University Essay: Middle Age Physical Development and Theories

This research paper delves into the physical development characteristics of middle adulthood, focusing on individuals aged 40 to 65. It examines the physiological changes associated with aging, including muscle strength decline, vision and hearing impairments, cardiovascular health risks, and physical appearance alterations like wrinkles and hair graying. The essay also explores hormonal changes, particularly in women, addressing menopause and related health issues, and discusses sexuality conditions. A comparative study of a 50-year-old woman is included to illustrate these changes. Furthermore, the paper connects these observations with psychological theories, such as Erikson's psychosocial theory and Piaget's theory of cognitive development, to provide a comprehensive understanding of this life stage, also considering cultural and community diversity factors. The conclusion highlights the importance of lifestyle choices and the varying approaches to middle age across different cultures.

Running head: MIDDLE AGE PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
MIDDLE AGE PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:
Note: I changed the name of the topic as per relevance

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Introduction:
The following research paper aims to discuss the physical development characteristics in
the middle adulthood. The middle adulthood stage falling between the age group of 40 to 65
years. The physical changes occurring in the human body indicated the ageing process at this
stage. The psychological research focuses on the observational study of a person belonging to the
middle stage of adulthood and comparing the observation results with the respective theories of
psychology. The diversity factors with relation to culture and community are also discussed in
the paper in aspect of the middle adulthood stage.
Note: The introduction is changed with the proper mentioning what exactly I am talking
about without generalization in previous paper.
Discussion:
General research
The physical development of the people starts degrading as they start reaching in their 40’s.
Muscle Strength
The bones start to ache, muscles swell and there is lack of strength in the body especially in leg
joints, arms and the backbone. The muscle strength reduces and the men especially suffer from
difficulty in movement from one place to another.
Vision and Hearing ability
The middle aged people fail to see the close objects and their retina fail to take too much light
exposure with indication of laser treatment and wearing glasses of bifocal lenses. The hearing

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ability also decreases with men having more difficulty in hearing low pitch sounds than women.
Their eardrums lose the capacity to take high pitch sounds. Most of the people start wearing
hearing aids with more sophisticated technology in the current scenario.
Cardiovascular system
In the mid age, the adults are prone to having high cholesterol accompanied with high blood
pressure as their age increases. Hypertension tendency increases too with risk of cardiovascular
diseases and heart attacks.
Physical appearance signs
There are wrinkles in skin with sagging skin tissues mostly visible in the face. The skin below
the eyes get sagged too. The nails of fingers and toes get brittle with age and the ridges started
showing. The age spots appears in the areas of hands, face, and other areas which have been
exposed to sun. The greying of hair along with loss of teeth permanently with yellowing tint.
Note: Description of physical development stage given which was not provided before in
detail
Height and Weight
The height gets reduced to half an inch progressively with the increase in age especially in the
case of men. The middle aged people lose their weight to a very little extent and as they grow
old, they spine gets bent. The overweight issue with obesity is another outwardly sign of ageing
in both men and women mostly due to obesity.
Hormonal changes

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Most of the women undergo hormonal changes in their middle age period with sagging breasts
and also extra cell development. Women are prone to breast cancer, cervical cancer more with
biological changes happening as they age. Problems arise in the menopausal stage with late cycle
times and genital pain. Women are advised to take hormonal tablets as per doctor’s
recommendation. In the case of men, the testosterone levels gets dropped, they are also prone to
hernia. Their sexual drive reduces and many men find it difficult to stimulate themselves. They
are also suggested for testes replacement surgeries.
Sexuality conditions
The women often face difficulty in their menopause stages with getting hot flashes. According to
the researchers, there are cultural variations in the menopause experiences among the women
from different cultures and communities. The women from China receive less hot flashes and
they have good menopause cycle while the western communities and the Asian culture women
have more hot flashes. The psychological problems related to the menopause varies among the
cultures and regions. The middle-east regions where the women mostly go through female
genitalation practice often do not face menopause pain but the Asian countries like India which
have menopause taboos and the African communities they face menopause cycle irregularities a
lot.
Note: Yes, the headings are added to bring clarity in the essay sub topics discussed.
Comparative Study
A middle aged women of 50 years have been observed for the study to detect the physical
development changes. The observation has been done following the ethical guidelines and the
results are to be reported to the women.

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Note: The comparative study as said in the paper is talked about with the observation of a
person. I took the hypothetical observation of a woman in middle adulthood
The main areas of observation are the physical signs, sensory organ ability power, any
hormonal changes, height, weight, sexuality conditions and the prevalence of any cardiovascular
diseases.
In terms of physical signs, it is seen that the woman has wrinkle in her face, with saggy
facial muscles and puffy eyes. Her hair has almost started greying with the yellowish tint visible
not so much. The teeth are reported to be sensitive and the loss of teeth will occur as she will
age. The sun spots are visible in right hand and on the both the cheeks of her face. The height of
the woman has reduced to merely half an inch with 5 kg of weight gain in the last 2 months. Her
lifestyle pattern is also different. The main reason for increase in weight is her obesity problem
of binge eating. At this age, it is detected that women go through mood swings and they tend to
eat what they feel good to satisfy themselves. These include sugary content foods, aerated drinks
but not to that extent. She is also found to have diabetes problem and is under medication. The
hormonal changes can be found in her doctor reports where it is seen that she has problems with
her menstrual cycle with problems in smooth flow of menstrual blood. She is recommended
hormonal pills for it. Her gynecological check-up reveals that she is facing these problems after
reaching the age of 45. The sagging of breasts is also another hormonal condition with less
sexual drive and release of progesterone. The vision is not so good with high power eye glasses
having bi-focal lenses and the hearing aids are although not there, but when she is examined by
making her hear the high pitch sounds , she was not able to take it. She is prone to hypertension
attacks and has high blood pressure. She screams a lot and suffer from anxiety disorders too,

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these are often the outside portrayal symptoms of the hypertension patients. They get frustrated
and angry at little things.
The observation can be compared to the theory of developmental theories of psychology
especially the psychosocial theory of Erickson. The stage of generativity v/s stagnation is the
stage where the person either stop nurturing their abilities and keep it stagnant with the ageing
process or they nurture the needs and the desires as much they want till the last stage. This
women is seen to have the same condition of eating sugary content foods although having
diabetes. She is not bothered about her physical condition and diabetes but she wants to fulfill
her desire of eating the food she like. She wants to nurture her wishes. The middle-aged
adulthood can be associated with the Beyond Piaget’s Theory of cognitive development.
According to this theory, there is an establishment of the thinking ability which strengthens in
the adulthood. The people tend to develop hypothetical ideas and align their thoughts with
reasoning in this stage. Their decisions are generally based on different circumstances, situations
and their consequences. The middle aged adults are the people who range between the age of 40
to 50 years of age. The physical characteristics which define these people include their graying
of hair, wrinkles, sudden hair loss as well as signs of aging. They might often start suffering from
weight gain. Men show different physical developments in comparison to the women. The
women during this stage of their lives show a decline in their fertility late as they approach their
menopause. According to Pulkkinen (2017), this onset of the menopause brings with itself
several hormonal changes in their bodies as well as in their mental stages. They tend to suffer
from depression, as well as anxiety. Many of them also show signs of irregular concentration,
mood swings and also not having interest in their sexual activities. With the physical
characteristics, they tend to develop improved cognitive abilities. These people have a better

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reasoning ability and cognitive skill, because if their experiences throughout their life. Green
(2016) also discusses that reasoning, verbal abilities as well as memorization skills tend to
develop more in the middle adulthood stage of the humans. However, according to (), the middle
aged people tend to develop generatively. This psychological change is more effective in this
stage because these people tend to think about the formation of the next generation and how they
would be guiding them. They have the tendency to impart their knowledge and their influence
over the younger generation since they think that they have a different level of commitment
towards the future generation as well as the society (Zimmermann & Iwanski, 2014). Socially
they tend to separate themselves from their family and their belongings and they try to create an
independent life of themselves. This is the major marker of their stage.
Note: The theory related to the observation is talked about as stated in guidelines for
proceeding with the task with two theories given. Not only theory, a brief description of the
development stage is added to it with the theory.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the middle age people want to feel young as from personal opinion. They
want to keep that glow and not fade it so early, thus they adopt for cosmetic surgery and
hormonal replacement therapies with pills. They physical body degenerates and keeps on
changing with change in lifestyle. The middle age people should be quite cautious about their
lifestyle however, in the American societies the people are bothered to have fun and party life
while in the Chinese societies, and the people on reaching middle age keep themselves distant
and lead a healthy lifestyle. Most of the Beijing residents adopt monastery lifestyle and go for

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pilgrimage. In India the middle age is considered to be sacred stage and to be in contact with
religious practices.
Note: The conclusion is changed with the specific relevance of topic and with the personal
experience with global cultural factors as said to give.

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