduce or offset the deleterious effects of aging in order to increase the quality of life enjoyed by our aging population. With this text, both students and professionals will grasp the advantages of appropriate physical activity for the elderly and how to safely administer exercise programs that contribute to the increased health and quality of life for older adults.

Research results indicate that older adults have a higher rate of fatality and injury in motor vehicle crashes than any other age group except for teenagers. With the ageing of the American population, concern arises regarding potential increases in rates of crash involvement and injury. This book examines the association of the impairing effects of multiple medication use, drug/drug interactions and drug/disease interactions on motor vehicle crashes in individuals age fifty years and greater.

In Slavic studies, aging and old age have thus far been only marginal concerns. This volume brings together the scattered research that has been done up to now on aging as represented and narrated in Slavic literatures. The essays investigate Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Polish, Russian, Slovak, Slovene and Ukrainian representations of age/aging in various literary genres and epochs and analyze age as a powerful marker of difference and as constitutive of social relations and personal identity.

The University of Florida has an ambitious goal: to harness the power of its faculty, staff, students, and alumni to solve some of society's most pressing problems and to become a resource for the state of Florida, the nation, and the world. In the upcoming decades, an unprecedented demographic shift will take place; the eighty-five and over population is projected to climb far higher than any other age group. To keep the current elderly population healthy and help prevent future generations from experiencing poor health outcomes, researchers are studying crucial connections between skeletal muscles and whole-body health. The University of Florida is at the forefront of this research, utilizing its nationally recognized excellence in the fields of muscle biology and exercise physiology to discover unique ways to preserve muscle health in the aging and those with diseases. Find out how the proteins within muscle can be manipulated to reduce recovery times for individuals who are bedridden. Learn how older, elite athletes have resisted the inevitable degeneration that comes with aging, and how intermittent fasting may help you live longer and healthier. Step inside the lab where a researcher is uncovering the origins of cancer cachexia a wasting syndrome responsible for 20 percent of cancer deaths worldwide to improve the lives of patients. The loss of skeletal muscle through disease, disuse, or aging is associated with a host of poor health outcomes, but promising new avenues of research are being studied every day at the University of Florida to make for a healthier tomorrow.

Take control of your hormones and feel happier and healthier, with this practical guide to re-balancing your body and getting your life back on track ____________ Hormones play a crucial role in our health and well-being, yet few of us understand the toll they take on our bodies when we don't achieve a balance. Whether you're riding the roller coasters of puberty, pregnancy or the menopause, we're all a slave to our hormones at some point in our lives, and they can leave you feeling tired, low and irritable. In It Must Be My Hormones, leading specialists in women's health Dr Marion Gluck and nutritionist Vicki Edgson, show you the role that each of our major hormones plays, how a deficiency can affect our well-being, and what we can do to restore the balance. In this book you'll discover: * How to keep the weight off with thyroid boosting mega-foods * Vitamins which work wonders for your skin * How herbs and spices can give you a caffeine-free energy kick * Which aromatherapy herbs are actually beneficial * Ways to improve cognitive function through mineral supplements From boosting fertility to easing symptoms of PMS, this practical, easy-to-implement guidance will restore mental and physical well-being. Filled with inspiring personal stories, nutritional suggestions and advice on bio-identical hormone therapy, this book will help you regain control of your hormones and your life.

The U.S. population is getting older, and Americans are living longer, on average, than they ever have before. As they age, people are healthier and more active than the generations before them and have fewer functional limitations such as difficulty walking or blindness. Studies show that people are happier on average as they advance into their later decades and enjoy high levels of accumulated knowledge and experience. Getting older is a time of social, emotional, mental, and physical change. Retirement might change how a person interacts socially every day, affecting a persons mood and well-being. Cognitive aging--the normal process of cognitive change as a person gets older--can begin, or a permanent change in physical function may arise. Technology offers a path for people who are navigating these changes potentially to prevent or minimise the risks associated with them and to enhance peoples ability to live their lives fully. The Presidents Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), seeks to identify technologies and policies that will maximise the independence, productivity, and engagement of Americans in their later years. This book focuses on four key changes older Americans often experience: hearing loss; loss of social engagement and connectivity; cognitive change; and physical change.

This book reviews research on presently known theories and mechanisms responsible for the rate of ageing and maximum longevity of different animals including birds, mammals and humans (to explain how" do we age and the velocity of the ageing process). In addition, this book deals with the historical evolutionary explanations of ageing and longevity ("why" do we age). The mechanisms discussed include mitochondria and oxygen free radicals, the presence of macromolecules constitutively highly resistant to deleterious modification in the tissues of long-lived animals, insulin/IGF-1 like signalling, telomere shortening, dietary restrictions, and other proposed molecular mechanisms.

Ageing is an inevitable biological process that affects most living organisms. The link between metabolic rate and reactive oxygen species production is an important and long-standing question, and a source of much controversy. A by-product of cell respiration in mitochondria is the formation of reactive oxygen species due to electron leakage from the electron transport chain during oxidative phosphorylation. In simple terms, humans are ageing due to oxygen consumption. Damage induced by oxygen appears to be the major contributor to ageing and the degenerative diseases of ageing such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, immune system decline, and brain dysfunction. This book presents the reasons for oxidative stress formation and the answer to why during the course of evolution the process of free radical damage and defense did not become more perfect so as to produce less free radicals.

Hypertension and osteoporosis are two major age-related diseases. They are clinically silent disorders with high morbidity and mortality and the link between them has been reported recently with inconclusive evidence. This book presents and discusses research in this field which will improve our understanding of the relationship between high blood pressure and bone loss. It will begin by examining the clinical and experimental evidence of the involvement of the Renin-Angiotensin System (RAS), playing a central role in blood pressure control, in bone metabolism. This book concludes by summarising the association between hypertension and osteoporosis in a comprehensive literature review.

For some elderly people, the body weakens while the mind stays alert. Others remain physically strong, and cognitive losses take a huge toll. But for everyone, death is inevitable, and each loss is personally felt by those close to the one who has died. End-of-life care is the term used to describe the support and medical care given during the time surrounding death. An older person is often living, and dying, with one or more chronic illnesses and needs a lot of care for days, weeks, and sometimes even months. This book explores helping with comfort and care at the end-of-life and hopes to make the unfamiliar territory of death slightly more comfortable for everyone involved. Discussions on hospice, end-of-life services, costs, ethics, and quality of care are contained herein.

Ageing is the accumulation of changes in an organism or object over time. Ageing in humans refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some dimensions of ageing grow and expand over time, while others decline. Reaction time, for example, may slow with age, while knowledge of world events and wisdom may expand. Research shows that even late in life potential exists for physical, mental, and social growth and development. Ageing is an important part of all human societies reflecting the biological changes that occur, but also reflecting cultural and societal conventions. More people are reaching older age today than ever before and the incidence of dementia is thus expected to rise. It is important to investigate the possible prevention of dementia and cognitive decline. This new book gathers the latest research from around the globe in this field of study and related topics such as cardiovascular disease and cognitive function, physical exercise and cognitive function in the elderly, the dementia diagnosis, the role of MRI in Alzheimer's disease, oestrogen decline effects on the mental health of ageing women and the relationship between dementia and depression.

Ageing or aging is the accumulation of changes in an organism or object over time. Ageing in humans refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some dimensions of ageing grow and expand over time, while others decline. Reaction time, for example, may slow with age, while knowledge of world events and wisdom may expand. Research shows that even late in life potential exists for physical, mental, and social growth and development. Ageing is an important part of all human societies reflecting the biological changes that occur, but also reflecting cultural and societal conventions. This book examines several important issues in the field.

The word longevity is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography. Aging is the accumulation of changes in an organism or object over time. Aging in humans refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some dimensions of aging grow and expand over time, while others decline. Reaction time, for example, may slow with age, while knowledge of world events and wisdom may expand. Research shows that even late in life potential exists for physical, mental, and social growth and development. Aging is an important part of all human societies reflecting the biological changes that occur, but also reflecting cultural and societal conventions. Age is usually measured in full years -- and months for young children. At present, the biological basis of aging is unknown. This book presents the latest research in this dynamic field.

Ageing is any change in an organism over time. Ageing refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some dimensions of ageing grow and expand over time, while others decline. Reaction time, for example, may slow with age, while knowledge of world events and wisdom may expand. Research shows that even late in life potential exists for physical, mental, and social growth and development. Ageing is an important part of all human societies reflecting the biological changes that occur, but also reflecting cultural and societal conventions.

The ageing process changes body composition and thus nutritional status changes as one gets older. At the same time the body becomes more susceptible to diseases and diet becomes an even more significant or at least visibly significant than in earlier years. Moreover, there is frequently socio-economic downward drifting in this age group making nutritious foods more difficult to afford. This book presents the latest research in this vital field.

Book & CD. One of the most striking demographic changes over the last century in Western countries has been the rapid growth, both absolute and relative, of the oldest-old population, to such an extent that living beyond the age of 80 years constitutes a new stage of life. But what is life like after 80? Rather than scrutinizing the pathologies of very old age, this book enquires into the normal aging of the oldest old, their health trajectories, their socio-demographic inequalities; it analyses their daily life, including their social relationships, social support, and activities, and observes how the oldest old adapt to the multiple stresses and challenges of very old age. The book reports major results obtained from Swilsoo, a long-term longitudinal study based on two cohorts of octogenarians. The two cohorts were assessed on an approximately yearly basis, the first for 9 waves from 1994 to 2004, with 340 participants at inception, and the second for 5 waves from 19v9 to 2004, initially with 377 participants. The book demonstrates that many common stereotypes concerning the oldest old are false. For examples, their main shared characteristic is not sickness, but frailty, which affects them in different ways. A long life does not necessarily culminate in dependence. Dependence is a risk -- especially among persons of lower socio-economic status -- but not an ineluctable outcome. It also helps to bring out the importance of social and psychological resources in the lives of the oldest old. Although multiple stresses such as negative health-related changes or self-reported bereavements of a loved one often occur in the life of the elderly and affect their health and well-being, the very old can take advantage of various resources or adjustment mechanisms to help preserve their well-being and robustness. The book shows for instance that the preservation by the elderly of a positive and active role within the family is a boon to their health and that the continuation of leisure activities or the effective use of psychological resources counters the negative effects of frailty on well-being.

Dementia is a brain disorder that seriously affects a person's ability to carry out daily activities. The most common form of dementia among older people is Alzheimer's Disease (AD), which involves the parts of the brain that control memory, thought and language. Age is the most important known risk factor for AD. The number of people with the disease doubles every 5 years beyond age 65. AD is a slow disease, starting with mild memory loss and ending with severe brain damage. The course the disease takes and how fast changes occur vary from person to person. On average, AD patients live from 8 to 10 years after they are diagnosed, though the disease can last for as many as 20 years. Current research is aimed at understanding why AD occurs and who is at greatest risk for developing it, improving the accuracy of diagnosis and ability to identify who is at risk, developing, discovering and testing new treatments for behavioural problems in patients with AD. This book gathers state-of-the-art research from leading scientists throughout the world which offers important information on understanding the underlying causes and discovering the most effective treatments for Alzheimer's Disease.

It can slowly drain the life force from your body over time. Or kill swiftly without warning. But you will never find it on a medical chart or see it listed on a death certificate. It's called stress. It exacts a tremendous toll on our lives. It saps our strength, robs our youth and makes us old before our time. We encounter it day in and day out, yet do little, if anything about it. It's no wonder. In today's 'pressure cooker society', the average lunch hour lasts about 11 minutes. Dinner is often consumed in less than 6 minutes (usually seated in front of the television). The average workday can last 10 hours or more. We seem to be living in a society where there's virtually no time for quality time. Strictly speaking, stress itself is not among the direct causes of ageing, yet it plays an extremely important role in the ageing process. It is a powerful force that serves as a catalyst in every known mechanism that causes us to age. Readers might be surprised to find out that this book has as much to do with ageing, life extension and specific measures we can take to postpone the inevitable as it does with stress. The fact is that stress and ageing are inextricably bound together.