Aging and Leisure
Using information from chapter 13, Please write a paper as to your pereception of growing older and continuing to maintain an adequate leisure lifestyle... All chapter 13 pages are attached... Thanks a Lot
perspectives on Aging and Sal Arrigo, Jr.
As we begin to let go of the responsibilities and demands of our middle age, opportunities arise to begin to tend to those qualities we possessed as children—curiosity; playfulness, and joy. In childhood these were just part of who we were; they can be part of who we are again. Later adulthood is when we can re-create ourselves to bloom from within. Planning for our aging is so much more than money—we need to plan to bloom
into what we always could have been.
—Barbara Gillogly, Chair, American River College Gerontology Dept.
Leisure
A Look at Aging in America
Gerontology is defined as the study of the field and process of aging.
Just take a look around and ask yourself how many gray-haired people you see. Do you think you can begin to count the number of individuals who fit in this age category? More specifically, let's take a look at aging in America. In the 65+ in the United States: 2005 report from the U.S. Census Bureau, there are approximately 36 million people that fall into this demographic age segment. This represents 12 percent of our entire population!1
If you want to delve even further into aging in America, consider some of these numbers. According to the New England Centenarian Study in July 2007, centenarians, (those individuals 100 years of age or more), are the fastest growing group of our population. The second fastest is the age group 85 and over. There are about 40,000 centenarians in the United States, with women representing around 85% and men 15%.2 As you digest these numbers, consider the fact that the Baby Boom generation (people born between 1946 and 1964) begin to turn age 65 in 2011. When we reach the
year 2030, the older population is expected to double from 35 million (in 2000) to 72 million as projected by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Senior citizens do represent a major segment of our world. You can take the aging situation global and discover, according to the U.S. Administration on Aging, that the world population 60 and over is estimated to be 605 million. This number is expected to grow to almost 2 billion by 2050.3
As we consider what senior citizens do on a daily basis, one cannot overlook the fact that due in part to improved health care technology and medicines, these seniors are active. This age group will touch every part of our lives for many years; they will have a major impact on business, economy, lifestyle, and more. We need to develop our attitudes and embrace our senior citizens—they deserve it.
Aging and Leisure
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Introduction
Aging as a concept undergoes continuous transformation associated with socioeconomic and medical factors that allow for increased comfort and life prolonging potential for the aging. For instance, many economically endowed aging people explore ways of appearing younger through different forms of looks enhancing procedures. There are other opportunities to facilitate better lives for the aging. They allow aging persons to contribute to society, live autonomously for the longest time possible, mentor younger persons, participate in voluntary work opportunities, participate in extended family activities, and pursue personal hobbies and leisure activities among other activities. These activities have a strong correlation with leisure that is both physically and mentally stimulating and it has a positive impact on their optimal arousal and subsequently successful aging.
The US census bureau indicates that the population of older persons is likely to be at 72 million by 2030 while the world’s population of persons older than sixty is estimated to reach six hundred and five million by 2050. The aging have a substantial impact on the economy, society and lifestyle and they have much to offer the wider society. Many older persons shifted their focus on family and professions to the peril of their hobbies and leisure activities such as volunteering and traveling. This older generation can kindle their long neglected leisure activities practiced during their youthful years. This paper outlines old age concerns and the factors that increase the aging person’s ability to engage in leisure activities, as well as the elements of successful aging in relation to leisure.
Factors that promote leisure activities and old age concerns
One’s ability to maintain a thriving leisure lifestyle in older age depends mostly on one’s physical abilities, ones earlier socialization and the ability to acquire certain physical skills. This is because many older persons report decline in their physical ability to perform certain activities. Others have significantly lower ability to grasp certain physical skills that are otherwise easily attained during childhood. A thriving leisure lifestyle is also affected because one’s attitude towards certain activities that may not have been socialized in their childhood. However, there is hope for those approaching senior citizenship to increase their potential to enjoy engaging in leisure activities later in life by beginning to stimulate their attitude towards leisure. It prepares them to handle such activities later in life in a better way.
It is common knowledge that older persons have significantly lower stamina to engage in demanding leisure activities owing to their diminished physical abilities. Evidence from studies indicates increased cerebral rather than physical leisure activities such as watching television among the older persons to support this claim. However, social psychologists indicate that engagement in leisure activities among older persons varies significantly depending on their individual self-perception. They explain the societal expectation for older persons to undertake less active leisure activities drives many older persons to refrain from engaging in those activities. This perception suggests that, with a change in the societal or normative expectation, older persons would alter their self-perception and engage in more vigorous activities.
There are a number of concerns plaguing older persons that also influence their extent of involvement in leisure activities. Some of the issues include aging induced physical disabilities, housing, financial constraints, becoming a burden to their children, transportation, and socialization among other issues. For some older persons, it is necessary to have assisted living, take prescription drugs, dieting and nutrition and engage in prescribed forms of exercise. It is important to note that aging persons with these forms of needs have reduced ability to engage in leisure activities. This may be because of confinement to a care unit, inability to drive to access leisure related facilities, and limited socializing that hampers leisure involvement. To address these issues, the senior citizen centers are created to provide needed services to promote older persons engagement in leisure activities with much ease.
Aging also presents challenges for the employment sectors across the globe to establish standards for incorporating older persons into the workforce. This is because the number of older persons is on the rise. It means that companies may not have sufficient younger persons to fill the arising employment opportunities. It is also necessary to underscore that pension schemes may also be constrained to provide sustenance to all senior citizens. It creates the need to employ more senior citizens and to hire aging staff, as they also possess a wealth of experience in the job market. Some aging persons also consider working a stimulating activity and thus part of their successful aging repertoire.
Elements ...