Longevity research Essay

Today, a great amount of people catch learned to enjoy breeding once again as a senior in the community. This would speak of those in the 70s and beyond. Life expectancy for Ameri evokes, which was a mere 49 years in 1900, has now attachd to around 76 years. This we can say is due to improvements in health c atomic procedure 18, nutrition, and the overall standard of spirit. Not just now are people living longer, but they are becoming to a greater extent active in their older age, relative to elderly of the past.More older Americans are able carry out their own instrumental activities of daily living (Hodes 2003) As such, the desire for life has grown and billions have been poured into seniority research, an undertaking meant to achieve ways and sum to extend life. A vast motivation in science has been well-funded to discover how to keep man alive longer, with its aim toward more and more years. (Douglas 2006) There are concerns however atomic number 53 must view in light o f this, namely, give a society with umteen living over a hundred years be actually as beautiful as it seems to present?The first concern would be the quality of life given that although the remains may be kept health, the brain lead be aging. Surely, the mind at the age of 110 is not as lucid as that of wholeness at the age of 60. There are many maladys that correlate with the aging brain, but let us use the more common Alzheimers disease as an example. This is a devastating condition that has been seen to have a profound impact on individuals, families, the health care system, and society as a whole.demographic studies suggest that if the current trends maintain themselves, the annual number of incident cases of this disease will begin a sharp increase in the year 2030 thereabouts. (Alzheimers association 2009) This will be a time that people born between 1946 and 1964 will all be over 65 years. Studies further usher that by the year 2050, the number of Americans with the disease could double. Imagine these implications. Its unfeigned that people live longer, but then what quality of life can one have if he lives 20 years more but has lost memory of his family and friends.This disease accounts for around 50-50% of cases of dementia. With increase longevity, there will be a large increase in the prevalence of the disease as people will be living to be older. It can be such impediment to the individual to live in a condition where for years he is grasping at memories that he cannot recall. Its an incredible burden to the family as well, as they will now be responsible for more elderly, living longer lives, incapable of self care, and maybe plain incapable of recognizing kin.Imagine a scenario where a parent is 110 years old, their child being 85 and their grandchild at 60, how would it be feasible for the turn of care to pass from parent to child in such a scenario where all are classifiable as aged. A second concern is that apart from the aging min d, there is too the aging body. It is true that the individual will be living long, but then there are multitudes of risks that will accompany this. The wear and tear from all the years will now set in as he will now be more prone to multitudes of disease as years go by.Sicknesses alike arthritis of the joints, a heart attack, stokes, cataracts, diabetes and many more will all now be factors that come into play. Even worse, should the person gain a long-playing enfeeble condition, one with no cure such as the case of Alzheimers previously mentioned, then again what kind of quality of life can he sustain? Lets take a stroke for example. Currently, a stroke is the third leading perform of death in the United States. Statistics channelise that over 143,579 people die each year in the United States from this condition.Now in terms of long term disability, stroke is the leading cause as people may live on with their life span after a completed stroke. Furthermore, having a stroke doe s not mean that a person cannot have another one to further cause disability. Now, it is seen that nearly three-quarters of all strokes guide in people over the age of 65. It is also renowned that the risk of having a stroke more than doubles each decade after the age of 55. (Internet Stroke Center 2009) This is not even accounting for those who go through strokes at a young age.Now, given this data, imagine the risk for one who is to live until 120 years old. Imagine if a large great deal of population were to live this long, then the worldwide prevalence of stroke survivors would be high. After a stroke, it is very possible for one to lose control of speech, of impetus in half a body, of mobility, and sometimes even requiring full time nursing care. The implications on a person and a family would be immense. Given that strokes occur generally in people over 65, imagine having one at 70 and then living for 40 more years. How would one survive that unaccompanied without the cap acity to communicate.Its true that one can live with the heart beating, but the question is in terms of quality of life. Another concern that also affects health will be the incidence of depression. A longer life for one spouse would mean having to live through the death of loved ones. longevity increases the number of years one would live past the death of a spouse and family. Studies can increase life but imagine a scenario where a parent has to live past his spouse children and grandchildren. Again, the concern regarding quality of life comes in play is emotional makeup is indeed a very eventful aspect of human life.Rebecca Utz, a sociologist at ISR stated While only about 6 percent of widowed persons had full financial problems since their spouse died, 63 percent reported less income and 34 percent said their financial strain increased significantly after they were widowed. The negative scotch consequences are even more pronounced for women than they are for men, and the dec lines are lasting, not a temporary drop associated with funeral expenses or estate planning. (About. com 2009) This itself is proof of how ones death can affect an individual, not only in terms of health and emotion, but in terms of capability to function as well.Increasing longevity means increasing the chances that people will outlive one, or even more spouses, and have to deal with many deaths for many years. Depression rates will increase as a consequence of spouses living well past their mates, their children and maybe even their grandchildren. A study conducted showed that eighty-four (24%) of 350 widows and widowers met criteria for depressive episodes at 2 months, 72 (23%) of 308 did so at 7 months, and 46 (16%) of 286 did so at 13 months, further supporting this claim that depression and emotional consequences of too much longevity should be of concern.(Zisook, S & Shuchter, S. 1991) A fourth point that should raise concern for biologic implications for longevity revolve a round care for the elderly. Today, families turn to nursing homes and assisted living to give the elderly the care and attention they need. The alarming factor now revolves around what actual care they are receiving in these corrects, as a congressional report made by CBS intelligence information correspondent Bill Whitaker previously stated that around 1,600 U. S. nursing homes, nearly one-third of all in total, have been cited for abuse.These reported abuses were of various types, spanning from physical, sexual and verbal. All abuse in all these forms is on the rise. The report further noted that that more than twice as many nursing homes were cited for abuse in 2000 than in 1996. It was further seen that in 1,601 nursing homes , around 1 in 10 abuse citations were made in serious incidents. By serious, it was meant that they either put residents at great risk of harm, injured them or killed them. (CBS news 2001) Imagine how greatly the health of these poor elderly could be affe cted by increased longevity.Already at this current time with our elderly, society is unable to result adequate care for them, and resorting to nursing homes and various assisted living environments that have led to elderly abuse. What more an increase can be expected if people were to live into the hundreds. The population would have a forceful increase in the aged, thus increasing the burden on society to care for them. If at this current day and age, society already is unable to carry on the abuse problem, then the health implications of longevity are grave in that they will aggravate the abuse by increasing the number of elderly remaining alone.Investigators have further said that many violations are neither detected nor reported, which leads officials to conclude that the problem is even underestimated. Surely, if society cannot currently manage the elderly and offer a good, healthy and safe environment for them, then there is no way that society can do so after a further increase in the aged that longevity research will bring. My fifth and final concern regarding longevity lies in the fact that it will now place a large amount of population that has needs to be fulfilled but cannot fulfill them on its own.Increasing longevity will increase the number of senior citizens and the number of non-works elderly dependent. The health concerns for this are immense, as the question that can now be raised is regarding who in society will provide for the health of these individuals who cannot earn a living for themselves. CDC research concerns states that the increased number of people with ages over 65 will potentially lead to increased health-care follows. The health-care cost per capita for persons from the age group over 65 years in the United States is three to five times greater than the cost for persons below that age.(CDC 2003) Imagine how this will increase if people were to live 20 years longer. Currently, the number of persons aged 65 years is expec ted to rise from around 35 million in 2000 to an estimated 71 million in 2030. Longevity will even increase this number. Eventually, as resources will decline, then there will not be enough economic support to support the aged, leading to substandard healthcare and health risks. There may not be enough to provide them with medical needs, particularly because the working population may be outnumbered by the dependent elderly non-working populous.As such, in conjunction with many other previously discussed claims, the promise of longevity, although seemingly tempting, may not exactly be as, wonderful as it seems to be.WORKS CITEDAbout. comMental health (2009) Losing a Spouse What Hurts and What Helps online accessible from April 6, 2009 Alzheimers association (2009) What is Alzheimersonline Available from April 6, 2009CBS news (2001) Nursing Home Abuse Increasing online Available from April 6, 2009 CDC (2003) Public Health and Aging Trends in Aging United States and Worldwide MMW R weeklyonline Available from April 6, 2009 Douglas, J. (2006) New longevity research center launched to study supercentenarians Natural News online Available from http//www. naturalnews. com/020701. html April 6, 2009 Hodes, R.(2003) Human Longevity and Aging Research. Special Committee on Aging online Available from April 6, 2009 Internet Stroke Center (2009) Stroke Statistics online Available from April 6, 2009 Zisook, S & Shuchter, S. (1991) Depression through the first year after the death of a spouse Am J Psychiatry online Available from April 6, 2009