Age 60's-70's

In the United States, most people younger than 85 report no difficulty in ADLs(Activities of Daily Living). However, this decreases with age, so that 78% of those aged 85 and older report some difficulty. Older women have more limitations at all ages than do older men. There are also differences between racial and ethnic groups. For example, among people aged 70 and older, black Americans were 1.5 times as likely as white Americans to be unable to perform one or more ADLs.

Assistance from Others: Elderly people who need assistance with routine ADLs rely first and foremost on family. In 1995, three-fourths of people who helped elderly city dwellers (aged 70 or older) were unpaid or informal caregivers. Nine out of ten of these informal caregivers were family members (one-fourth spouses and about half children), and half lived with the elderly person. The use of paid helpers is consistently higher among older adults living alone and increases with age. Does your current home accommodate your needs, as well as other family members and caregivers? Evolutionary Lifestyle Home Design™ makes your home adaptable for everyone; your home “evolves” and changes with your needs and lifestyle at all ages. Evolutionary Lifestyle Home Design™ can help modify your current home, with the principals of Universal design making them virtually invisible in your home, so that is usable by most people regardless of their age, agility, and physical or sensory abilities. It can be fashionably designed and adapted, so you and your family can live more independently, safely, and efficiently, for the way you want or need to live, in your home for life, but without it ever looking institutional.

The Aging Process: As we age, our bodies change in many ways that affect the function of both individual cells and organ systems. These changes occur little by little and progress inevitably over time. However, the rate of this progression can be very different from person to person. Research in aging is beginning to find out the reasons for these changes and the genetic and environmental factors that control them. Aging is a highly individualized matter. There is no single measure of how "old" a person is. Aging proceeds at different rates in different people and at various rates in various systems of the same person. The aging process depends on a combination of both genetic and environmental factors. Recognizing that every individual has his or her own unique genetic makeup and environment, which interact with each other, helps us understand why the aging process can occur at such different rates in different people. Overall, genetic factors seem to be more powerful than environmental factors in determining the large differences among people in aging and lifespan. However, many environmental conditions, such as the quality of health care that you receive, have a substantial effect on aging. A healthy lifestyle is an especially important factor in healthy aging and longevity.

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