AGING AND NURSING
Physical changes due to aging.
There are so many physical changes that occur due to the
aging process.
These changes affect some organs and systems in the human
body.
The organs are:
Heart
Bone, Muscle & Joint
Digestive System
Kidney and urinary tract
Brain & Nervous System
Eyes
Ear
Hair, Skin & Nail
Your heart pumps all day and night, whether you are awake or asleep. It will pump more than 2.5 billion beats during your lifetime! As you age, blood vessels lose their elasticity, fatty deposits build up against artery walls and the heart has to work harder to circulate the blood through your body. This can lead to high blood pressure (hypertension) and atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).
Taking care of your body with the right types of fuel will help you keep your heart healthy and strong. You can take care of your heart by exercising and eating heart-healthy foods.
As we age, our bones shrink in size and density. Some people
actually become shorter! Others are more prone to fractures because of bone
loss. Muscles, tendons, and joints may lose strength and flexibility.
The most common musculoskeletal disorders in later life are Osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and gout (Touhy & Jett, 2020).
Exercise is a great way to slow or prevent problems with
bones, muscles, and joints. Maintaining strength and flexibility will help keep
you strong. In addition, a healthy diet including calcium can help your bones be strong. Be sure to talk to your doctor about what types of diet and exercise
are right for you.
Swallowing and digestive reflexes slow down as we age.
Swallowing may become harder as the esophagus contracts less forcefully. The
flow of secretions that help digest food in the stomach, liver, pancreas, and
small intestine may also be reduced. The reduced flow may result in digestive
issues that weren’t present when you were younger.
Kidneys and Urinary Tract
Kidneys may become less efficient in removing waste from the
bloodstream because your kidneys get smaller as they lose cells as you age.
Chronic diseases such as diabetes or high blood pressure can cause even more
damage to the kidneys.
Urinary incontinence may occur due to a variety of health
conditions. Changes in hormone levels in women and having an enlarged prostate
in men are contributing factors that lead to urinary incontinence.
Brain and Nervous System
As we age, we naturally lose cells. This is even true in the brain. Memory loss occurs because of the number of brain cells decreases. The brain can compensate for this loss by increasing the number of connections between cells to preserve brain function. Reflexes may slow down, distraction is more likely and coordination is affected.
Eyes
There are many vision changes that occur as we age. We may need help seeing objects that are closer as our lens stiffens. We may have a more difficult time seeing in low-light conditions, and colors may be perceived differently. Our eyes may be less capable of producing tears and our lenses may become cloudier.
Common eye problems associated with age include cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration.
Ears
Excessive noise throughout your lifetime can cause hearing
loss as you age. Many older adults have difficulty hearing higher pitched
voices and sounds, trouble hearing in busy places and more frequently
accumulating earwax.
Hair, Skin, and Nails
As you age, your skin becomes more dry and brittle, which
can lead to more wrinkles. The fat layer under the skin thins, which results in
less sweating. This may seem like a good thing, but it makes you more
susceptible to heat stroke and heat exhaustion in the summer. Hair and nails
grow slower and become brittle. Hair will thin and turn gray.
Decreasing levels of physical activity and a slowing
metabolism may contribute to weight gain. Your body may not be able to burn off
as many calories as it once could, and those extra calories will end up being
stored as fat.
We currently live in a world where aging is so common that
it’s considered by most of the world, including the medical community, as
something that’s natural and inevitable. And if something’s considered
inevitable, typically you don’t focus on it in the same way as something you
can treat.
According to Harvard Gazette, one of the biggest changes that happened in 2018 was the World Health Organization, in their international disease codebook, declaring aging a condition that is treatable. So now doctors and countries can report back to the World Health Organization how many people in their country are suffering from this condition known as “old age.” Aging is a process that most people find difficult to accept while others may accept it and do the best they can to achieve healthy aging.
Today, many people are doing a lot of procedures to halt aging or delay aging. These procedures may be in the form of surgeries, the use of herbs, drugs, and also the use of cream and lotions.
Invasive procedure to reverse the natural changes of aging.
Chemical Peels:
Chemical peels are used to treat wrinkles, discolored skin, and scars — usually on the face. They can be done alone or combined with other
cosmetic procedures. And they can be done at different depths, from light to
deep. Deeper chemical peels offer more-dramatic results but also take longer to
recover from.
A chemical peel can cause various side effects, including:
Redness, scabbing, and swelling. Normal healing from a
chemical peel involves redness of the treated skin. After a medium or deep
chemical peel, redness might last for a few months.
Scarring. Rarely, a chemical peel can cause scarring —
typically on the lower part of the face. Antibiotics and steroid medications
can be used to soften the appearance of these scars.
Changes in skin color. A chemical peel can cause treated
skin to become darker than normal (hyperpigmentation) or lighter than normal
(hypopigmentation). Hyperpigmentation is more common after superficial peels,
while hypopigmentation is more common after a deep peel. These problems are
more common in people with brown or black skin and can sometimes be permanent.
Infection. A chemical peel can lead to a bacterial, fungal, or viral infection, such as a flare-up of the herpes virus — the virus that
causes cold sores.
Heart, kidney, or liver damage. A deep chemical peel uses
carbolic acid (phenol), which can damage the heart muscle and cause the heart to
beat irregularly. Phenol can also harm the kidneys and liver. To limit exposure
to phenol, a deep chemical peel is done a portion at a time, in 10- to
20-minute intervals.
This procedure can be prescribed for medical reasons but today, some older adults travel to countries with almost no restrictions or regulations to get such procedures done in other to have tight firm skin without wrinkles.
What these private cosmetologists fail to tell them is that chemical
peels can't remove deep scars or wrinkles or tighten sagging skin.
As nurses, before any patient undergoes any procedure, it is
our duty to make sure that they are well informed by the physician on the pros
and cons of the surgery and that all the concerns and questions are addressed
to their understanding before they sign the consent to proceed.
References
Touhy, T.A., & Jett, K. (2020). Ebersole & Hess'
Toward healthy aging: Human needs and nursing responses (10th ed.). Elsevier.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/chemical-peel/about/pac-20393473
Sunil, C. (2020). The modification of the aging process. DOI - 10.18231/j.agems.2020.001
Harvard gazette. (2019). Longevity and anti-aging research:
prime time for an impact on the globe. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/03/anti-aging-research-prime-time-for-an-impact-on-the-globe/
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