Will you get crotchety or mellow out as you grow older? Personality change is a myth, say researchers. You are more likely to age much as you’ve lived your life. If you were a grouch at 25, you will probably be the same at 75. If you’ve always been mild-mannered, advanced years won’t change you. According to study, personalities don’t change much with age.
Exercise not only contributes to the vitality and self-sufficiency of older people; it can also lessen many health problems associated with aging. Coronary artery disease has been shown to be up to three times as likely among sedentary older people as it is among the more active ones. Regular exercise normalizes body weight. If everyone worldwide weighed what he or she should as they grew older, coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure would be 25 – 35% less. Exercise reduces triglyceride levels and raises the level of good HDL cholesterol in the blood.
If you burn more than 2,000 total calories a week exercising (the equivalent of an hour of walking five days a week), you receive added benefits. Regular exercise also staves off hypertension and may significantly lower blood pressure by decreasing levels of certain hormones that constrict arteries. Thus, with arteries able to dilate, blood pressure on the artery walls is lessened. Also, as we age, our glucose tolerance declines, contributing to the risk of adult-onset diabetes.
Exercise helps control this tendency. It also wards off osteoporosis and its constant risk of bone fractures. A three-year study has shown that elderly women (mean age 81) engaging in regular weight-bearing exercise three days a week significantly increased their bone-mineral content. Studies examining the relationship between physical activity and cancer have concluded that exercise has a protective effect against colon and breast cancer in the elderly.
People past 50 may need more iron, calcium, zinc and vitamins B6 and B12 in their diet. The body may lose some of its ability to absorb these nutrients. Often, however, such deficiencies are due to improper diet and lack of sufficient calories. Multivitamin supplements may not restore the balance. Dietary insufficiency of B12 is extremely rare. A person may get pernicious anemia because his or her body is not utilizing the available B12. Standard treatment may be physician-prescribed megadose tablets or monthly injections containing 50 times the RDA for B12.
Studies showed that sufficiently high doses of orally administered B12 could completely and safely reverse B12 deficiency. In general, nutritionists believe that people should get their vitamins from a proper, balanced diet. Pills will not make up for a bad diet. A multivitamin/mineral supplement is a good safeguard, but the only special dietary supplement. generally recommended by doctors is calcium for women over 50.
Toll of Age:
Here’s what happens to your body as you age:
1) Muscle strength decreases 20% by age 65.
2) Nerve impulses are 15% slower by age 70.
3) Joints, tendons and ligaments get stiff due to changes in collagen structure.
4) Muscle mass decreases while fat increases.
5) Metabolic rate decreases.
6) Total blood cholesterol and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol increase.
7) Aerobic power diminishes.
8) Women lose bone mass at the rate of 1% per year after age 35. Men lose at the same rate after age 55.
9) All senses tend to lose sharpness and raise the risk of falls after 65.
10) And, the good news is regular exercise or bodybuilding workouts can minimize these changes.
Shaping Your Life:
Will you get crotchety or mellow out as you grow older? Personality change is a myth, say researchers. You are more likely to age much as you’ve lived your life. If you were a grouch at 25, you will probably be the same at 75. If you’ve always been mild-mannered, advanced years won’t change you. According to study, personalities don’t change much with age.
Of course, dramatic changes can occur from diseases such as Alzheimer’s, but in general by the age of 30 you are the person you will be the rest of your life. No two people have identical natures, and these differences, rather than age, can help predict well-being, coping and interpersonal relations later on. The high-powered businessman, who works weekends, and jets all over the place; will go out of his mind in a retirement dwelling of his likings. The person accustomed to the slow pace of life won’t find happiness with a hectic, worldwide travel schedule after retirement. The experts believe that personality shapes our lives, creates order and the ability to accommodate change. Aging lifestyle of sports people, for example are more serious about their training than ever.
Read through the pages of your mind.
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