Ageism is discrimination of certain people in a particular age. Ageism is a practice of negatively discrimination against old people, children, teenagers, and people in the middle age. The consequences of ageism are above the workplace, and the experience that victims of ageism have, have continued to affect their lives. Ageism affects the mental well being of a person (Arking, R 2006). After young and older people have repeatedly heard the stereotype which says that they are useless, this people start to feel like they are dependent, and they are not contributing anything to the society.
People who are discriminated because of their age start performing worse in relation to memory and competence. Old people view themselves as being targets of redundancy, and they become frustrated and resentful because, the valuable skills which they have are going to waste. There are some biological changes that occur with aging. One of the changes is that, the transmission of messages through the nervous system which is used for communication in the body tends to slow down (Masoro, E & Austad, S 2011).
This slow down causes balance problems, and it also slows reflexes. The other change that results due to aging is decrease in the efficiency of the heart muscles (Chiras, D 2012). The hardening of the arteries decreases, and this makes it hard for one to respond to emotional or physical stress. There is also an increase in the blood pressure. Nurses are supposed to take great care in treatment of elderly people. They should not discriminate them because of their age. Nurses are supposed to make sure that they prevent and cure the diseases of the elderly instead of just managing it. In conclusion, discrimination by age should not be used to limit or deny people opportunities because of their age.
Reference
Arking, R (2006). The biology of aging Oxford University Press
Masoro, E & Austad, S (2011). Handbook of biology aging Elsevier, Inc
Chiras, D (2012). Human biology Jones & Bartlett Learning
