YOUR DEVELOPMENTjammed full of activities can seem, in retrospect, to have trundled by.
For older people then, perhaps time in the moment can feel as though
it’s passing slowly because they generally take part in fewer novel or
exciting activities. Yet as they look back on the passing years, their less
busy lives can make it feel as though time has whizzed by. Nevertheless,
a study published in 2010 involving interviews with hundreds of people
aged sixteen to eighty found no evidence that the last week, month or
year felt like it had gone any faster for older people. It was only the last
decade that seemed to have passed more quickly, and even here the
difference between the ages was small. William Friedman and Steve
Janssen, who conducted the research, suggested the maxim “time flies
as you get older” was little more than a myth.
Retirement, when and if we get there, has particular psychological
importance. For many people their career lends life meaning, as well as
providing friends and status. It can be unsettling for this to suddenly
end with the prospect of old age lying in wait on the horizon. When
Marion Kloep and Leo Hendry at the University of Glamorgan in Wales
interviewed 45 older people about the experience of retiring, they found
that people generally fell into three groups. There was a “high distress”
Dementia
A consequence of rising life-expectancies around the world is that
rates of dementia are also set to mushroom. There are currently
700,000 people in the UK with dementia, costing the economy £17
billion per annum. The number diagnosed is predicted to double
in the next thirty years, with costs trebling. Dementia is common in
old age (affecting six percent of those aged over 65; rising to thirty
percent over age 95), but it is not a natural part of ageing. There are
different types of dementia, with Alzheimer’s being the most common
and best known. Scientists still don’t know the exact cause, although
genetics is likely to play a key part, especially in early-onset varieties
of the illness. In its advanced stages, Alzheimer’s is characterized by a
widespread loss of neurons, with the brain clogged up by clumps and
tangles of diseased protein. Memory problems and confusion are the
most obvious and immediate psychological effects. However, while
Alzheimer’s is devastating, there is room for hope. Books like I’m Still
Here by John Ziesel describe the islands of intact functioning, such
as the appreciation of art and music. Psychiatrist Sube Banerjee, the
former joint leader of the UK’s dementia strategy, has said that with the
right psychological help and support, it really is possible to have severe
dementia and still have a good quality of life.