Bodily Changes

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The human body changes in many noticeable ways with age. Often, the first effects  of aging involve the musculoskeletal system. By age 35, peak performance, even among superior athletes, begins to decline. Sensory organs also begin to change early in mid-life. A common development, for example, is presbyopia, in which the eye can no longer focus without using reading glasses or changing to bifocals. Another, if later, common development is presbycusis, or age-associated hearing loss, which initially affects the ability to hear the highest pitches and, gradually, the lower pitches as well. Therefore, older people may find that violin music no longer sounds as exciting as if did when they were younger. In most people, the proportion of body fat increase by more than 30% by late age.

The distribution of fat also changes: There is less fat under the skin and more in the abdominal area. Thus, skin becomes thinner, wrinkled (although sun exposure and smoking have a greater influence on wrinkling), and more fragile, and the shape of the torso changes. Not surprisingly, most internal functions also decline with age. These functions generally peak shortly before age 30 and then begin a gradual but continuous decline. Even with this decline, however, most functions remain adequate throughout life, because most organs have considerably more functional capacity than the body needs (functional reserve). For example, even if half the liver is destroyed, more than enough liver tissue remains to maintain normal function.

Disease, rather than normal aging, usually accounts for loss of function in old age. Even so, the decline in function means that older people are more likely to experience side effects from drugs, changes in the environment, toxins, and illness. Although the decline in function of many organs has little effect on how people live, the decline in some organs can greatly affect health and well-being. For example, although the amount of blood that the heart can pump at rest is not greatly reduced in old age, the heart cannot pump as much when pushed to its maximum. This means that older athletes will not be able to perform as well as younger athletes. Changes in kidney function can dramatically affect how well older people are able to eliminate certain drugs from their body. Determining which changes are purely age-associated and which are the results of how a person has lived is often difficult. A sedentary lifestyle, poor diet, cigarette smoking, alcohol and drug abuse can accelerate the aging process.

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