Aging and Social Isolation

Aging and Social Isolation

Aging and Social Isolation

Introduction

Individuals who live alone, have few friends or family, and have limited contact with people are viewed as being socially isolated. Loneliness or perceived social isolation is believed to be its psychological counterpart. While social isolation is an objective, quantitative measure of network size and diversity, and frequency of contact, loneliness is a qualitative, subjective evaluation related to individuals' expectations of and satisfaction with the frequency and closeness of contacts. Both loneliness and social isolation have been associated with an increased risk of developing health problems, hospitalization, poor cognitive function, and mortality.

Literature Review

Older adults are at greater risk of being socially isolated, and feelings of loneliness are also quite common among this group. As might be expected, feelings of loneliness are related to social isolation, although studies typically find the association to be weak to moderate. A number of mechanisms have been suggested through which social isolation and loneliness might affect health, including health behaviors and biological pathways. (Allgower, 2001)However, most studies in the area focus either solely on social isolation or on loneliness, and it is unclear to what extent each variable independently affects health. This paper explores the impact of social isolation and loneliness, individually as well as simultaneously, on health-related behavioral and biological factors using data from a large, nationally representative sample of older adults in England.

Sight

Sight, or vision, is one of the most important and frequently used senses. The human brain is constantly being bombarded with visual input from its surroundings. (Schroeder, 2008)The portion of the brain that interprets the sense of sight is larger than all of the other portions of the brain devoted to the other senses. Several different types of vision receptors in the eyes contribute to the brain's ability to process visual information.

Hearing

After the sense of sight, the sense of hearing is the most developed sense in the human anatomy. The ear is a precise and efficient organ that performs its sensory duties in a compact area. The ear is comprised of three main parts the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear.

Taste

The sense of taste, or gestation, as it is also known, determines not only the flavor of food, but also provides an awareness of whether or not something put in the mouth is safe or good to eat. (Borys, 1985)There are five basic tastes, one of which was not agreed upon in the scientific community until only recently.

Smell

The olfactory sense or sense of smell is a powerful sense. The human nose can detect thousands of distinctly different odors. The sense of smell identifies odors in the air around us and assists the sense of taste by enhancing or discouraging appetite and contributing to the appreciation or rejection of flavors.

Touch

The sense of touch involves a wide network of nerve endings and sensory receptor cells. There are three overall types of receptor cells visceral cells, which are cells round in internal organs, somatic, which are found in joints and ...