Aging by H Moody - Essay Example

Spiritual and religion have been found to be much connected to aging. There are some spiritual and religious practices that are done to increase happiness in an individual as they grow old. There is also an increase in gratitude, generosity, and reframing.  Buddhism which has been a tradition offers spiritual factors and practices that increase happiness as one grows old. Gratitude is a factor that is increased in older people through Buddhism (Moody, (pg. 87), 2002). The old are always grateful for their grandchildren, wearing what they want, traveling to the destination of their choice, and giving back to the community. Generosity increases in the old as they are always willing to give back to the community. Reframing in aging involves the sharing of reverses, losses, and sorrows and the difference comes only in the attitude that one has towards them. Flexibility increases as one gets old. As one gets old, the changes that occur are not reversible and one has to be flexible.

The most interesting biological theory of aging is the wear and tear theory where Dr. August believed that the body and its cell composition are damaged due to overuse and abuse. The body's organs are worn out due to the introduction of toxins in the diet such as excessive fats, alcohol, and nicotine (Moody, (pg. 145), 2002). The interesting part is that whether one takes healthy food and does not use alcohol or nicotine, the organs will still wear out. One would not prefer to live up to the age of 125 since most of the organs will have worn out. At this age, more complications also will occur in the body due to the inactive and less active body cells and tissues.

As indicated by the reduction in the levels of mortality among the aged, there is observation that as the centuries goes by the number of those that are above the age of 65 increases. This is due to the prompts that the government and the community have been much concerned about the health of the elderly (Moody, (pg. 178), 2002). The difficulty in ascertaining the trends has also been together with the standardized death rates,  causes of death classifications, classification of diseases, recent and long-term conditions that they have been exposed to, and current health actions.

The elderly are viewed to be more creative than the young and the level of creativity increases as one gets old. From the study that was carried out, creativity increases with age since as one grows older, one tends to have a more settled mind enabling thinking of creativity and innovation. The increase in innovation and creativity with age is due to the impact of professionalism (Moody, (pg. 209), 2002). The psychoanalytic concept of creativity and creativity can also be used to explain the concept of increment in creativity with age. Professionally is the act in which the old tend to follow the learned occupation or activity for gain. Psychoanalysis is a set of theories and concepts that are popularized due to the clinical research that was carried out by an Australian.