This ppt explains the physical changes that occur during middle adulthood.

1. MIDDLE ADULTHOOD –
PHYSICAL CHANGES

2. • More gradual
• Individual variations
• Genetic makeup and lifestyle factors
• Still there is time to engage in prevention and to engage in some
course of aging

3. VISIBLE SIGNS
• Skin begins to wrinkle and sag because of loss of fat and collagen in
underlying tissues (Farage & Others, 2009)
• Aging spots may appear – small localized areas of pigmentation,
especially in areas exposed to sunlight
• Hair becomes thinner and grayer due to a lower replacement rate and
decline in melanin production.
• Fingernails and toenails develop ridges and become thicker and more
brittle
• Many cultures value youthful appearance??....

4. Height and Weight
Height
• Lose height and many gain weight
• On average, from 30 to 50 years, men lose about inch in height, then may lose another
inch from 50 to 70 years of age (Hoyer & Roodin, 2009)
• Height lose for women can be as much as 2 inches from 25 years to 75 years of age
• There is however larger individual variations
• Due to bone loss in the vertebrae
Weight
• On average, in adolescence body fat accounts for about 10 percent of body weight; in
middle age it makes up 20 percent or more.
• Obesity increases the probability that an individual will suffer a number of other ailments
such as hypertension, diabetes, digestive disorders

5. Strength, Joints and Bones
• Sarcopenia – age-related loss of muscle mass and strength
• The rate of muscle loss with age occurs at a rate of approximately 1 to 2
percent per year past the age of 50
• A loss of strength especially occurs in the back and legs. Exercise can
reduce the decline involved in sarcopenia
• Peak functioning of the body’s joints occur in the twenties – The cushions
for the movement of bones (such as tendons and ligaments) become less
efficient in the middle adult years – experience joint stiffness and more
difficulty in movement
• Bone density – rate of bone loss begins slowly but accelerates in the fifties;
Women experience about twice the rate of bone loss as men.

6. VISION
• Accommodation of the eye – the ability to focus and maintain an
image on the retina – experiences its sharpest decline between 40
and 59 years of age. In particular, middle-aged individuals begin to
have difficulty viewing close objects.
• 50s-60s – eye’s blood supply diminishes – may decrease the visual
field’s size – accounts for an increase in the eye’s blind spot
At 60 years of age, the retina receives only ⅓rd as much light as it
did at 20 years of age, much of which is due to a decrease in the
size of the pupil.

7. HEARING
• Starts to decline by the age of 40
• In as many as 50% of individuals 50 years and older
• Sensitivity to high pitches usually declines first
• The ability to hear low-pitched sounds does not seem to decline
much in middle adulthoos
• Men usually lose their sensitivity to high-pitched sounds sooner than
women

8. CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
• The level of cholesterol in the blood increases through the adult years
and in midlife begins to accumulate on the artery walls, increasing
the risk of CVD
• LDL (low-density lipoprotein) – “Bad cholesterol” and HDL (high-
density lipoprotein) – “Good cholestrol”; When the level of LDL is too
high, it sticks to the lining of blood vessels, it can lead to
artherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries)
• When HDL is high and LDL is low, the risk of CVD is lessened
………Contd….

9. METABOLIC SYNDROME
Hypertension
Obesity
Insulin
Resistance
• DIABETES
• CVD

10. To Stave Off Cardiovascular problems
• Exercise, control weight, intake a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and
whole grains
• Cholestrol levels may be influenced by heredity but LDL can be
reduced and HDL increased by eating food that is low in saturated fact
and cholesterol and by exercising regularly
• Study – postmenopausal women – 12 weeks of aerobic exercise
training improved their cardiovascular functioning (O’Donnell, Kirwan,
& Goodman, 2009)

11. LUNGS
• There is little change in lung capacity, however at about age 55, the
proteins in the lung tissue become less elastic.
• This change, combined with a gradual stiffening of the chest wall,
decreases the lungs’ capacity to shuttle oxygen from the air people
breathe to the blood in their veins.
• Lung capacity of smokers drop precipitously in middle age, but if
individuals quit smoking, their lung capacity improves, although not
to the level of individuals who have never smoked.

12. Sleep
• Some aspects of sleep become problematic
• Wakeful periods are more frequent and there is less of the deepest
type of sleep (stage 4) – can produce a feeling of less rested
• Sleep Problems are more – prescription and non-prescription drugs,
obese, have CVD, depressed, and so on.