Question

Evaluate the biological and psychosocial theories of aging. Explain how to use a theory to help with an aging patient and how this may or may not be effective.

Answer 1

Ans) The Programmed Theory
- Programmed Longevity, which considers ageing to be the result of a sequential switching on and off of certain genes, with senescence being defined as the time when age-associated deficits are manifested.
- Endocrine Theory, where biological clocks act through hormones to control the pace of ageing.
- Immunological Theory, which states that the immune system is programmed to decline over time, leading to an increased vulnerability to infectious disease and thus ageing and death.

Disengagement Theory:
- Refers to an inevitable process in which many of the relationships between a person and other members of society are severed & those remaining are altered in quality.
- Withdrawal may be initiated by the ageing person or by society, and may be partial or total.
It was observed that older people are less involved with life than they were as younger adults.
- As people age they experience greater distance from society & they develop new types of relationships with society.
- In America there is evidence that society forces withdrawal on older people whether or not they want it.
- Some suggest that this theory does not consider the large number of older people who do not withdraw from society.
- This theory is recognised as the first formal theory that attempted to explain the process of growing older.

Important concepts in the biochemistry of aging include: Free radicals are unstable oxygen molecules that can damage cells. DNA repair is the concept that, for unknown reasons, the systems in the body that repair DNA seem to become less effective in older people.