As people grow old, they go through different phases or stages of life. The life course of a human being is that period from the day a person is born to that day of death, and it includes sequences of predictable life events such as physical maturation. As people grow and undergo different phases of life, they experience different responsibilities and expectations that vary from one individual to the other and culture of the individual as well. Each person experiences age-related changes because of many factors; for instance, primary aging occurs because of biological factors that include cellular and molecular changes. Secondary aging, on the other hand, occurs due to controllable factors such as poor diet and lack of physical exercise (Ram, Gerstorf, Fauth, & Zarit, 2010). Providing lifespan management is critical through the life course of a human being because it enables people to live longer and more comfortably despite the health changes they undergo.
Life span management
Life span management is a process that people adopt at a personal level to reduce deaths and make people live longer or have comfortable living amidst health challenges that people experience as they grow and develop. Lifespan management is, therefore, a process where people strive to stay healthy and live longer by undergoing medication, counseling, and other necessary healthcare support provided by healthcare institutions (Baur, Ungvari, & Minor, 2016). Even though the primary objective of people in need of lifespan management is similar, the necessity of each group is different; for instance, the requirements for the young in comparison to that of the old group are different.
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Life span management terms
Personalized Service: a process of ensuring that an individual receives appropriate healthcare services by utilizing biological information, for example, that help in predicting risk for diseases or that help predict the response of the patients towards treatment.
Aging education: a process of providing necessary information to the aging group of people that enables them to live healthy and comfortable and help them address some of the health complications that occur due to aging.
Medication management: a process of ensuring that people undergoing lifespan management follow the medication appropriately by taking the right medicine at the right time to prevent medication-related complications that may occur due to poor management of drugs at the end, compromising the health of the individual.
Social support: a process of ensuring that the patient in lifespan management has necessary social services not only from the caregivers but also to friends and relatives. Positive social support enhances the emotional, mental, and physical health of the patient and, therefore, important to the individuals undergoing lifespan management.
Crisis prevention: a process of protecting the lifespan management patients against any assault. The caregivers can prevent crises through proper management of assaultive behavior.
Safety assessment: is a tool that the health organizations use to measure conditions that may cause patient harm or adverse events in the healthcare providing facilities to develop and evaluate safety interventions that enhance the provision of quality healthcare services to the patients.
Longevity: the average life span that an individual can live under ideal conditions.
Life expectancy: the average length of life in the years that human beings live between birth and death. When a condition compromises the healthy life of an individual, lifespan management comes in to help supplement the life of an individual to continue living.
Lifespan: the maximum number of years that an individual can live before dying.
Health span: the health span of an individual is the length of time that a person remains healthy.
Successful aging: it’s the ability of an individual to have good health and remain physically active despite old age.
History of lifespan management
The management of lifespan began long ago after human beings started discovering medicines for various health complications. The use of medication was a way of managing the human lifespan by enhancing human health using different types of drugs to treat and prevent diseases and thus increase the lifespan of the individuals (Baur, Ungvari, & Minor, 2016). The life expectancy has increased with time due to advancements in the use of medicines and management of human health.
Culture
The culture of lifespan management involves selecting a group of health professionals to help in the provision of extensive healthcare management to extend the lifespan of an individual. The health professionals understand well how the body operates, enabling them to navigate and resolve some of the health issues. Lifespan management plays a significant role in overcoming the barriers existing between patients and their optimal state of health to improve the health conditions of the people, and extend their life expectancy.
Mentality and philosophy of aging
Aging is a physical, mental, and biological process that every individual experiences. Many people fear becoming old because aging leads to physical changes such as changes in skin hair and flexibility of the body prevent one from engaging in different activities that they use to do when they were young. The philosophers also have their say concerning aging; for instance, in the sixteenth century, one philosopher by the name Montaigne manage to write that dying of old age is a rare death which is out of ordinary and whoever died such dead should consider themselves unique (Petrie, 2014). Different people have a different perception and belief concerning aging, and it is essential to understand that there are factors that influence this perception, for instance, culture.
Changes to services
Due to the changing health conditions and other factors that influence the lifespan of an individual, changes to services in lifespan management is inevitable. Changing the services to include medical, physical, and psychological assistance is critical towards the achievement of lifespan management goals. Lifespan management providers should remain flexible because they are dealing with dynamic human health and other factors that can compromise the lifespan of an individual.
Changes to the industry
It is also essential for the lifespan management industry to change for it to accommodate the changes in lifespan management services. The industry should ensure the provision of necessary services that help the patients extend their life span. The industry needs to respond appropriately to the factors that compromise the lifespan of an individual, provide a permanent solution to improve the quality of life, and increase the length of living.
Conclusion
Human life is full of health challenges that, without proper management, can lead to the loss of life. Lifespan management is a process of ensuring that a person lives as long as possible by enhancing good health through medication, mental and physical exercises that improve good health. It is, therefore, vital to ensure proper management of the lifespan of an individual through the provision of requirements that will enhance the health of an individual and hence, increases the life span.
References
Baur, J. A., Ungvari, Z., & Minor, R. K. (2016). Are sirtuins viable targets for improving healthspan and lifespan? Nature reviews Drug discovery, 11 (6), 443.
Petrie, L. (2014). Surviving and thriving in the new world of aging services. Generations, 38 (2), 40-43.
Ram, N., Gerstorf, D., Fauth, E., & Zarit, S. (2010). Aging, disablement, and dying: Using time-as-process and time-as-resources metrics to chart late-life change. Research in Human Development, 7 (1), 27-44.
