Chapter Review: Chapter 4

There is a lot that comes when a person ages. They suffer hearing loss and near sightedness comes to effect and numerous diseases. Although not all people older than 65 get all these things they all do get older. There are many changes that are non-preventable such as getting gray hair or our skin losing elasticity causing to create wrinkles. Chapter 4 was very interesting because not only does it inform you of all the things to come, but in some way it also tries to persuade you to change right now that we are still younger than 65. With aging not only is there physical decline that is visible, but also our body inside is aging as well which is not visible. Our immune system which protects us from diseases has a significant decline in its ability to protect us, this is why older people are constantly getting sick and take longer than younger people to heal. We also face chronic conditions as we age, they typically affect older people, but young people are not completely saved. According to the Heart Disease Facts and Statistics (2008), the risk factors of heart disease are hypertension or taking hypertension medication, high blood cholesterol, physician-diagnosed diabetes, and obesity. All these risk factors can be prevented or at the very least taken care of better. For example, if you are diagnosed with diabetes because you come from a family who all have diabetes you can take care of yourself and highly reduce the risk factor of getting heart disease. Aging can also come with arthritis, cancer, and or osteoporosis. When we reach 65 years old our bones become more fragile especially if the right vitamins were and are not being taken. Not only will we have a harder time moving around, but also if we fall by accident there could be a lot of bones broken. Chapter 4 gives plenty of information about how we can better our lives now and later. Some of the things include exercising, eating healthy, getting the right nutrients, and living stress-free. Once we all start doing all these things we will be on our way to a better future health wise.