Introduction Far from being years of leisure and inactivity, later life is increasingly recognized as being characterized by high levels of productivity. The concept of productive aging captures both paid and unpaid activities that have social value and are performed…
Personality may be defined as the pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that shape an individual's interface with the world, distinguish one person from another, and manifest across time and situation. Personality is impacted by biologic, cognitive, and environmental determinants,…
People's lives are embedded in rich social contexts; many social factors affect each of our lives every day. This is perhaps more noticeable for older adults because declines in health and functional status may increase reliance on social supports and…
Introduction Social gerontology , as the term suggests, is concerned with the study of the social aspects of aging and old age. These include a large range of topics, disciplines, and methods requiring a good understanding of the clinical and…
* Material in this chapter contains contributions from the previous edition, and we are grateful to the previous authors for the work done. This chapter provides an overview of the principal features of cognitive functioning in normal aging adults. The…
Attempts to reverse the aging process stretch back to the time when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Since then, wise sages and charlatans have made numerous pronouncements on what the populace should do to extend…
Each day, worldwide, older adults consume millions of doses of medications. This remarkable amount of medication use benefits many older people by preventing and treating disease, preserving functional status, prolonging life, and improving or maintaining good quality of life. However,…
Introduction The last 25 years has seen enormous growth in our knowledge of skin function, with new subspecialties of cutaneous biology emerging during that time, not least of which is cutaneous neuroendocrinology. The position of the skin, our largest organ…
Introduction Age-related changes to normal blood cell development and function remain poorly understood but measurably evident. In 1961, Hayflick and Moorhead described experiments that established the concept that normal somatic cells have a finite number of cell divisions. After completing…
Historical Overview The concept that hormones play a role in the aging process originated in the nineteenth century. Based on monkey studies, Hanley stated that myxedema resembled old age (senility), and this included “imbecility.” Brown-Sequard's experiments found that testicular extracts…