MIDLIFE PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOSOCIAL CHANGES.

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Running head: MIDLIFE PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOSOCIAL CHANGES
MIDLIFE PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOSOCIAL CHANGES
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1Running head: MIDLIFE PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOSOCIAL CHANGES
Physical changes that occur during midlife starts from ageing and ends at physical and
internal changes. Both men and women are bound to be affected by these changes. There is a
difference in physical changes between men and women at some instances. Primary ageing is a
biological process which is spontaneous and occurs in every living being on the Earth. This
process cannot be skipped at any place. Primary ageing is described by the normal ageing
process of human beings as they grow older. This process is gradual and cannot be lifted away
from someone’s life. The human body begins to deteriorate as they grow up. This condition takes
place because of the stoppage or slowing down of biological processes happening inside the
body (Tajar et al. 2010). Some of the primary ageing effects on midlife are lack of fast
movements, gradual loss of vision, hearing problems, less resistance to diseases, reduced
adaptability to stress and many more (Whaley and Barber 2017). The secondary ageing process
includes diseases and poor health practices. Poor health practices include smoking, lack of
regular physical exercise, drug abuse and other ways of causing self-damage. These practices
severely harm the middle-aged people of many human populations. Harmful conditions can be
avoided by undergoing a healthy lifestyle. According to statistical data, 15.1 per cent of the total
middle-aged people in the United Kingdom is addicted to smoking (Kalkhoran and Glantz 2015).
Poor diet has been a significant issue in secondary ageing. In most of the cases, poverty becomes
the central issue of poor nutrition. Unhealthy food can cause high mortality and certain kinds of
diseases. Cultural and environmental factors are also present in secondary ageing. Thus
secondary ageing leaves a significant impact on people of middle age. Osteoporosis is a
significant health issue which reduces the mass of bones, making them fragile and weak. This
condition affects both male and female at middle ages. According to statistics, women are
affected more by osteoporosis than men (Alswat 2017). Calcium is the principal constituent of

2Running head: MIDLIFE PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOSOCIAL CHANGES
bones. Lower calcium levels in blood make bones weak. This is the cause of osteoporosis in men
and women. Women naturally have low levels of calcium. Therefore they have low bone density
resulting in chances of osteoporosis. This disease makes all the middle aged people weaker than
healthy people. Although these people have lower chances of respiratory problems, these people
have higher recovery time than young people. Longer recovery time makes the people acquire
other diseases along with respiratory problems. These diseases result from opportunistic
infections. Sometimes conditions can lead to physical disabilities. These disabilities mainly
affect people of age 40 to 50 as they start to lose the power of the immune system. Disease like
Alzheimer's disease, which affects the brain and nervous system, can cause permanent disability
in mid-aged people. Statistics show that eight lakh fifty thousand people in the United Kingdom
have been found to be affected by today. A prediction was also made that the number of affected
middle aged people will rise above one million by 2025 (Liddell et al. 2016). The gradual change
in appearance is also a factor of ageing. Physical appearance is the primary factor which comes
into play during interaction with the outside world. Grey and thin hair, along with wrinkled skin
puts a significant psychological impact on middle-aged men and women. Majority of these
people start to lose all grooming factors present in their body with ageing. Fat distribution is a
significant problem for these people. Due to a decrease in metabolic rate, a higher amount of fat
gets deposited in the stomach, lower body and chin. This condition gives birth to many diseased
conditions. Certain liver diseases have also been found to occur in these people (VanWagner et
al. 2015). Deterioration in hearing, smelling and vision powers. This condition affects males
more than females (Dawes et al. 2014). Certain professional activities can result in a complicated
secondary ageing process. As an example, a man who is working as a scientist in a radioactive
laboratory has less chance of survival than an ordinary man. Menopause becomes a significant

3Running head: MIDLIFE PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOSOCIAL CHANGES
factor in middle-aged women. This is the condition which arises one year after the period is over.
During this time, significant changes occur, which causes psychological and internal problems in
a woman. The problems include less production of oestrogen and progesterone and menstruation
becoming irregular or complete stoppage of the process. Menopause is thought of as an illness in
the United Kingdom and also as a deficiency disease by feminists. Middle-aged men have a
gradual decline in their hormone levels; however, the sperms stay active still. Infertility due to
cancer becomes another issue in men. Evidence suggests that testicles of goat were grafted to
men who lacked the ability to produce sperms at the age of forty-five to fifty (Tournaye, Dohle
and Barratt 2014).
Several cognitive changes can be observed in middle-aged people. A much-believed fact
states that intellectual and cognitive decline starts to occur in people from 20 years of age. This
condition gradually progresses to a very great extent in middle age (Singh-Manoux et al. 2012).
Memory and thinking skills fall under the category of intellectual decline. These factors start to
decline as the person grows older and Vascular risk factors increases which include
cardiovascular disease inside the body. Diabetes and Myocardial infarction have been the
primary cause of death among middle-aged individuals in the United Kingdom (Chung et al.
2015). These two diseases trigger the cognitive decline procedure during ageing (Debette et al.
2011). In general cases, it was observed that people who respond to ageing at a very fast rate
(facing common age-related health problems) are likely to be suffering from cognitive decline.
Cases have also been observed where cognitive decline maintained the overall intelligence in the
affected individual in spite of being a middle-aged person. Memory problems also stand as a
significant factor in cognitive decline (Nyberg et al. 2012). These problems occur when an
individual's brain begins to function slowly. The mind is composed of a vast network of neurons,

4Running head: MIDLIFE PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOSOCIAL CHANGES
which are nerve cells. As human beings grow up, the cellular regeneration process slows down.
In a very prevalent disease, Alzheimer's disease, neurons get destructed and do not regenerate.
This condition is causing memory problems and ultimately, brain death in affected individuals
(Chen et al. 2014). Processing speed is also a significant problem that middle-aged people faces.
Processing speed means refers to the time taken in completing a mental task (Eckert 2011).
Thinking, goal setting, decision making, starting the task and predicting an outcome falls under
the category of processing speed. All these processes gradually decline in their rate as the human
brain starts to function slow with their age. The body also starts to respond slowly to certain
reflexes as people grow towards forty and fifty years of age. Another cognitive, physiological
factor is verbal memory. This factor improves as people reach their middle ages. As human
beings grow up, generally their logical thinking power increases. People learn to evaluate things
and take decisions after critically analysing a particular situation. They can do this as they grow
up since they experience many different cases as they grow up. Once the people are on the verge
of growing up, they experience a lot of different conditions. They learn from these situations and
apply them on their future life long decisions. This phenomenon was also made clear by a
statistical record. The record stated that over 70% of the scientists proposed their research article
and published them at the age of forty (Cox and Efron 2017). The above statement proved that
people have the most thinking ability when they get towards the middle ages. Vocabulary skills
(manner of speaking in a language) tend to improve as people grow up. Human beings start
interacting with different people and adapt themselves to different conditions to succeed in life.
Vocabulary becomes one of the significant factors because it is the primary mediator of
communication. This cognitive skill becomes better as people grow and undertake
communication improvement training. All of the above factors are possible only when the person

5Running head: MIDLIFE PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOSOCIAL CHANGES
is in the middle ages. Spatial orientation and inductive reasoning capabilities tend to improve
with age (Hülür et al. 2015). Spatial orientation defines the persons walking and posture
positions in relation to the surrounding environment (space required by the person to interact
with others). Inductive reasoning is a broad category. This skill allows a person to provide a
conclusion to a fact, only after researching out a lot of evidence on it. The urge to hunt for
evidence for providing a conclusion mostly comes out from people of ages forty to fifty. From
all the above stated, cognitive factors, processing speed and memory are the two most important
skill in a middle-aged person. These two skills have been picked because they help the person in
the personal, academic and professional life. It has been found that cognitive changes at the age
of forty to fifty, are both advantageous and disadvantageous for the person in concern.
At last, comes the psychosocial changes during the middle age time of the people.
Psychosocial changes occur both in men and women at equal rates. These changes are mainly
neurodevelopmental and hormonal changes that produce a psychological expression in response
to the surrounding society. During the middle ages, people face the biggest challenges of their
life. They have to set specific goals for their future which has a very competitive approach.
People sometimes suffer from ego problems, and this results in a loss of good opportunities from
their life. Lack of confidence in handling hard situations is a major cause of depression in
middle-aged people. This is the phase when they are on the verge of applying the experiences
they gathered throughout their adulthood. People think about their past conditions and decide
what to do next considering their present conditions. This factor becomes very important in the
life of middle-aged people because when this thinking goes wrong, it can result in the self-
destruction of a person (Lasgaard, Goossens and Elklit 2011). Women are also affected by
psychosocial changes. According to Stone et al. (2010), housewives suffer from greater

6Running head: MIDLIFE PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOSOCIAL CHANGES
depression than working women. This condition occurs because housewives suffer from family
issues more than working women. They lack the chances of spending long hours outside their
house and becomes the prey of depression. According to a study, most of the women found
midlife as their state of the highest confidence. This condition makes them achieve most of their
success during this time. During this time, women learn to manage life difficulties and takes
control of stress. People learn to control their emotions in their workplaces. This psychosocial
ability only comes to action at middle ages when the person has a proper evaluation of himself.
Domestic violence has been found to occur less in these ages. Since people have already gained
proper maturity, they can tackle misunderstandings very well mostly. Marital satisfaction is a
major factor which plays a role in the cognitive development of middle-aged people. This factor
is defined as the perceived benefits and marriage costs to a particular person. Marital satisfaction
has been found to increase as the person moves to the middle ages (Kaleta and Mróz 2018).
According to this study, people of ages forty can correctly evaluate the perceived benefits of
marriage. In most of the cases, it has been found that the perceived benefits are higher during the
middle ages. This fact causes an increase in marital satisfaction among middle-aged people. The
economic condition becomes a psychosocial factor also during the middle ages. Monetary
problems arise mostly during this period. Sometimes people face unemployment problems or
low income from their job. This condition demotivates them and makes them depressed, giving
rise to further problems. Therefore, it has been evident that depression is the primary factor
affecting middle-aged people. Life sources can be divided into six categories in psychosocial
criteria. These six categories mainly include maintenance of a relationship with people, personal
development, creativity, religious beliefs, social relations and interaction with nature. Change in
these conditions impacts the psychosocial factors associated with the lives of the mid-aged

7Running head: MIDLIFE PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOSOCIAL CHANGES
people. Some negative effects have also been observed during midlife. I have been found that 41
per cent of the people has both the parents alive while aged forty. However, seventy seven per
cent had their parents died during fifty years of age (Leopold and Lechner 2015). This condition
had a negative impact on their psychology. Some people were found to suffer from depression
after their parent's death. This is because most of the people have their parents to guide them.
However, patents dying during the middle ages of their children put a negative impact on them.
This condition was also termed as emotional turmoil. Sociological factors also start to act during
the middle ages of people. One of these factors is the sense of beauty in women. During this age,
most of the women spend a lot of time in maintaining their beauty. This condition causes the
sales of the beauty parlours to rise high. According to Dalrymple (2016), psychosocial factors
influence risk-taking during middle ages in case of STI (Sexually Transmitted Infections). These
psychosocial factors include intimacy prioritisation, unwanted pregnancy, problems associated
with periods of transition among relationships (divorce and separation) and social norms with
cultural expectations. All of the above factors were used to check the impact of psychosocial
factors on middle-aged people. This qualitative test resulted in positive proving that psychosocial
factors influence the change in the behaviour of people. Another middle age psychosocial factor
is a crisis. By the word crisis, it is meant to take a difficult or important decision-based in a
situation. Erikson has stated that people develop generativity (Influence or commitment towards
one's family). People who fail in expressing generativity start to develop stagnation (self-
indulgence). Male midlife crisis is different from the female midlife crisis. This crisis mainly
includes wearing trendy clothes and indulging themselves into masculine activities like
bodybuilding, motorcycle races, scuba diving and many more. This fact puts a negative impact
on people if they try all these activities in the wrong way. On the other hand, women act in a

8Running head: MIDLIFE PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOSOCIAL CHANGES
similar way as men do. They try to emphasise their feminine nature by undergoing cosmetic
surgery, wearing youthful clothes and engaging more in social activities. Women dye their hair
to look younger like their children. These actions mainly take place due because of
unattractiveness, loneliness, non-assertion and inferiority. In summary, it can be stated that all
the psychosocial changes can be grouped into four categories, values, goals, accomplishments
and questions laid on desires of life.
On a concluding note, it can be understood that midlife changes that occur among the
human population have both a positive and a negative impact on them. An effort in controlling of
the adverse effects of these changes and cherishing the good impacts can make the middle-aged
individual a successful human being in future.

9Running head: MIDLIFE PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOSOCIAL CHANGES
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10Running head: MIDLIFE PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND PSYCHOSOCIAL CHANGES
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