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By Barbara Kunz Ph.D., HealthAtoZ writer
Aging affects every part of your body, including your senses. Vision, hearing, taste, smell and touch can all decline. How quick and far-reaching these changes are can have an impact on your life.
Vision
In your 30s, your pupils begin to shrink. The lens becomes thicker and less clear. This decreases the amount of light reaching your retina. To see clearly, a 60-year-old eye needs up to three times more light than a young one. The first sign of a problem is usually trouble seeing at night. If this happens, you may have to stop driving when it's dark.
The eye muscles used for focusing begin to lose some tone. In your 40s, they may become too stiff to focus properly on close objects. You may have to start using reading glasses.
Glaucoma and macular degeneration are the leading causes of blindness in the elderly. Both diseases can be treated to some degree. This is why it's important to get regular eye exams beginning at age 40.
Hearing
About one third of Americans over age 60 and one half of those over 85 have some degree of hearing loss.
Most hearing loss happens when tiny hairs in the ear that send signals to the brain are damaged. Loud noises, repeated ear infections and high fevers speed up this process. The first thing to go is usually the ability to hear high-pitched sounds. It may also be hard to follow a conversation when there is too much background noise.
Another reason for hearing loss is the buildup of hard ear wax. As we age, we lose some of the sweat glands that keep ear wax soft. Hard ear wax may block some sound waves, making things sound muffled.
Tinnitus - or "ringing in the ears" - occurs when damaged hairs in the ear send electrical signals to the brain that are interpreted as noise.
Taste and smell
Very often, we confuse taste with smell. About 80 percent of the problems that we think are related to taste really involve smell.
Taste is our strongest sense. We are born with about 10,000 taste buds. After age 50, we start to lose some of them. When we are young, we can recognize five different tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and savory. As we age, the sweet taste may be a little stronger and the sour taste a little weaker.
Your sense of smell helps you recognize flavors. Hold your nose while eating a piece of chocolate. It may taste sweet and a little bitter, but will have no flavor.
About 30 percent of people aged 70 to 80 have problems with smell. This can be partial or total, or can involve perceiving smells differently. You may smell a foul odor when there is none. Strawberries may suddenly lose their flavor. This can sometimes lead to depression.
In many cases, nothing can be done about the loss of smell and taste. Cigarette smoking or poor dental habits can add to the problem. Polyps in the nose can block aromas. Medication, head injury or illness can also be factors.
Touch
As skin ages, it becomes drier, thinner and less elastic. The nerves in your skin become less sensitive. Your sensitivity to temperature can also change. Health problems may also lead to changes in your sense of touch. These include poor circulation and nerve damage from diabetes.
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