Introduction
Senior citizens refer to elderly people in society, especially those in their old-age pension years. These are people who are our old parents, neighbors, or anyone surrounding us in our environment. Senior citizens are those who are aged above 65 years. The senior people are those who had good health and energy when they were youthful. However, they are now unable to control some of the life activities going on in their lives.
According to the demographic composition of the elderly carried on in 2010, the percentage of the elders living in poverty was 9.0, compared to the total percentage of the total population the elderly, which is 15% (Liao and Hu, 2021). Most of the elders in the United States have fixed incomes. However, the size of their families does not favor the payment versus the expenditure. Therefore, the little that these elders get from their fixed income, which may be as a pension, is used to feed the large families that may still depend on them, leaving them languishing in poverty.
However, this report has focused on the physical health and mental health of these senior citizens, which is the biggest threat to their lives of late. I have chosen this topic because these people are prone to diseases because their immunity is no longer strong. Therefore, they have to fight this challenge which poses a significant threat to their lives and loved ones.
Poor Health of the Elderly
When referring to physical and mental health, the senior citizens’ circumstances in their old age significantly affect their psychological and physical well-being. In old age, most senior citizens get affected by many age-related diseases. These diseases may include hearing loss, cataracts, reflective errors, back and neck pain and osteoarthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, diabetes, depression, and dementia.
The most common one is depression (Wang et al., 2018). This psychological disorder comes as a result of stress. The senior citizens may feel abandoned by their children after being grownups and have moved to the city. They leave their parents to suffer back in the village since they fail to call or visit them. This, therefore, makes them (senior citizens) feel lonely and hopeless. They feel depressed, and this will affect them so much health-wise.
Depression also kicks in because they can no longer exercise. Their bodies become weak with time as their daily activities reduce when the body as adjusting to old age. They cannot afford good healthcare services. Some organizations have come forward to provide a healthcare center where the elderly are cared for them in other ways like accommodation.
High blood pressure is a specific disease that affects senior citizens hence being delicate and vulnerable. Therefore, they should be protected at all costs. High blood pressure results from subjecting them to affairs that make them fearful or disturbed. When this happens, these older men and women tend to react sparingly as they cannot cope with the pressure. High blood pressure disease can accidentally lead to their death.
Another health-related issue that affects senior citizens is emerging pandemics like coronavirus (De Leo & Trabucchi, 2020). Most of the people that succumbed to the deadly virus were senior citizens. This means that any disease poses a threat to them. They were the most affected and the most susceptible to the disease.
Poor physical health results from lack of food which the senior people lack. Most of these people do not have proper shelter as their homes can be hired for any job; hence sustaining themselves becomes a challenge. Sometimes, some end up on the street and become beggars and homeless. Since they no longer get proper care from their children, these vulnerable people suffer a lot. According to recent research done by scholars, the poverty index among the elderly is high (Tan & Chan, 2018). This action, therefore, puts them at risk of losing their lives.
Poor diets are also a result of poverty which senior citizens suffer from. There is a specific diet that those senior citizens should adhere to an old age. Unfortunately, some foods that would sustain their lives to be healthy are expensive to afford continuously or maybe are found far away from them; hence they cannot afford them. Therefore, to help curb the physical health issues among the elderly, there is a need to get them into better homes and shelters.
According to the World Health Organization, over 20% of adults aged 60 years and above suffer from a mental or neurological disorder. Some disabilities come as a result of old age, for example, the hearing impaired (Chiu et al., 2019). As people grow old, they can hardly be as sharp as previously. This interferes with their hearing impairment. They can no longer relate well with the rest of society.
Other elderly experience partial blindness due to aging and lack of exercise. It is not very dangerous but then should be examined with much seriousness. This interferes with their daily lives when they still need their eyes to sight the most. However, they can no longer use them due to old age. In another case, these older adults are so vulnerable to elder abuse. This may include physical abuse, verbal abuse, psychological and even sexual abuse, and severe loss of respect in society. All of these lead to mental health being altered.
Most of these senior citizens usually end up getting cancer. According to the CDC, in a study done by scholars in 2014, cancer is portrayed to be the second cause of death among people aged over 65, with 413885. This is a threat to our senior citizens since their lives depend on chemotherapy and taking prescribed drugs almost daily. The most common type of cancer that usually affects them (male seniors) is prostate cancer. Most of these cancer cases are recorded among the elders. Therefore, we should take recommendations from the doctors on how to help maintain the health of the senior citizens in the community where we live together with them. Showing them love is one of those responsible cases.
Conclusion
In conclusion, aging and becoming senior citizens have many challenges that they cannot cope with. Therefore, the government and society should step up together to help senior citizens in their daily lives. These are our parents and grandparents; hence, abandoning them is not well. Physical and mental health should be a priority as they are vulnerable due to the weak immune caused by aging. There is a need to try and curb diseases such as cancer and mental illnesses among these groups of people. Further, housing should be prioritized since it can help in trying to reduce physical sicknesses as they can be able to at least get a meal through the scarce activities they partake in.
References
Chiu, C. J., Tasi, W. C., Yang, W. L., & Guo, J. L. (2019). How do we help older adults learn new technology? Results from multiple case research interviews with the internet technology instructors at the senior learning center. Computers & Education, 129, 61-70.
De Leo, D., & Trabucchi, M. (2020). COVID-19 and the fears of Italian senior citizens. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(10), 3572.
Liao, J., & Hu, X. (2021, July). Ergonomics-Based Clothing Structure Design for Elderly People. In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 139-151). Springer, Cham.
Tan, K. S., & Chan, C. M. (2018). Unequal access: Applying Bourdieu’s practice theory to illuminate the challenges of ICT use among senior citizens in Singapore. Journal of aging studies, 47, 123-131.
Wang, H., Li, T., Gauthier, S., Yu, E., Tang, Y., Barbarino, P., & Yu, X. (2020). Coronavirus epidemic and geriatric mental healthcare in China: professional organizations’ coordinated response helped older adults during an unprecedented crisis. International Psychogeriatrics, 32(10), 1117-1120.