Chapter 5: Adulthood and Old Age "Postpone Aging"

Introduction
Students have read about the gradual physical, intellectual, social, and emotional changes that occur in adulthood and old age. In this exercise, students will explore recent studies that focus on prolonging health and enhancing life well into old age.

Lesson Description
Students will use information from the MSNBC Longevity Web site to learn about recent research on aging. Students will read about scientific discoveries, understand how lifestyle choices can affect aging, and learn how to calculate their life expectancy. Students will then answer four questions and apply this information by calculating their own life expectancy and identifying habits, which could be modified to make them healthier in old age.

Instructional Objectives
1. Students will characterize current research about longevity and identify factors that can improve health in old age.
2. Students will be able to use this knowledge to calculate their life expectancy and identify habits that may impact their health in old age.

Student Web Activity Answers
1. Dr. Michael Roizen, author of the book RealAge: Are You As Young As You Can Be?, says that there are eight main lifestyle factors that affect a person's aging process: exercise, blood pressure, passive smoking, stress and social conditions, chronic disease, family history, actions one takes to safeguard health, and hormone replacement therapy for post-menopausal women.
2. Antiaging research includes recent studies on calorie restriction, antioxidants, genetic engineering, environmental adaptation, telomere therapy, and tissue and organ synthesis.
3. A study by Harvard University researchers showed that elderly people who were engaged in social and productive pursuits lived longer than those who rarely engaged in such activities. In addition, social activities seemed to provide the seniors with as great a benefit as regular exercise.
4. In a study conducted at the University of Chicago, young people were permitted only four hours of sleep a night for nearly a week. The lack of sleep affected their body chemistry, resulting in interference with the way the blood stores and uses energy from food, a slowdown of hormones that affect energy level, and a decrease in hormones that help the brain remember. All of these symptoms are similar to what happens to people as they age.
5. Students' calculations and reports will vary.

Student Web Activity