Certain feelings of fear and confusion are normal in midlife. However, if they are creating an excessive amount of emotional turmoil it is advised that you speak with a counselor or therapist. Midlife Crisis Causes Often our westernized cultures tend to portray those who are older as boring, lifeless, intellectually lacking, and out-dated. While youth is heralded as being the perfect state. In western cultures especially, the wisdom of those who are older, their skills and life experience is greatly devalued. It's no wonder that many people fear getting older as they approach midlife. Physical Changes Advertising and media have contributed to the idea of keeping a youthful appearance is a necessity if you are to be taken seriously. Many people equate growing older with the inevitability of debilitating health issues. However, the fact is that the vast majority of people will be healthy and live independently well into their senior years. Standard of Living (Change title?) Regardless of what you hear, there are definite age and gender discrimination in certain sectors of employment. Many employment opportunities stress the need for younger applicants, so those beyond the age of 40 have a more difficult time finding a job.Those in midlife who are more financially prepared can expect their standard of living and opportunities to continue into old age. But those men and women affected by the economic downturn may have to work well into their 70's to maintain a reasonable standard. Older women especially are faced with an economic dilemma since they may have spent much time out of the workforce raising a family or working in lower paying jobs. The Awareness of Mortality Although no one likes to talk about death and dying, midli... ... middle of paper ... ...ng through midlife challenges often find it beneficial to talk to a counselor or therapist. These professionals can help you with sorting out your emotions and help you with deal with deeper issues. If you have developed destructive life patterns and relationships it's important to speak with a qualified professional. They can help you find the root cause and aid you in making positive changes in your life. The Importance of Self Care Making lifestyle changes can be beneficial and help to prevent possible health problems. All health care professionals recommend that you stop smoking, reduce your alcohol intake, watch your diet and begin an exercise routinely. Some women are finding that changing their diet can alleviate menopausal symptoms. Learning how to relax, training yourself to be emotionally aware, and learning to meditate can reduce the effects of stress.
This change in perspective led to the investigation of the other side of the coin. Ageing is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generative, coping and acceptance of age-related constraints (Birren & Fisher, 1995). Psychological understanding of successful aging is however, also often associated with the absence of age-Associated features - "just not age" equated. Successful aging may be regarded as the satisfaction with the conceptualized present and past lives, Larson (1978). In more recent approaches, it may include two approaches to identify successful aging....
“92 percent of workers who have seen age discrimination happen in the workplace or have experienced it first-hand say that it is either very or somewhat common to see.” According to Gaille (2015).
Menopause is a time of awesome hormonal fluctuations. When doctors measure hormone levels in perimenopause, the years just before the periods finally stop; they find that the levels can change markedly from day to day. This may lead to emotional upheaval that may last for several years.
In today’s society, what was once said to be true and taken as fact regarding older people is no longer the whole story. As Laslett states, “At all times before the middle of the twentieth century and all over the globe the greater part of human life potential has been wasted, by people dying before their allotted time was up.” (1989a), and to a great extent a lot
“Do not try to live forever, you will not succeed” (George Bernard Shaw). Life has finite limits, no one can live forever, but, someone can make an impact in your life or in millions of people's’ lives. In today’s society, everyone is living to old age. They are staying healthier longer due to better basic development forces, such as biological, psychological, socioeconomic and life-cycle forces that interact in a complex way. Some people are not so lucky, as they might develop dementia, Alzheimer's or a different disease causing them to age faster in a way that they won’t be able to do some of the activities they have been doing. Physical attractiveness is threatening with old age. As you age, wrinkles will form, skin will lose its elasticity,
The elderly vary in their feelings and attitudes about growing older. A member of the older community shared that the worst thing about growing old is that there is not much future in it. However, she looks on the bright side and comments
veryone in the world wants to look young. Unfortunately, we cannot stop the aging process. Once you cross your 3's you will start to feel that there is no hope to be beautiful anymore. Or is it?
Late adulthood should be a time in a person's life where they feel fulfilled. They can look back on their memories and be happy with the way they have lived their life. Now, too many elderly people are not satisfied and look at this stage as depressing. Most fear death of either a loved one or for themselves. This topic is interesting to me because elderly people should make the best of their last stage of life. This topic discusses about getting older, the life changes that they go through physically, emotionally, and mentally. We should know more about it so that we can help our family and friends get through one of the best, yet toughest part of our mortal life.
From the life course perspective, midlife behavior has both antecedents and consequences. Earlier life experiences can serve either as risk factors or as protective factors for the health and well-being during this stage of development. According to the study Journey from Childhood to Midlife completed by Werner and Ruth Smith in 2001, by middle adulthood, most people have noted a balancing in their lives and improvement in overall quality of their lives. The period of early adulthood had provided positive turning points such as community college, marriage to a stable partner or military service. A contributing factor is relationships that provided emotional support as well. The presence of a nurturing caregiver from infancy, as well as emotional support along the way from extended family, peers, and caring adults outside the family created a positive environment for the person to continue along the life course. Erik Erikson, Karl Jung and Daniel Levinson are three prominent developmental theorists on human development on the journey of life.
Middle adulthood is a complex time period that requires a multidimensional outlook to understand all of the processes and changes that are taking place. The many changes during middle adulthood include physical, cognitive and social differences. Many of these changes create significant stress and it is important to understand ways of coping with the anxiety. Many of these coping mechanisms include mindfulness and cultivating a sense of self-efficacy and mastery (pg. 482). There are many changes during middle adulthood that may require stress management techniques and interventions.
Late adulthood is known as the period of life after middle adulthood, usually from around 65 years old to death (Santrock, 2013, p. 485). There are many varying stages of development and health in late adulthood, along with steady changing of life expectancy. Aging is a part of life, and with it comes changes in every area of living. Many diseases find late adulthood as an opportune time to affect people. Eventually, whether caused by disease or another reason, every individual dies. Death is unique to every person, and healthcare in America is changing to reflect that. This stage of life is a time when bodily processes and functions may be decreasing, but depending on lifestyle choices, death can come at different times.
Aging and being old was dominated by negative characteristics and conditions such as illness, depression, and isolation for a long time (Eibach, Mock, & Courtney, 2010). At first glance the terms “success” and “aging” seem to be in conflict to each other. When asking people about aging, their answers have many facets that are also found in psychological definitions: successful aging is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generativity, coping, and acceptance of age-related limitations. In the psychological sense successful aging is also often seen as the absence of age-associated characteristics (Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Cohen, 2002). It seems that successful aging means is not aging.
We all want to looking young even after we have passed middle age. Now, I'm not just talking about the aesthetic appearance based things but also to general health and well being. I'm sure that you don't like the wrinkles and pains that old age brings with it. This is the reason why anti-aging research has been the one industry where billions of dollars have been pumped in over the past few years.
Age discrimination continues to be a problem for both men and women that are over the age of 40 in the workforce. In year 1967, the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act ADEA was passed to prohibit discrimination against workers over age 40 and older. Another law in the year 1964, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, or national origin. However there are still age discrimination and it seems to be more especially for older women more than older men. The Federal and the state should implement more regulations to protect workers' rights in all age groups, both in the younger and older generation including their race and gender.