Gerontology - what kind of science is this? Institute of Gerontology. Social gerontology

A lot of people are aging now. And every year the number of elderly people will only increase. Why is this happening? And all because every day the number of children being born increases. After some 70 years, all of them will grow old, which will lead to an even greater urgency of the problem of aging and everything that is associated with it. All these issues are covered by gerontology. What is this science? She studies the problems of aging people and everything that accompanies them.

Some people call it a full-fledged science, and some people call it a whole division of medicine. The truth, as they say, is somewhere in the middle. And this is really so, because it is impossible to consider, for example, the health of older people in isolation from their psychology and interaction with the society. By the way, the issues of socialization of older people are considered by science, which is called social gerontology. About it we will go further. Now let's take a closer look at the science of aging.

Gerontology - what kind of science is this?

Gerontology is the field of scientific knowledge that studies the aging of man and the mechanisms of prolonging life: both physiological and psychological. As for the treatment of elderly people, this is what geriatrics is doing as a subsection of gerontology. In general, the subject of the science under consideration is quite broad, which makes it possible to make it complete. Gerontology deals with such problems:

1. Treatment of elderly people.
2. Study of the most common causes of mortality among the elderly.
3. Study of age-related characteristics associated with human aging.
4. Study of the interaction of elderly people with the society and different age categories in it.
5. A study of the demographic dynamics of older people.
6. Study questions related to life expectancy.

As we can see, the sphere of gerontology is quite broad, which creates a wonderful basis for the formation of a supportive society with a long life expectancy. More and more important in the world is gerontology. What is it provoked? The reason for this is very simple. Gerontology is really an important science in the present world. The more a person retains working capacity, the better the whole world. And given that pensioners are more industrious than young people, this can significantly affect the positive aspects of public life. Let's look at some aspects related to gerontology in more detail.

Diseases of the elderly

A person can genetically live up to 120 years. Confirmation of this we can find not only in the writings of gerontologists, but also in the Bible. As we see, in this case, religion says the same thing as science. In other cases, allegories are actively used, but this is another topic. How many pensioners live in the world? Maximum, up to 100 years. And if a person could live to 90 or even to 80, then he is already considered a long-liver. And the question of achieving such a long life expectancy is engaged in gerontology. What can this provide? Scientists are thinking about this issue, and the answer is already little by little.

Why do people die so early? The reason for this is that they have diseases that undermine their health. What are the most common diseases? In the first place, the cardiovascular system, which is the most vulnerable place of a person, suffers. Therefore, heart attack or ischemia at a respectable age is a common thing, albeit unpleasant. The musculoskeletal system and respiratory system also suffer. There may also be concomitant pathologies. Very often there are several diseases at once, which only worsens the prognosis.

Age features of aging and old people

Old people have many age-related psychological characteristics. In this case, gerontology has very close ties with age psychology, which also studies this topic. This can also include diseases of the elderly, which are directly related to psychology. So, one of these is Alzheimer's disease or any other dementia, which is characterized by acquired dementia.

This disease develops slowly enough, but confidently. You can only delay its development a little if you follow the preventive measures. It begins with the flow of the fact that a person has problems with memory. Very often it is called senile sclerosis, but when it comes to the distant stages of the disease, it is called marasmus.

Accordingly, everything depends on the stage at which the person is. This disease lasts about ten years, after which the patient becomes so lazy (this phenomenon in the medical language is called abulia), that he has no desire even to make the slightest movement. Most often, those suffering from Alzheimer's disease die from pneumonia, which appears against a background of prolonged lying on their backs.

As we can see, age psychology is directly connected with gerontology and medicine.

Relationship with society

In this case, we consider how the elderly person behaves in society. This is also somewhat similar to the subject of study with age psychology, where also the range of interests includes personality changes related to the aging of a person. With the same Alzheimer's disease, the personality sphere can suffer very much. So, for an elderly person, some aggression may be characteristic. It arises for a variety of reasons. Aspects of the elderly person's relations with society are explored by social gerontology.

Another reason for aggressive behavior in society

In addition, with this disease, the human brain is suffering, so anything can happen. Another reason for aggressiveness can be the awareness of their own incompetence in what was very good earlier. For example, a person used to write before, but now he loses this skill. All this negatively affects how the individual behaves with the people around him. However, behavior can become and benevolent. Social gerontology tries to establish the causes and patterns.

What institutions in Russia are engaged in the issues of gerontology

The Institute of Gerontology is a scientific, scientific and educational institution that devotes itself to the study of issues related to human aging. In Russia there are several such educational institutions that have proved themselves well enough. This, for example, is the Institute of Gerontology and Bioregulation. The first word in the title we understood. But what is bioregulation? This is how the body maintains the constancy of its internal environment, functions. It is the deterioration of bioregulation that is the result of age-related changes. Therefore, bioregulation and gerontology are inseparable things. It is this issue that is being studied by this institution of gerontology.