PROCESS OF AGEING
Muscle - Reduced muscle mass (30-40%) and muscle power - Becoming fatigue earlier and more easily during exertion - Lower regenerative ability - More fat in muscle tissue
Skin - Wrinkling and sagging especially on face, neck and hands - Getting thin and pale - Wounds heal more slowly or may not heal at all - Reduced sensitivity to cold - Reduced sweating - Reduced resistance to UV light damage
General - Decrease in body mass - Decrease in the proportion of body fat
Eyes - Yellowing of lens - Higher prevalence in cataract - Lower light sensitivity - Poorer dark adaptation - Reduced tear production - Minimal decrease of visual acuity at rest but significant decrease of visual acuity with a moving target
Nervous system - Slower central processing and longer reaction time - Reduced sensitivity to vibration especially in feet - Less sensitivity to temperature - Modest loss of neurons - Slight decrease in brain mass
Skeleton - Both men and women lose bone mass during ageing - Women have faster loss in bone mass, which accelerates after menopause - Men have slower bone loss, as they start losing other tissues as well - Higher prevalence of osteoporosis in both genders
Physiology/Anatomy of Ageing Ageing is a term to describe the changes in our body functions when we get older. The changes affect every body system and are affected by environmental and genetic causes. The following are changes that appear in our body during the process of ageing.
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