Physical Characteristics Paper

Physical Characteristics
Kathleen is more fit today than five years ago. She lost weight when she was diagnosed pre-diabetic. Since then she has made an effort to increase her physical activities for improved health. Diabetes has been one of Kathleen’s biggest health concerns, so she has addressed it with her doctor and having an understanding of what she can do to prevent it from progressing. Kathleen is not alone in this concern. As we age, our body needs to produce more insulin to process the glucose in our bloodstream. This causes the blood sugar levels in middle adulthood to increase and lead to adult onset diabetes (Rathus, 2015, p. 315). Stress levels for Kathleen are not necessarily increased or decreased from young adulthood. Raising children is stressful and now her children are grown and out on their own. However, as time goes by, the stress is about losing her parents increases as this becomes closer to reality.
Although she does daily activity to keep some level of physical activity, it is not at the same level it was. Being 90 years old, she has several health concerns, currently about her hearing. Her most recent doctor visit found inconsistencies in her hearing tests, so the next step is a specialist. The biggest concerns she has about her health is about the cost should medical needs not be covered through medi-care. Fortunately for Aurora and our family, she is experiencing normal aging, compared to others that live in her community that are experiencing pathological aging (Rathus, 2015, p. 358). Living in a community of older adults, she observes others with chronic diseases and deaths and that provides reminders of her own mortality. What she has learned from these experiences is that she has her funeral arrangements made and lives with