Do you walk long miles and, instead of the elevator, prefer to take the stairs? Can you recall exactly where you kept the keys last night? If your response to all of them is affirmative, you might be in good shape for someone your age. But the main issue is that our environment has become increasingly toxic. Pollution levels have reached their historical highs. From the food we eat to the water we drink, everything has become unhealthy to a great extent. Increased consumption of junk and canned food has introduced more carriers of harmful factors for our health. All such detrimental forces have propelled the pace of aging significantly.
Increasing age probably comes with enhanced wisdom, but it certainly comes with health issues. According to WHO, 60 and above year old world’s population will increase from 900 million in 2015 to a whopping 2 billion by 2050. The most troubling thing here is that 80% of this population will reside in low and middle-income countries. These countries are already struggling with a lack of proper healthcare facilities. The increasing pressure of an aged population will burden the health care infrastructure even further.
All these internal and external factors have increased the hardships for older people. Now we have harsher, more agonizing, and vexing health challenges than ever before. Though medical technology has become advanced, not everyone has access to such state-of-the-art medical facilities. The vast majority, mainly of the developing world, is still struggling with ineffective healthcare systems. Minor medical issues like flu, which people in the west might readily ignore, become a matter of life and death for them. Except for such problems, there are some common health issues that people, at large, face with aging. This article discusses six of such health problems.
1. Cognitive Weakness
Cognitive health focuses on the mental faculties of an individual. It encompasses the ability to think, understand, and recall. Aging certainly takes a significant toll on these abilities. Dementia, impairment of cognitive skills, is one of the leading health issues among older people. Around 50 million people globally have dementia. Forgetfulness, increased confusion, behavioral changes, and depression are common symptoms of dementia. Such patients become a significant challenge to communicate with, even in everyday situations. Additionally, the medical staff requires special training to deal with them. Therefore, nursing training programs like online MSN degrees now include special modules on patient communication.
2. Chronic Conditions
Chronic diseases are not cured. They become a part of your life while you manage their symptoms through continuous medication or treatment. Chronic issues like asthma, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are widespread health issues that come with aging. As per the National Council on Aging, 92% of older people have a minimum of one chronic disease. At the same time, a surprising 77% suffer from at least two. Proper counsel by medical professionals is needed to take care of these chronic conditions.
3. Malnutrition
It would not be wrong to say that malnutrition is the most ferocious hidden enemy of the elderly. It mainly remains undiagnosed in elders, especially those above the age of 65. Improper diet and less focus on balanced food intake with increasing age widen the risks of malnutrition. The biggest issue is that it opens doors to many other health problems. The reduced nutrition makes bones fragile and muscles weakened.
Furthermore, it can induce several other musculoskeletal disorders like osteoarthritis and bone fractures. Malnutrition also has severe impacts on the immune system. It weakens your natural defense system, and you become vulnerable to diseases.
4. Sensory Weaknesses
Increasing age starts showing its effects on the senses. Almost all the five senses experience impairment with aging. The National Center for Biotechnology Information has quoted research figures about sensory impairment among Americans above 70. According to them, every one out of six elderly Americans experiences visual impairment. And every one out of four faces a hearing impairment. Fortunately, these health problems are mostly treatable through technological advancements in the field of medical science.
5. Bowel Problems
Malnutrition and other chronic diseases are a significant reason for digestive tract problems other than just aging. However, aging does deteriorate the quality of life through bowel issues like incontinence and constipation. The reduced efficiency of enzyme production and acid maintenance disrupt digestive tract functions. It irritates the digestive system, and an already weakened biological machinery exacerbates this situation creating more bowel problems like dyspepsia. Only proper dietary intake can prevent such bowel disorders.
6. Risk of Injury
You fell from stairs and walked away with minor bruises. Then you are certainly not elderly. The same fall can result in a handful of fractured bones for the elderly. The entire skeletal system has become weak, bones have become more prone to fractures, and muscle strength has decreased prominently. Under such conditions, the risk of an injury gets exponentially high for older people. According to NCA (National Council on Aging), an elderly is brought to an emergency every 11 seconds because of falling. And every 19 minutes, one dies due to the same reason. Therefore, the fatality rate of injuries for the elderly is significantly high.
So Age with Care
You cannot prevent aging, but you can avoid its negative externalities. Our routine should revolve around a healthy lifestyle. We must incorporate not just physical but also mental exercises in our regular schedules. The complexity of life drains too much of our mental energy. Unless we nourish our minds properly, we would never be able to achieve the desired physical health. A balanced diet, regular health tracking, and ample exercise have become important in the contemporary environment. The current situation of COVID-19 reiterates the significance of having a sound immune system and enough cognitive strength to develop necessary emotional resilience. This pandemic has also hit the elderly population very severely. However, we have examples like the 103 years old Chinese woman Zhang Guangfen, who survived the Coronavirus infection. So it is all about analyzing your current lifestyle and adapting to a healthier one. You can only prepare yourself to battle aging but cannot prevent it from happening.