BIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHICAL CHANGES

"When we age, the beauty becomes inner quality." Ralph Waldo Emerson

During the aging process are a serial of changes that affect both the biological and the psychological aspect of the person. But, in addition, there is also an important transformation in the social role that the person has developed so far.

As time goes on it will determine changes in physical and psychological aspects leading to aging, happening this from birth.

We broach this aging process from a triple perspective: biological, psychological and social, and being individual in each person.

As biological changes older people experience different changes is several systems such as skin, skeletal muscle, respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, hematopoietic and urinary.

In order to skin it becomes clear, age spots appear, senile lentigo, their hair turns gray and it begins to weaken and fall. Brittleness of nails, senile purpura, and hair appears in not previously parts such as facial hair on women.

As skeletal muscle changes during aging, muscle strength, mobility, flexibility ...  decreases, appears osteoporosis causing broken bones, especially in the hip, and osteoarthritis appears by a number of heritable genetic factors unsure specifically why, there are other pathologies as comoheberden's nodes, rheumatoid arthritis, bursitis, gouty arthritis ... preventing them full independence.

Regarding respiratory changes, they lose body fluids, number of cilia that prevents them expels fluids, elasticity of the alveoli, and muscles weaken that prevent them to cough. Following many of these changes can develop diseases such as COPD, flu, pneumonia.

As time goes on changes are observed at the cellular level, the heart muscle tone decrease, the left ventricular heart size increase and a decreased cardiac outpour occurs.

A viscosity increased of plasma happen and more risk of thrombosis.

Regarding the digestion of this kind of patients must take into account that changes can intervene directly, we must take into account if the patient has teeth or not, because due to this nutrition may vary.

The urinary system is altered by the decrease of the nephrons and the results of filtration causing an increase of waste products too.

Within the nervous system changes occur both at central and peripheral level; there is a decrease in the number of cortical neurons. One of the most significant changes is the decrease in brain mass, in reflexes, in stimuli perception, in motor response...

At psychic level are a series of changes such as a decline in intellectual capacity begins, and the ability adapt becomes harder, without altering the personality unless the patient have pathological changes.

Finally, these patients suffer from some social changes, such as changes in the role of personality, they are seen from a more individual point and experience changes as member of the family, going from a strong and sustainer support to a more fragile support that has to be care.

Today retirement, even being a major social achievement, by way of being applied entails a negative economic, social and psychological charge that many people do not resist resulting in the rise of anguish-anxiety phenomena.

To prevent deterioration due to these changes, nursing must be alert to the new signs and symptoms that may appear because they can be triggered, aggravating the situation and causing serious problems.

The nurse role is very important because it is the closest to patients, and above all of this type, as revisions of ulcers, pressure, etc ... are nursing controlling.

                                                  Vanessa Palomares García 

Book McGraw Hill: http://www.mcgraw-hill.es/bcv/guide/capitulo/8448176898.pdf

Medline Pus: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spanish/ency/article/004013.htm