scholarly journals Active seniors and old farts

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (30) ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Scheel Thomasen
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Physical Rehabilitation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Moral Value ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
And Training

Based on ethnographic fieldwork among elderly people in physical rehabilitation in Denmark, the article examines aging with disease and frailty as a process of moral becoming. Employing Cheryl Mattingly’s notion of Moral Laboratory (Mattingly 2014), the article shows how life in old age, when changed by disease and the onset of frailty, is marked by striving, failure and success in the endeavour to create a good life in a constant negotiation with the body that seems to have grown a will of its own. In the training centers the body is a malleable and controllable entity known through tests and training routines, underlining individual responsibility and an active senior life as a moral value. The body does not necessarily comply with the defined goals, and other possible futures come into play, where ‘old age’ can be an explanatory resource in accepting frailty as part of life and the end of life rehearsed and orchestrated.

Ageing and the presentation of self: Women’s perspectives on negotiating age, identity and femininity through dress

2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Thorpe
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
The Body ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Active Ageing ◽  
Structural Constraints ◽  
Presentation Of Self ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Disciplinary Power ◽  
Age Identity ◽  
Cultural Pressures

Scholars have anticipated that women who grew up during the 1960s may resist cultural pressures to achieve a feminine appearance into old age. Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews and personal journals from Australian women aged between 55 and 72, I argue that older women’s choices of dress and appearance are disciplined by their application of cultural norms regarding age-appropriateness, femininity and, increasingly, active ageing. Utilising the Foucauldian concept of self-surveillance in the operation of disciplinary power, this article explores the interaction of prevailing ideas about old age in the context of broader discourses on generational change and the emphases upon individual responsibility for the body. It focuses on the degree to which older women feel able to craft their own embodied old age within these competing discourses in order to explore tensions between shifting meanings of old age and structural constraints on choice.

Old persons’ bodily interaction with media in nursing homes

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine E Swane
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Homes ◽  
Old Age ◽  
The Body ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Regular Feature ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Physical Functions ◽  
Ageing Body

Old persons in nursing homes suffer from complex diseases, pain and the loss of physical functions and memory. They embody the notion of ‘deep old age’, the ‘fourth age’, as recipients of personal care, medicine, meals and organised activities. People in nursing homes are also part of a society in which media have become a regular feature of everyday life. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Danish nursing homes, this article explores old persons’ subjective interaction with media technologies and material objects. Embodiment and agency are central analytical concepts for understanding residents’ use of media artefacts when the body is in pain and loses functionality. With theories of domestication and biographical situation, this article reveals how media are important for residents in making an institutional dwelling ‘their home’. Media seem to bridge the gap between institutionalisation and a long life’s preferences and participation in social and cultural worlds. This article forms part of ‘Media and the Ageing Body’ Special Issue.

‘Just live for today’. Living, caring, ageing and dying

1998 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 673-689 ◽  
Author(s):  
GLENNYS HOWARTH
Keyword(s):  
End Of Life ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
Attitudes To Death

There is an assumption in western societies that death in old age is not only ‘natural’ but also ‘easy’. It is often characterised as death which occurs at the end of life with goals complete. By contrast death in youth is a traumatic and untimely end. This paper draws on interviews with people over the age of 75 to explore the nature of attitudes to death in old age. It focuses on the issues raised by elderly people themselves when given the opportunity to talk about death and dying. In so doing, attitudes to death and dying are separated into ‘death of self’ and ‘death of other’. Each of these categories is then divided thematically according to the issues raised by respondents.

Successful Aging

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Tesch-Romer ◽  
Hans-Werner Wahl ◽  
Suresh Rattan ◽  
Liat Ayalon
Keyword(s):  
Old Age ◽  
Successful Aging ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Good Health ◽  
The Body ◽  
Worth Living ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Successful Ageing ◽  
Life Worth Living ◽  
The One

Biological ageing is a progressive decline in physiological functionality, and an increase in the chances of chronic diseases and death. Ageing of the body sets in and happens progressively, exponentially and intrinsically in the period beyond the naturally evolved essential lifespan of a species. Ageing science has searched for the factors securing longevity in good health. An end to this quest is not foreseeable. For a large number, frailty and cognitive impairment is the reality of ageing, and it is by no means certain if health promotion, prevention, and other interventions will reduce the probability of its occurrence. A narrow understanding of ‘successful ageing’ as good health, full functioning, and active participation in society excludes a large portion of ageing individuals from the quest for a good life in old age. Hence, the term is highly ambivalent. On the one hand, it counteracts the deficit view of ageing and facilitates visionary thinking on what might be possible in the future. On the other hand, its ageist and derogative features have negative consequences. Striving for a good life in old age should be inclusive, acknowledging different forms and pathways of ageing. Conceptions of life worth living up to very old age can vary widely, and may include good health and functioning, and also life satisfaction, wisdom, supporting environments, and good care. The discussion on successful ageing needs a multifaceted and pluralistic spirit of discourse, which aims to integrate different models of life-course development into a new narrative of successful ageing.

Role of Rasayana in Geriatric Care - A Review

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yagyik Mishra ◽  
Negalur Vijay ◽  
Thakor Krunal ◽  
Bhat Nagaraj ◽  
Shubhasri B.
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Statistical Data ◽  
Geriatric Care ◽  
The Body ◽  
Psychological Improvement

The growth of any country or society depends on the number of youth dwelling in that country but according to recent statistical data we soon will have older people more than children and more people at extreme old age than ever before. The number of people aged 65 or older is projected to grow from an estimated 524 million in 2010 to nearly 1.5 billion in 2050. Geriatrics (Jarachikitsa) is the branch of medicine dealing exclusively with the problems of aging and the diseases of elderly. The term Rasayana (rejuvination) refers to nourishment or nutrition. Rasayana therapy act essentially on nutrition dynamics and rejuvenate the body on both physical and mental levels. The problems of health due to modernization can be solved by increasing resistance against diseases and psychological improvement by implementing Rasayana therapy. Aging (Jara) is one among the Swabhavika Vyadhis. Jara Chikitsa is one among the Astanga of Ayurveda which is specifically dedicated for geriatric care. As per estimation, India currently has around 75 million persons over 65 years. By proper administration of Rasayana therapy as preventive tool one can delay Jara Janita Vyadhis to occur. This paper highlights the role of Rasayana in geriatric care.

Toughness

2009 ◽  
pp. 536-548
Author(s):  
Richard A. Dienstbier ◽  
Lisa M. Pytlik Zillig
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
Adaptive Coping ◽  
Dynamic Interactions ◽  
Abstract Level ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Cortical System ◽  
The Mind ◽  
And Training ◽  
Neuroendocrine Systems

This chapter presents an overview of the concept of toughness, which at the abstract level is about the harmony of physiological systems, and more concretely is about how the body influences the mind. Toughness theory begins with the recognition that there is a “training effect” for neuroendocrine systems. Following a review of the characteristics of interventions and training programs that can promote toughness, the authors present a model in which the effects of toughness are mediated by neuroendocrine systems such as the pituitary-adrenal-cortical system and the central nervous system. The elements of toughness (e.g., having a greater capacity for arousal and energy when needed) are proposed to promote positive outcomes by facilitating the use of adaptive coping strategies and improving emotional stability. Toughness therefore appears to be a promising concept within positive psychology in that it helps to explain how the dynamic interactions between psychological and somatic processes can promote positive outcomes.

scholarly journals Self-compassion as predictor of daily physical symptoms and chronic illness across older adulthood

2021 ◽  
pp. 135910532110023
Author(s):  
Heather Herriot ◽  
Carsten Wrosch
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Chronic Illness ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Physical Symptoms ◽  
Older Adulthood ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Early Old Age

This study examined whether self-compassion could benefit daily physical symptoms and chronic illness in early and advanced old age. The hypotheses were evaluated in a 4-year longitudinal study of 264 older adults. Results showed that self-compassion predicted lower levels of daily physical symptoms across the study period in advanced, but not early, old age ( T-ratio = −1.93, p = 0.05). In addition, self-compassion was associated with fewer increases in chronic illness in advanced, but not early, old age ( T-ratio = − 2.45, p < 0.02). The results of this study suggest that self-compassion may be particularly adaptive towards the end of life.

Formerly Detained Adolescents’ Narratives: On the Interplay between Quality of Life and Desistance

2021 ◽  
pp. 0306624X2110239
Author(s):  
Nele Van Hecke ◽  
Florien Meulewaeter ◽  
Wouter Vanderplasschen ◽  
Lore Van Damme ◽  
Jan Naert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Young People ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Barriers And Opportunities ◽  
Ambivalent Relationship ◽  
Desistance From Crime ◽  
Good Lives

In recent years, a growing trend to consider strengths and protective factors in studies on desistance from crime has emerged. The present study explores three formerly detained adolescents’ narratives, aiming to tease out how Quality of Life (QoL) and desistance interact in pathways towards a “better life.” The narratives suggest that the journey towards a better life is highly individual, and may unfold via multiple pathways characterized by an ambivalent relationship between QoL and desistance. Alongside the importance of individual aspects and social support, societal barriers and opportunities play a significant role in creating new chances to re-build a life and prosocial identities. This reflects earlier findings that desistance is not an individual responsibility. It is essential to support young people to overcome societal barriers that impede participation in society and living a good life. This research adds to growing evidence of strengths-based approaches to rehabilitation, such as the Good Lives Model (GLM).

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