Everyone ages differently but inevitably, there are wrinkles, gray hairs, "senior moments" of forgetting words that are on the tip of your tongue, and other signs that affect everyone who gets older. Some signs of aging are quite visible, while others are internal and difficult for even a medical professional to detect.
Skin
Your skin often shows the first natural signs of aging because it is exposed to the sun, wind, and other environmental conditions throughout your entire life. Your skin not only reflects your genetic makeup, but your nutritional and general health status as well. As you age, your skin gets thinner and becomes more sensitive. You lose the underlying layer of fat that normally protects your skin and helps keep it healthy.
Skin changes are not a normal sign of aging when they reflect chronic conditions such as diabetes, liver problems, heart disease, or nutritional deficiencies. Over the years, you may see pigment changes, thickening of the skin or nonmalignant growths that are a result of too much sun exposure. Although common, these are not normal conditions of aging. Sun exposure is also associated with various types of skin cancer.
Cognitive Function
The normal signs of decline in brain function, such as not being able to find something you just put down, or not being able to come up with a word you want to use, are scary because people often worry that these are signs of worse problems to come. This isn't necessarily true, and one good example of how to tell the difference between normal loss of mental abilities and the onset of a more serious disease, such as Alzheimer's, is this: It's normal to forget where you put your watch. It's not normal to forget what a watch is used for.
Hormonal changes, electrolyte imbalances, medications, alcohol use, anemia, stress, depression, and other conditions can all mimic early signs of dementia, causing confusion and memory loss that may be temporary or chronic, depending on the circumstances. Normal cognitive changes are a result of less oxygen getting to the brain. Serious changes that affect your day to day activities could be a sign of something more serious.
Overall Changes
Other normal changes of aging include far-sightedness and the need for reading glasses as your eye muscles weaken, bladder and kidney problems that cause you to get up several times during the night, joint pain from loss of cartilage, diminished height, and some loss of hearing. What's not normal is loss of vision, painful urination or incontinence, debilitating joint pain, or severe hearing loss. All of these conditions should be checked by a doctor as soon as possible.
Getting good nutrition, staying mentally and physically active, using sun protection, and having routine doctor visits are all ways to stay as healthy as possible as you age. If you have any concerns as signs of aging appear, speak with your doctor. With any condition-normal or not-the earlier you seek professional advice, the sooner you will learn what you can do to slow down or prevent further damage to your health.
Sources:
University of Maryland Medical Center
http://www.umm.edu/ency/article/004014.htm
University of North Carolina: Normal Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Dementia
http://www.med.unc.edu/neurology/divisions/memory-and-cognitive-disorders-1/dementia-1/normal-aging-mild-cognitive-impairment-and-dementia
Washington University School of Medicine: Normal or Not? What You Need to Know About Normal Aging
http://geriatrics.im.wustl.edu/patient%20care/normalaging.htm
