QUALITY OF LIFE IN OLD AGE

Quality of life is a term that implies a state of feeling of being in the areas of health and socioeconomic psychophysics.

Its aim is to satisfy the needs and demands of the individual in each stage

pa of his life. This implies the existence of two elements:

• Basic human needs, defined as the set of conditions specific deficiencies, recognized by all human beings, who have the means to resolve them.

• Indicators of satisfaction of human needs, which are different measuring elements in each country.

The determination of what is needed and how it affects their lack, varies over time due to changes experienced by mankind. This has been raised fully realized, even in developing countries do not happen to be a theoretical statement, since in fact millions of people are excluded from the minimum conditions of quality of life that is waiting for every human being. It is said that, operationally, the quality of life is context reference. For example, quality of life in childhood, in terminal illness in the elderly, etc.. Man's life is multidimensional and therefore so is their quality of life. Therefore, for evaluation should be taken into account personal factors (health, life satisfaction, independence) and socio-environmental (support networks, social services, etc..).

In short, the quality of life is a subjective-objective assessments of personal and social satisfaction.

Many older people perceive themselves as individuals with a load of experience to offer and wellbeing. They believe that age does not imply a progressive decline or, at least, uncontrollable. This satisfaction with life, however, must be supported by economic and social security, adequate nutrition, a state of relatively good health and family relationships continents. Failing either of these, the perception of well-being both transient and permanent changes. Meanwhile, socioeconomic factors gravitate powerfully in general well-being of the elderly. Low income retirement benefits, or lack thereof, and poor or no social medical coverage, generate different degrees of satisfaction with life altering.

However, it is paradoxical that both socioeconomic excellent and its counterpart, the lack of basic means for a decent living, resulting in a shortened life expectancy. In the first case, a high-fat food intake, that lead to an increase in cardiovascular disease and cancer and, in the second aspect, for lack of nutrients essential for health maintenance.

It is the former that have better living conditions in the year before his death. Also remarkable is the importance of family contention elderly life. Those old who maintain active bonding with your family (married, with children, grandchildren or nephews) live longer than those who lack social and family network. It is observed that the mortality rate is higher among the widowed during the first six months of mourning, then decreasing. Another point to consider is the lesser prestige of the elderly because of modernization. This is due to changes in values​​, education, nuclear family structure, smaller home, etc..

Regarding the independence of the elderly, there is an increase in their tendency to live in an independent household of children while maintaining close contact with them, rejecting possible institutionalization in a nursing home.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Envejecimiento Saludable. El Envejecimiento y la actividad física en la vida diaria. Organización Mundial de la Salud, 2002.
Disponible en: http://www.imsersomayores.csic.es/documentos/documentos/oms-envejecimiento-02.pdf

Capítulo 9. Envejecimiento y ritmos biológicos. (2011, April 06). Retrieved May 26, 2012, from OCW Universidad de Cantabria. Disponible en: http://ocw.unican.es/ciencias-de-la-salud/biogerontologia/materiales-de-clase-1/capitulo-9.-envejecimiento-y-ritmos-biologicos/capitulo-9.-envejecimiento-y-ritmos-biologicos.

Otero, Puime, A. Relaciones sociales y envejecimiento saludable, 2006. Disponible en: http://econpapers.repec.org/paper/fbbwpaper/201039.htm