Have you encountered a conversation with seniors (it might be your parents or grandparents), and they have trouble catching your words?
As we age, our bodies become more vulnerable to a various number of age-related diseases. While we have mentioned the hearing-loss case above, there are actually various age-related diseases that can target our senior folks easily.
Check out seven prevalent diseases amongst seniors below for a better understanding of our older folks.
Hearing-loss
Besides the constant blasting of loud music to our ears, aging might also decrease of hearing ability. Like the scenario above, you might notice how the older folks frequently ask you the same question multiple times because they thought you were mumbling.
Hearing loss can start to form at any age, so make sure to follow these tips below to prevent hearing loss in the future.
One of the most usual tips is to avoid spending too much time in loud noises areas like bars, clubs, and musical concerts without the ears protection. Aside from that, health practitioners also encourage you to never stick cotton bud deep in the ear lobe since it will push the ear wax deeper and affect the eardrum.
Osteoarthritis
Another common health-related disease that seniors commonly experience is osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is a health condition where there is swelling and pains between the joints. Aside from the age factor, gender can also determine which join will be affected by this disease.
In most cases, males are highly potential to get osteoarthritis in the hips area. Meanwhile, females are more susceptible in the hands and knee areas.
What will happen if it is left untreated?
The death caused by osteoarthritis is pretty low, but osteoarthritis can cause severe pain because the bones start to rub each other.
This disease can impact an individual's mobility and even cause disability. In general, this means a person cannot perform daily activities such as walking, climbing up the stairs, and bending down since it will result in pain. Besides disability, untreated osteoarthritis can also result in depression due to their movement limitation.
Osteoporosis
Do you know why there is commercial milk targeted our older folks?
Because humans typically lose our bone and muscle strengths as we age.
Osteoporosis is a condition where the bone loses its masses which will lead to bone weakening. The primary cause of osteoporosis is vitamin D deficiency, and it will get more common as we age.
So, what causes osteoporosis? Calcium plays a huge factor in your bone's health, and so far, low calcium intake is the primary factor contributing to your chances of getting osteoporosis.
Apart from that, you can start weight-bearing exercises to combat the low bone density and prevent osteoporosis.
Diabetes occurs when the body produces a high level of blood sugar (glucose), but the body cannot produce enough insulin to balance out the glucose. If you are unfamiliar with the word insulin, insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas and helps turn glucose from food into energy.
There are two types of diabetes, type 1 diabetes, and type 2 diabetes. Typically, type 1 diabetes starts in people below 30 but type 2 diabetes usually targets people above 45 and below 30 if they have obesity.
So what triggers diabetes?
Various studies have suggested that type 2 diabetes is caused by a strong genetic factor. Aside from that, bad eating habits, an inactive lifestyle, and some prescription drugs might also higher your chance of getting diabetes.
How to prevent diabetes?
The only way to prevent diabetes is by doing a strict low sugar diet. However, some factors are unchangeable to prevent it, such as genes, past behaviors, and age.
Dementia
Dementia is a decreasing brain condition that usually leads to memory loss and disruption of thinking. Eventho dementia is usually used to describe a memory loss, but it doesn't work vise versa. Having memory loss alone doesn't mean you have dementia since several factors can cause memory loss.
What happens if it is left untreated?
Untreated dementia won't worsen any underlying physical health. Instead, it will directly affect somebody's quality of life, such as depression and anxiety. People with dementia might need medication to reduce their anxiety and avoid activities that can worsen the condition. Bad eating habits such as smoking, inactive lifestyle, alcohol consumption can exacerbate this condition.
How to prevent it?
Although dementia is mainly caused by genetic and age factors, therefore there are things you can do to reduce the risk. Be physically active by doing 10 minutes of moderate-intensity workout and training your calf like running can prevent dementia in the future
Cardiovascular
To make it clear, cardiovascular is a medical term that refers to several health conditions that affect the structures and function of your heart.
This disease is more prevalent in adults above 65 because aging can cause changes in an individual's heart and blood vessels, increasing the chances of developing cardiovascular disease.
Regardless, several things can reduce your chances of getting cardiovascular diseases, such as maintaining your healthy diet, regular daily exercise, avoid cigarettes and alcohol intake. But, there is a factor that can't be changed, such as family history.
Hypertension
Hypertension is a medical term for high blood pressure where the blood pushes against the artery's wall. To make it easily understandable, the higher the pressure, the harder the heart has to pump out the blood throughout our body.
Hypertension is a severe medical condition since it can increase your risk of getting heart, brain, kidney, and other organ diseases.
What triggers hypertension?
Common factors that can trigger high blood pressure in most adults are a diet high in salt, obesity, diabetes, tobacco and frequent alcohol consumption, genetics, and chronic kidney disease.
How to prevent hypertension in older adults?
Maintain a good healthy diet, be physically active by doing 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, getting enough sleep to keep your blood vessel and heart-healthy. Aside from a healthy lifestyle, you need to follow a strict diet, including foods rich in fiber, protein, potassium, and low in salt.
Knowing all aspects of these age-related diseases is a huge step for us to anticipate ourself and the loved one from developing or worsen the condition. Share this article with your family or friends if you found it helpful.
Europe is one of the most popular destinations for travelers. European countries are full of dynamic cities known for their incredible food, scenery, museums, and architecture, from France, Italy, Germany, and beyond. So, it's no wonder people can't decide which place is the most suitable to visit. That's why we've highlighted the best destinations you have to visit in Europe. You can use this list to help you plan your trip!
When it comes to traveling, travelers always have this one fear, that fear is: will I have enough stuff for my trip? Surprisingly, you are not the only traveler who thinks of that.
A recent survey from One Poll to 2000 Americans found that 65% of people find packing is not an easy game. So, to make your journey fun and exciting, we have curated 8 top tips to help your packing game fun! Check out all the tips below!