Silver Chats discovered what happens to our five senses as we age. We all know that our perception and connection with the world is through our 5 senses. What we see, smell, touch, taste, and hear form the basis for our learning, quality of life, and our ability to adapt. Our nervous system receives and processes information through the sensory organs of the eyes, nose, skin, tongue, and ears.
I have experienced firsthand the effects of aging on my senses. I remember at my 40th annual exam, my doctor asked about my vision. I told him it was fine. He said it won’t be, and I was using readers 6 months later. I was diagnosed with early cataract formation around 50 and had cataracts removed in both eyes in my 60s. I’ve not noticed significant changes in my other senses. Or so I thought.
Recently, I noticed changes in my sense of smell, which has also affected my sense of taste. I had COVID in January and the first symptom I experienced was the loss of smell and taste. It took a while to return and I haven’t paid much attention until now. I smell things that others don’t; I find myself sniffing clothes, furniture, and the air, trying to identify odors. My memory of food is also different from my taste buds. Old family recipes and flavors I used to prefer, no longer taste the same. I became curious as to what was happening to me and spent time researching and looking for answers..
As we age, we all experience age-related natural deterioration in each of our 5 senses. We can, however, take steps to maintain and even improve them with holistic aging practices. Let’s take a look at each of them, what happens as we age, and ways to improve them.
VISION
–What’s happening to our vision and why
The sense of sight is considered the most important sense because it allows us to perceive up to 80% of the world around us. As we age, our eyesight changes and most of us lose our ability to see up close, needing readers. Other common changes are distinguishing colors, like blue from black, and needing brighter light for reading. There is a long list of reasons for these changes, including the lenses in our eyes becoming less flexible and making focusing on close objects more difficult, and the vitreous gel-like layer begins to liquefy and pull away from the retina, causing those floating spots in our vision. We tend to produce fewer tears, causing dry eyes, and proteins in our lenses start to break down, which leads to cataracts.
–Ways to maintain healthy eyes
Wear Protection – Wearing sunglasses that block 99% or 100% of UVB and UVA rays. Wear a wide-brimmed hat when you’re outside. Wear protective eyewear when doing yard work, home projects, or participating in sports activities.
Diet – Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet full of dark leafy greens, fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, fresh fruit, and foods rich in vitamin C, antioxidants, beta-carotene, and lutein. Some vitamins that promote eye health are Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Zinc, and Vitamin B.
Regular Exercise – Did you know that being overweight or obese can increase the risk of eye diseases like cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration? Being physically active and eating a healthy diet can help maintain a healthy weight, which can help keep eyes healthy.
Take Eye Breaks – I write this blog, newspaper articles, a newspaper column, and book reviews on a computer. I post on social media and scroll on the internet and online shop. My eyes are tired at the end of the day. I found a helpful suggestion for taking a break every 20 minutes to look away from the screen for 20 seconds. This breaks the focus and gives the eyes a much-needed break.
Sleep – Getting enough sleep allows the eyes the rest they need from the strain of the day. Without enough rest, we increase the risk of age-related eye disease.
Regular Eye Exams – Like all other organs in our body, our eyes need regular checkups. Did you know that regular eye exams increase in frequency as we age? The recommended schedule for eye exams when we were 40-55 was every 2-4 years. It increases to every 1-3 years for ages 55-64 and every year after 65.
Don’t Smoke
SMELL
–What’s happening to our sense of smell and why
Our sense of smell diminishes as we grow older, especially after age 70. We experience physiological changes which are natural and part of the aging process. Nerve endings in the nose begin to degenerate. This olfactory nerve, also known as the cranial nerve, is part of our autonomic nervous system and regulates body function. This nerve starts in your brain and ends in the upper, inside of your nose and allows us to smell. As we age, our nose produces less mucus, which helps odors stay in the nose longer to be detected by the nerve endings. The blood supply to the nerves decreases and a neurotransmitter, Acetylcholine, critical for the olfactory system, has been shown to be deficient in aging brains.
Besides natural occurring age related olfactory decline there are a number of other factors that can influence our sense of smell. Smoking, allergies, respiratory infections, dental problems, vitamin deficiencies and diseases like cancer, dementia, Parkinson’s, and certain medications. When our sense of smell is lost or compromised, it affects the health and quality of our lives. It can be dramatic to no longer smell familiar scents or taste favorite dishes.
–Ways to maintain and improve our sense of smell
Scent Elimination Exercises – Our sense of smell becomes “desensitized” to daily odors. Temporarily removing strong scents like coffee, strong alcohol, hot sauce, onion, garlic, and even strongly scented beauty products, for a time and reintroducing them can reestablish a baseline for smells.
Essential Oils – You can help a dull sense of smell by retraining your brain. We can create new neural pathways by heightening the sense of smell through strong scents. Olfactory training is usually done with essential oils like eucalyptus, peppermint, or menthol.
Diary Keeping – Keeping track of smells, like a diary, throughout the day can be another way to retrain your brain. You want to especially take note of new scents, in detail, because by recognizing new smells, it’s possible to reawaken the brain.
Exercise – Did you know that your sense of smell is heightened just after exercising? Exercising typically adds moisture to your nose which seems to stimulate the part of your brain associated with smelling. This may be a marker for decreasing the effects of aging on our olfactory system.
Don’t Smoke – Smokers are six times more likely to have poor smell. The longer someone has smoked the more significant odor identification and discrimination are issues. Some studies show that this damage is reversible after quitting smoking.
TASTE
–What is happening to our sense of taste and why
It is normal for our sense of taste to change as we age, especially after the age of 60. This is due to a number of factors. The number of taste buds decreases and the remaining ones shrink and become less sensitive. Salty and sweet flavors tend to weaken first, followed by bitter and sour tastes. As we discussed earlier, there are age related olfactory system issues. As our sense of smell decreases, it contributes to our changing tastes. There can be other factors that also contribute to loss of taste, including, dental issues, dry mouth, certain medications, alcohol consumption, less mucus production and nerve ending in the nose, viral infections and nasal and sinus problems. A decline in taste can make eating difficult and affect our diets, which has adverse effects on our health.
–Ways to maintain and improve our sense of taste
Focus on other senses – Try and focus on other senses while eating. Look for the color, texture and appearance of food. Slow down and chew slowly, noticing the texture and the feel of the food in your mouth, and the sounds it makes as you chew. Try adding fragrances, herbs or other ingredients to add flavor or texture.
Sour or tart foods – Certain foods can enhance and stimulate taste buds. Adding citrus like lemon, lime or orange stimulates taste buds, as do certain spices, herbs, vinegar and seasonings. Enhance your food by experimenting with ingredients that stimulate taste buds.
Cook – Get in your kitchen and cook from scratch avoiding processed foods and store-bought meals which lack the nutrient density needed for absorbing vitamins and minerals needed to boost our nervous system. Try experimenting with foods you’ve never tried and flavors you’ve never experienced. New tastes stimulate taste buds.
Habit changes – Some people have reversed their loss of taste by changing their daily habits. Try eating smaller, more frequent meals. Cut out the alcohol and sugar in your diet, and try eating somewhere different both at home and at work
TOUCH
-What is happening to our sense of touch and why
There are 4 types of touch sensation, cold, heat, pain, and contact. As we age our skin becomes thinner and less elastic and our skin touch receptors change. This change affects our sensitivity to pain, temperature, pressure, and vibration. The most common reason for diminished touch is due to reduced blood flow to nerve endings in our skin and tissue. Medications, poor circulation, and chronic health problems can also affect it. Interestingly some touch sensitivities increase, like gentle touch, and the ability to differentiate between rough and smooth or recognize items by touch.
-Ways to improve our sense of touch
Massage – Getting a massage can increase blood flow to the skin. The stimulation of nerve receptors through the soft touch of massage can increase our sense of touch.
Cuddling – Increase the feeling of touch by cuddling a pillow or cushion, spend time holding and stoking animal, or spend time being intimate with your partner
Weighted blanket – Heightened the sense touch through pressure by using a weighted blanket that is 5-10% of your body weight or lighter.
Sensory toys – Try increasing neural pathways by using tactile stimulation therapy toys like textured tangles, squeeze balls and sensory spaghetti
HEARING
–What is happening to our sense of hearing and why
Age-related hearing loss, known as presbycusis, is a common problem that occurs gradually as we age.It will affect 30% of us over 65. It affects both ears equally and can make it difficultto understand speech, tolerate loud noises or hear in noisy environments. There can be hearing loss within range of sounds like the ability to hear high-pitched noises, a phone ringing or the microwave beeping. The impact on low-pitched noises if uncommon. Because the loss if gradual, many people are unaware of their hearing loss. Some signs to look for are having to have the volume on the TV high, asking people to repeat themselves, difficulty hearing people around you, certain sound seen too loud and problems telling apart certain sounds like, “S” or “TH”. The changes to our hearing can be caused by nerve pathways deteriorating in the middle or inner ear, long exposure to loud noises, medical conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes or ear infections. Genetics can also play a part.
–Ways to improve our sense hearing
Reduce exposure to loud noises – Avoid loud, noisy activities and places. When watching TV, keep the volume at a comfortable level and don’t turn up the volume on your devices past 60% of the maximum. If your’re near loud noises, like construction equipment, fireworks, or lawn mowers, you can walk away, take breaks or wearing hearing protection.
Hearing protection – Wear ear plugs, or special fluid-filled ear muffs to protect your ears from damaging noises.
Don’t use ear drops – Do not use ear drops unless specifically instructed by your physician
Medications – Take medications exactly as prescribed, as high doses or long term use of some medications can permanently damage hearing.
Hearing test and aids – Have your hearing tested if your suspect a loss. There are hearing aids available now that are inexpensive and excellent quality. There are also assistive devices, such as telephone amplifiers or technology that converts speech to text.
Accepting that we change as we age is part of holistic aging practices. We can’t avoid age-related sensory changes, but we can improve them and maintain them with care and awareness. Without our 5 sense, we aren’t able to fully engage in our environment, our quality of life diminishes and can lead to isolation. Take the steps to ensure that your are nurturing your nervous system and keep your sensory system healthy. It is an important part of holistic aging practices and is part of discovering the endless possibilities of aging.