Sociology of Aging Essay Two
This essay examines an article published in Atlantic magazine. The article is entitled Why I Hope to Die at 75 and is written by Ezekiel J. Emmanuel. In this article the author presents arguments against the extension of life. Emmanuel argues that by the age of 75 we will have lived a full life and it would be better to die and leave our loved ones with good memories of us. He believes that by doing this we can avoid disability and other effects of aging. There is impactful evidence to support the arguments presented in this article. Validation for the author’s arguments is shown by the impacts of sensory changes including hearing, taste and eyesight loss, decreasing metabolism, cognitive functioning and financial hardship.
As mentioned in lecture six one of the impacts of old age is a reduction in all five senses. Each has unique impacts on seniors’ health and well-being. Age causes a decrease in the number of taste buds and sense of …show more content…
This means older individuals must either eat less or exercise more to maintain their weight. Calorie restriction was also thought to be an effective method of extending life. According to a BBC documentary Don’t Grow Old calorie restriction was found to give up to a 30% life extension in mice. This has recently been experimented on in humans. Requirements were that calories were cut by 1/3. One scientist who followed this experiment was unimpressed by this method. The scientist experienced extreme hunger. This is one problem seen here. While this method may counter the effects of a decreasing metabolism in order for this to work you must be hungry which detracts from life experience. Another problem mentioned with this approach is that maintenance of nutrition while on a calorie restricted diet can be a challenge. Another challenge that seniors and their families may have to cope with in later life is cognitive
This essay examines an article published in Atlantic magazine. The article is entitled Why I Hope to Die at 75 and is written by Ezekiel J. Emmanuel. In this article the author presents arguments against the extension of life. Emmanuel argues that by the age of 75 we will have lived a full life and it would be better to die and leave our loved ones with good memories of us. He believes that by doing this we can avoid disability and other effects of aging. There is impactful evidence to support the arguments presented in this article. Validation for the author’s arguments is shown by the impacts of sensory changes including hearing, taste and eyesight loss, decreasing metabolism, cognitive functioning and financial hardship.
As mentioned in lecture six one of the impacts of old age is a reduction in all five senses. Each has unique impacts on seniors’ health and well-being. Age causes a decrease in the number of taste buds and sense of …show more content…
This means older individuals must either eat less or exercise more to maintain their weight. Calorie restriction was also thought to be an effective method of extending life. According to a BBC documentary Don’t Grow Old calorie restriction was found to give up to a 30% life extension in mice. This has recently been experimented on in humans. Requirements were that calories were cut by 1/3. One scientist who followed this experiment was unimpressed by this method. The scientist experienced extreme hunger. This is one problem seen here. While this method may counter the effects of a decreasing metabolism in order for this to work you must be hungry which detracts from life experience. Another problem mentioned with this approach is that maintenance of nutrition while on a calorie restricted diet can be a challenge. Another challenge that seniors and their families may have to cope with in later life is cognitive