After adolescence, most integrated bodily functions decline at the rate of about 1 percent a year. Overall, middle-aged individuals report that they are not appreciably different than they were in their early thirties. They mention that their hair has grayed (and often thinned), they have more wrinkles, they are paunchier, the may have "lost a step," they tire more easily, and they rebound less quickly. Nonetheless, by middle age some individuals have overextended themselves physically at work, at home, or during recreational pursuits and require professional assistance for rehabilitation (see the Implications for Practice box, "Occupational/Physical Therapist").
One caveat is that because this cohort of middle-aged adults is the largest ever, physicians are projecting a major increase in the numbers of individuals who will be affected by such age-related changes-and both their function and quality of life will decrease. Even so, except for those in poor health, middle-aged adults will, on the whole, try to carry on in much the same way they did in their younger years. The best defense against loss of strength and vitality and sensory changes consists of an active lifestyle, proper nutrition, regular exercise, and routine checkups, along with a healthy does of humor about how life marches along.
Vision.
Nearly all Americans over age 45 experience presbyopia, a normal condition of aging in which the lens of the eye start to harden, losing its ability to accommodate as quickly as it did in youth. Symptoms include getting headaches or tired eyes while doing close work. Most of the baby boomers now occupying middle age need contact lenses, bifocals, or half glasses to read the newspaper, computer and I-pad screens, restaurant menus, small printed numbers on price tags, wristwatches, and prescription dosages. If this problem is not corrected, people discover that they can read printed material only by holding it farther and farther away from their eyes, until eventually, they cannot see to read even at arm's length.
