Common Health Problems That Seniors May Have And How To Prevent Them

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Common Health Problems That Seniors May Have And How To Prevent Them

As we age, the body becomes weaker, making it more vulnerable to disease. Even people who were perfectly healthy over their younger years may start experiencing different health problems. However, all is not lost for the elderly. There are preventive measures they can take against many types of diseases. Let us look at some of the health problems common among seniors and how they can be prevented.

Common Health Problems That Seniors May Have And How To Prevent Them

Heart diseases

With age, the heart blood vessels and arteries change too. They can no longer pump blood as efficiently as they used to. This increases the risk of heart failure among seniors. As you get older, arteries can become hard or and lose their flexibility. This is a condition known as arteriosclerosis that leads to hypertension and high blood pressure problems. Increased high blood pressure causes plaque build-up in the arteries. The arterial cavity becomes narrow, and the heart has to use more force to pump blood. Nutrients and oxygen also do not reach the heart muscles, making them weaker. Weak heart muscles lead to heart failure. 

Heart disease can be prevented by being physically active. This helps strengthen heart muscles. Maintaining a healthy diet can also prevent problems like high blood pressure, which over time contribute to heart disease. You also need to control high blood pressure and diabetes if they already exist. 

Cancer

At an older age, the cells are bound to be more damaged. This damage can happen during normal cell division or can be caused by outside factors such as UV rays and chemicals from different sources. The body can usually fix this damage on its own, but if the damage builds up, it can cause the cells to multiply uncontrollably. This causes cancer. Seniors are more vulnerable to cancer because of extensive cell damage over time.

Cancer can be treated by stem cell transplants. Stem cells work in treating and preventing cancer because they last longer than normal cells in the body. Stem cells are more effective at locating and destroying cancer cells compared to the normal immune cells originally in the body. You can get stem cells IV in Hawaii with Drip Hydration, Sartorius, or StemCellAuthority. 

Besides that, eat your daily portion of fruits and vegetables. Try and ensure you keep fit and maintain a healthy weight. Get regular medical check-ups to ensure everything is fine and to catch conditions early, while they’re most treatable. You should also avoid too much exposure to the sun. Wear sun hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen when spending a lot of time in the sun.

Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s disease is very common among seniors. Alzheimer’s causes memory loss among the elderly and other cognitive issues. Those suffering from Alzheimer’s exhibit it by wandering off and getting lost, repeating tasks, and having problems completing normal tasks. They tend to lose a lot of items and forget where they placed them. These may cause problems for them, and they need to be placed under extra care. 

Although Alzheimer’s has no cure, there are ways to help prevent it. One of the ways to prevent Alzheimer’s is to have a healthy balanced diet. You need to eat lots of fruits and vegetables. You can keep Alzheimer’s at bay by avoiding alcohol and smoking cigarettes. You also need to exercise. It doesn’t have to be intensively working out, just workout moderately through taking long walks and riding a bicycle on a regular basis.

Loss of vision and hearing

As we age, we experience macular degeneration caused by the build-up of fine grains in the retina. This affects our central vision and our ability to see finer details. One of the most common eye problems among the elderly is the development of cataracts. When the eye lenses age, the protein in them also becomes less effective, causing the clouding in the eye that is cataracts. We can also experience glaucoma when we get older. It causes damage to the optic nerve, resulting in a loss of vision. 

When we grow older, our ears grow bigger as well. This causes more accumulation of earwax. The eardrum also becomes harder, causing problems with the neural system in the ear. All these can lead to central auditory problems, which cause us to not be able to process sounds well. It will require someone to constantly repeat what they are saying. These problems can cause permanent hearing loss. We can slow down these problems by regular visits to the doctor. They can be managed by seeing specialists in the area who will advise you on the way forward.

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