Senium is the last stage of a person’s life and the final stage of natural aging. It is considered a degenerative phase in which physical and mental abilities decline – to the point where the aging person may die from it.
What is the senium?
Senium is the last stage of a person’s life and the final stage of natural aging. Senium begins between the ages of 60 and 80. In senium, degenerative diseases appear, because the body is no longer able to heal itself and keep healthy as in youth. Further characteristic of senium is atrophy of internal organs, decrease of elasticity of all types of tissues and decrease of physical performance. Often, senium also alters mental performance, but while physical capacity will decline in any case, there are still some very old and mentally fit people. Senium is a period of decline – this decline can go so far that the aging person dies of old age from this alone. He is generally very more vulnerable. Even minor health problems such as a cold can take dangerous forms.
Function and task
Man grows unusually old for a mammal, but this is also due to the achievements of modern medicine. Without them, he would reach a maximum age of 30-40 years, as in earlier times. The senium – unlike periods of life such as childhood or youth – does not have an instructive function. In the senium, man has fulfilled all his life tasks and passed through all the necessary phases of life. Mortality is part of life and the senium is the time when every person approaches death. If humans did not die, the planet would probably not only be overcrowded, but the species would not be able to evolve. As genes are passed on through reproduction, those traits that are most likely to ensure the survival of the species prevail. The senium thus has no benefit for humans themselves, but it does for the species in an evolutionary sense. In the meantime, it is possible to make the senium livable and enjoyable even for people who are ill, so that they can usually still live out their twilight years. Above all, modern medicine has made it possible for people to reach senility at all. There are even individual cases in which people still go jogging, run a marathon or take part in other sporting competitions in old age. This is not always possible, but with a healthy lifestyle and attentiveness to one’s own health, it would be quite possible for an average person to retain some of their physical capacity and remain mentally fit in senility.
Diseases and ailments
As motivating as the individual cases of athletically active people in senility presented in the media may be – more common are diseases and complaints that can occur after the age of 60. Many of these diseases are based on the fact that the aging process is in full swing. The elasticity of connective tissue decreases, the function of internal organs and muscles is impaired and continues to decrease. As a result, age-related diseases no longer improve, but rather can be shaped in such a way that the affected person suffers less from them. Degenerative diseases such as senile dementia or arteriosclerosis are common, for example. Many seniors also suffer from a pronounced immune deficiency in old age, which can make simple infectious diseases dangerous. Final pneumonia, a form of pneumonia that occurs in old age and can be fatal, is a common problem. Less obvious is the formation of carcinomas in old age, but this may also be related to immunodeficiency. However, treatment is still possible in senility, depending on the stage at which cancers are detected. However, since treatment follows the same regimen as for a young patient (by surgical removal as well as radiation or chemotherapy), this is very stressful for the aging patient and the mortality rate is correspondingly high. Almost every senior citizen – apart from the serious illnesses in senility – also has to deal with everyday complaints. Wounds heal more slowly and develop more quickly, even walking to the supermarket or family doctor around the corner is exhausting due to the decreasing muscle strength, and heavy lifting also causes problems.Sleep disorders also affect most seniors; they wake up early and sometimes have difficulty falling asleep. In addition, there are psychosocial factors that can make senility stressful. Very old people witness family and friends die before them. The Society for the Elderly offers integration services to be with their peers in this situation.
