Middle Adulthood (41 to 60)

Vital Signs:

• HR: 70 bpm average
• RR: 12-20 bpm
• Systolic BP: 120 mmHg average
• Temperature: 98.6 Fahrenheit

Physiologically: the body of the middle-aged adult is still functioning at a high level with varying degrees of degradation:

• Vision and hearing become less effective.
• Cardiovascular health becomes a concern. Cardiac output decreases throughout this period, and cholesterol levels increase.
• Cancer strikes in this age group often.
• Weight control becomes more difficult.
• Menopause occurs in women in late forties and early fifties.

Psychological: the middle adulthood population approaches problems more as challenges than threats:

• Empty nest syndrome, which is defined as a sadness or emotional distress that affects parents whose children have grown up and left home, can start at this time.
• Middle-aged adults are often burdened by financial commitments to elderly parents, young adult children, and/or debt service which has accrued.