The field of gerontology is one that is growing with scholars keen on understanding adult development and aging. Various aspects affect longevity and improved quality of aging such as social relationships, physical activities, positive sense of self and many others. The paper provides perspective into gerontology by analyzing two case studies Roberta, and Olivia in an attempt to understand the aging process.
Roberta
Roberta is an extrovert following that she has many friends and prides in being the life of the party. With Roberta being a reader and learner, this reveals her intention about being cognitively active. This is beneficial as learning new things puts her memory to work and reduces the probability of suffering from dementia that comes about due to age. From the description of Roberta, she has a positive outlook on life and draws on social support to improve her quality of life. From a social support perspective, having friends to play with and cook for, improves her quality of life as she can rely on her friends through the aging process. Following her participation in physical activities such as bowling, it improves her physical wellbeing. Bowling is an activity that improves muscular strength, endurance, and flexibility.
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Concerning resilience, it refers to the dynamic process of positively adapting to adversity in a way that maintains an individuals' functioning, (Lavretsky, 2014). Roberta is resilient in that after her open-heart surgery, she was out of bed within hours acknowledging that others are in a more detrimental condition as opposed to hers.
For Roberta, the leisure activity she is likely to carry on with is playing cards with her friends, reading and learning. Leisure activities are essential in promoting longevity as they help individuals recover from stress, overcome negative life events such as losing a loved one, (Chang, Wray, and Lin, 2015). Cognitive leisure activities in particular such playing cards, help strengthen cognitive abilities and keep the mind active.
Olivia
Olivia is an introvert following that she was quiet and rarely socialized. As she ages, coping may be difficult following the small pool of social support she has. With her friends equally aging, having few friends and losing them may be difficult to cope with. However, Olivia’s spirituality may help her cope with the loss.
Studies reveal that increased longevity has ties to spirituality, (Lavertsky, 2010). This follows that spiritual adults demonstrate greater wellbeing by engaging in practices that maintain their health for example, meditation for stress relief. This also has ties to strengthening resilience as the elderly can turn to prayer for comfort as part of going through a spiritual journey in preparation of death.
Being the caregiver will help her age well. As part of her caregiving, centers on making donations that reinforce her sense of spirituality and increase her longevity. This finds drive in the desire to live longer to continue helping others.
References
Chang, P. J., Wray, L., & Lin, Y. (2014). Social relationships, leisure activity, and health in older adults. Health Psychology , 33 (6), 516.
Lavretsky, H. (2010). Spirituality and aging. Aging health , 6 (6), 749-769.
Lavretsky, H. (2014). Resilience and aging: Research and practice . JHU Press.
