Natural changes happen in the body as we age, such as skin damage from sun exposure, loss of muscle and physical strength, loss of some sight and hearing, as well as changes to our sleep patterns, energy levels and appetite.
What's happening. With age, bones tend to shrink in size and density, weakening them and making them more susceptible to fracture. You might even become a bit shorter. Muscles generally lose strength, endurance and flexibility — factors that can affect your coordination, stability and balance.
After age 30, people tend to lose lean tissue. Your muscles, liver, kidney, and other organs may lose some of their cells. This process of muscle loss is called atrophy. Bones may lose some of their minerals and become less dense (a condition called osteopenia in the early stages and osteoporosis in the later stages).
Skin becomes loose and sagging, bones lose their mass, and muscles lose their strength as a result of time spent living life. Most people begin to notice a shift in the appearance of their face around their 40's and 50's, with some also noticing a change in their 30's.
Who is Defined as Elderly? Typically, the elderly has been defined as the chronological age of 65 or older. People from 65 to 74 years old are usually considered early elderly, while those over 75 years old are referred to as late elderly.
CHEST & NECK
The skin on your neck tends to be one of the first body parts to show signs of aging, because it is thinner and more delicate than the skin on the rest of your body. Similar to the face, your neck and chest can also develop fine lines and wrinkles.
Joint stiffness
One of the most common complaints with aging is osteoarthritis. It typically affects the hands, knees or hips. The onset of osteoarthritis is gradual and is usually experienced as a dull, achy pain, rather than sudden severe pains.
Dementia and aging
Dementia is not a normal part of aging. It includes the loss of cognitive functioning — thinking, remembering, learning, and reasoning — and behavioral abilities to the extent that it interferes with a person's quality of life and activities.
Some signs of aging can be seen from the outside: Your hair turns gray, and wrinkles and age spots appear on your skin. Our bodies are less able to store fluid in older age, so our spinal discs shrink and lose elasticity, for instance. As a result, people get smaller as they grow older.
Your skin changes with age. It becomes thinner, loses fat, and no longer looks as plump and smooth as it once did. Your veins and bones can be seen more easily. Scratches, cuts, or bumps can take longer to heal.
One noticeable change for women as they age is an increase in body fat. It is common to see a decrease in muscle mass, causing your body to feel less strong than it did in your youth. Women may also develop wrinkles from reduced elasticity and firmness of their skin, or thin and graying hair.
Common conditions in older age include hearing loss, cataracts and refractive errors, back and neck pain and osteoarthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, depression and dementia.
Your Bones, Joints, and Muscles
Your muscles get weaker, and the tendons -- which connect muscles to your skeleton -- get stiffer. This will decrease your strength and flexibility. In your 70s, you might lose an inch or two off your height as disks in your back flatten.
Keep moving
Instead, choose activities that are easier on your joints. Bike rather than walk, or swim rather than use the elliptical. Choose activities that also safeguard aging tendons and ligaments.
As you age, joint movement becomes stiffer and less flexible because the amount of lubricating fluid inside your joints decreases and the cartilage becomes thinner. Ligaments also tend to shorten and lose some flexibility, making joints feel stiff.
Aging and disability increases the potential for chronic pain (Molton et al 2014). The common pain sites are knees, hips, and low back often associated with osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.
The only bones that continue to get larger are the skull and the pelvis. The growth of these two body parts isn't dramatic, however. Your pelvis might gain an inch in diameter between the ages of 20 and 79, and your skull may get slightly more prominent around the forehead.
Answer and Explanation: The parts of the human body that continue to grow as people age are the ears, nose, hair, and nails. While the hair and nails continue to grow because they are made to be cut or broken, the ears and nose grow for different reasons.
Plenty of septuagenarians today look healthy and spry — hence the cliché: 70 is the new 60. "Look at all the tremendous developments in modern medicine, not to mention changes in nutrition," McCarthy said. "And air conditioning — the degree to which we're insulated from our natural environment."
What “70 is the new 50” actually means today, is that if you're 70, you have at least another 12 years to work before you can retire. AARP formerly stood for the American Association of Retired Persons. Presumably they decided that was too long for folks to remember, so they officially changed it to just the acronym.
This report focuses on older Australians – generally those aged 65 and over, unless otherwise specified.