Stereotypes During Late Adulthood

Old age can be characterized by many factors including both physical and mental. These characters are not any stereotypes. Some marks of old age can vary from person to person depending on life situations. There are also some universally accepted general characteristics too. Late adulthood can be the best part of one’s life, or it can turn out to be a very hard part of life. The onset of diseases is not something many have a choice in. During late adulthood, the skin continues to lose elasticity, reaction time slows further, and muscle strength diminishes. Hearing and vision decline significantly; cataracts, or cloudy areas of the eyes that result in vision loss, are frequent. The other senses, such as taste, touch, and smell, are also less sensitive than they were in earlier years. …show more content…
Age is a major risk factor for most common neurodegenerative diseases, including mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, cerebrovascular disease, Parkinson's disease, and Lou Gehrig's disease. Many molecular changes are due in part to a reduction in the size of the brain, as well as loss of brain plasticity. Brain plasticity is the brain's ability to change structure and function. The brain's main function is to decide what information is worth keeping and what is not; if there is an action or a thought that a person is not using, the brain will eliminate space for it. Brain size and composition change along with brain function. The brain begins to lose neurons in later adult years; the loss of neurons within the cerebral cortex occurs at different rates, with some areas losing neurons more quickly than others. The frontal lobe, which is responsible for the integration of information, judgement, and reflective thought, and corpus callosum tend to lose neurons faster than other areas, such as the temporal and occipital