Older Adults Health And Age-Related Changes: Reality Versus Myth

As one age they are affected by many different obstacles. One being the physical changes that take a toll on one's body but also the effects of changes in memory and cognition. These changes are not visible and can be hidden from other people. As people age, their sensation and perception change too. There are many concerns when it come to a person ability to do daily activities such and driving and even living on their own. When the person ages so do their mental processing. Older adults are known to have the slower reaction time to situations and tend to have to think about what they are doing for a longer period of time. Because it may take older adults more time to encode, store, and retrieve information, the rate at which new information is learned can be slower, and older adults often have a greater need for repetition of new information. Most aspects of language ability remain strong, yet word finding abilities decline with age. (Older Adults' Health and Age-Related Changes: Reality versus Myth). When it comes to

Due to the slowing of reaction ability, there is an increase in accidents in the older population. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Department of Transportation, in 2012, more than 5,560 older adults were killed and more than 214,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes. These older people made up 17 percent of all traffic fatalities and 9 percent of all people injured in traffic crashes during the year. (Transportation, 2012). With the data provided, there is great concern about how old a person is and when they should stop driving. Many people feel that once a person reaches a certain age they should be retested on their ability to drive. The Department of Motor Vehicle should have a standardized way of check one's ability to reaction time and how the older adult responses to distractions while