Reproductive Life and Aging

Reproductive Life and Aging

Icebreaker: Holiday Edition

Share a special holiday tradition

Puberty

• Puberty: is a period of rapid growth and sexual maturation.

  • changes begin around 8-14 years

  • girls begin puberty around 10 and boys around 2 years later

• changes that occur

  • physical growth spurt results in 10-11 inches of added height and 50 to 75 pounds of increased weight.

  • The heart and lungs experience dramatic growth during this period.

Sexual Maturity

Sexual changes are divided into two categories: primary sexual characteristics and secondary sexual characteristics.

Primary sexual characteristics: are changes in the reproductive organs.

Secondary sexual characteristics are visible physical changes not directly linked to reproduction, but signal sexual maturity. 

Climateric

Climacteric: the midlife transition when fertility declines
Female Climateric

• Perimenopause: refers to a period of transition in which a woman's ovaries stop releasing eggs and the level of estrogen and progesterone production decreases. 

• Menopause: is defined as 12 months without menstruation. The average age of menopause is approximately 51, however, many women begin experiencing symptoms in their 40s.

Multiple Choice

Define perimenopause

• • refers to a period of transition in which a woman's ovaries stop releasing eggs and the level of estrogen and progesterone production decreases.

• • refers to a period of transition in which a woman's ovaries start releasing eggs and the level of estrogen and progesterone production rises

• • refers to a period of transition in which a man's ovaries stop releasing eggs and the level of estrogen and progesterone production decreases.

Climateric

Male Climateric

• Although males can continue to father children throughout middle adulthood, erectile dysfunction (ED) becomes more common. 

• Erectile dysfunction refers to the inability to achieve an erection or an inconsistent ability to achieve an erection

• Men during middle adulthood may also experience prostate enlargement, which can interfere with urination, and deficient testosterone levels which decline throughout adulthood, but especially after age 50.

Aging

There are many theories that attempt to explain how we age. However, researchers still do not fully understand what factors contribute to the human lifespan (Jin, 2010). 
 According to Jin (2010), modern biological theories of human aging involve two categories: 

• Programmed Theories: aging follows a biological timetable, possibly a continuation of childhood development.  

• Damage or Error Theories: aging happens because of environmental factors that cause cumulative damage in organisms. 

Open Ended

What is the difference between programmed and damage/error theories of aging?

Physical Changes during Aging

• Heart muscles thickening with age 

• Arteries becoming less flexible

• Lung capacity diminishing

• Kidneys become less efficient in removing waste from the blood

• Bladder loses its ability to store urine

• Brain cells also lose some functioning, but new neurons can also be produced. 

Physical Changes during Aging

Body Changes: Everyone’s body shape changes naturally as they age. According to the National Library of Medicine (2014) after age 30 people tend to lose lean tissue, and some of the cells of the muscles, liver, kidney, and other organs are lost. 

Sarcopenia: is the loss of muscle tissue as a natural part of aging. 

Height and Weight: The tendency to become shorter as one ages occurs among all races and both sexes. 

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