Biology Forums - Study Force

Choose someone you know or would be comfortable with you asking them questions. This may be a relative, but should at a minimum be 65 years or older.

Ask them a series of question to find out what some of the challenges of getting older are. Especially include challenges related to activities of daily living, diet changes or GI problems, self-worth, and self-esteem.

Write a half page summary of your interview

Probably be best if you did your research from an actual person. However, I did manage to find some stuff on the GI tract.

Digestive Problems as You Age

Constipation. One of the most common things we see, certainly as people are getting into their 60s and 70s, may be a change in bowel habits, predominantly more constipation," says Ira Hanan, MD, associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Symptoms include difficult or painful bowel movements, infrequent bowel movements, and hard, dry stool. There are a number of age-related factors that can cause constipation in older adults.

Changes in the digestive system. Your digestive system moves food through your body by a series of muscle contractions. Just like squeezing a toothpaste tube, these contractions push food along your digestive tract, Hanan says. As we age, this process sometimes slows down, and this can cause food to move more slowly through the colon. When things slow down, more water gets absorbed from food waste, which can cause constipation.

According to another article I read, self-esteem (self-worth) rises steadily as people age but starts declining around the time of retirement, according to a longitudinal study of men and women ranging in age from 25 to 104.

Hope this gives you an idea on what to do for your paper.

As we get older, our body changes, everything slows down. All 65 year old are different of course so I can give you an example of someone I know who is 65 years old. This lady has underlying illnesses including diabetes, hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol), and hypertension (high blood pressure) so that being said pretty much her organs are not working properly. Also because of the side effects of medications, she is easily tired for example just walking up the stairs makes her tired, but she is still able to perform basic activities of daily living (dressing herself, brushing, etc) without any problems. Because of Diabetes and Hypertension her diet includes NAS (no added salt) and NCS (no concentrated sweets). Again because of the side effects of medicine and lack of bowel motility from being inactive, she is always having constipation so she takes a laxative to counteract constipation like colace. At 65 she just retired, so she's enjoying it spending time with the husband, children, grandchildren, etc. She feels accomplished. Despite her illness, she is happy that she reach this point of her life where she could more thoroughly enjoy the fruit of her labor.