(Ecns.cn)--For most young people who are in their 20s and 30s, it's not a problem to climb up or down a flight of stairs. But for those at or above the age of 65, this easy movement can sometimes turn out to be a nightmare.
Trying not to fall down, senior citizens often like to grasp tightly to the hand rails and move carefully and slowly when going down the stairs. This may seem to be clumsiness on their part, but the truth behind it is that these senior citizens are having troubles in their later years.
As the world's population is aging, problems that occur in the life of senior citizens are becoming more apparent. Experts in the area of aging are trying to work out innovative approaches to help solve these problems and to make their life easier.
Age Gain Now Empathy System
In 2005, Joseph Coughlin, the founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Age Lab, and a team of researchers with backgrounds in psychology, ergonomics, and exercise physiology constructed a suit—the AGNES suit, or Age Gain Now Empathy System, to mimic the physical restrictions of old age.
According to the description by the Financial Times, the suit looks like a pair of industrial blue overalls with stiff foam knee and elbow restraints, bulked-up versions of white tubes you wear to recover from a sprained ankle or wrist, and a series of elastic straps and wires designed to make it difficult to stretch up or bend down.
Since being developed, the suit has been used by companies, such as Siemens, Daimler, and General Mills, who want to research and develop goods for the aging.
"It is cool to know what life will be like in 50 years and this suit will help to improve things that are oriented for senior citizens," said Wang Shuo, a 25-year-old woman who just experienced the suit.
"Without this suit, I would never have known how hard it is for old people to get up and down the stairs, and I'd like to experience that once again," added the girl, who though she "enjoyed" this experience, is reluctant to wear the suit for a whole day.
For old people, the living environment and the facilities around them may change a little, but their physical condition changes a lot. "With this suit, people will know exactly how hard it is for old people to walk," explained Coughlin.
In the year 2010, the world's population above the age of 65 was only 523 million. But according to the United Nations, the number will expand to 1.5 billion in 2050, twice as much as that in 2010. This means that the aging population is booming and it is necessary to consider the problems of this group more.
"People often focus more on how to live longer, but ignore what can be provided to senior citizens to live better now," said an expert from Renmin University who is also doing research on the aging society.
"There will be a day that young people get old, but we cannot use the old methods to solve problems in the future. We need to find methods more suitable to provide a convenient living environment for the elderly," said Coughlin.
