5 Health Issues for Seniors and How to Overcome Them

Getting older usually indicates that you may experience more health-related issues. No one enjoys seeing their hair turn gray, getting more wrinkles, and starting to forget. Learning about common health issues as a senior is vital to understanding how you can prioritize your health and overcome these problems. Seniors face a variety of health conditions that can affect their life as they continue to age.

Your family history, lifestyle habits like your diet and exercise, and age all play a prominent role in risks for medical conditions. However, seniors can tackle prevention techniques by making smarter, healthier choices and visiting their doctor for regular checkups.

Here are some of the more common health issues for seniors and what steps you can take to work and overcome them.

Cognitive Issues

Your ability to think, retain and learn becomes more hindered as you age. One of the most common cognitive issues facing older adults is dementia. Dementia is the general term for memory loss, problem-solving, and other thinking abilities. It is caused by damage to the brain cells, interfering with the brain’s ability to communicate.

Unfortunately, no proven method prevents dementia from occurring as you age. Researchers are still looking into how the condition develops to try and find preventative measures and a possible cure. Risks for dementia include your age, genes, and educational learning.

However, evidence suggests your lifestyle and health choices can help reduce your risk of developing dementia when you get older. These ways include:

Eating a more healthy and balanced diet
Exercising regularly and maintaining a healthy weight
Limiting alcohol consumption
Cease smoking
Monitor your blood pressure to stay at a healthy level

Working your cognitive skills daily, even just for ten to fifteen minutes, can be beneficial to ensure your mind stays sharp. In addition, staying socially as well as physically active can help aid in brain health.

Arthritis

The Center for Disease Control estimates that arthritis affects almost 50% of adults over 65, leading to lower quality of life in seniors. In addition, the pain of arthritis can be debilitating and cause you to have trouble with simple, daily movements.

Although with arthritis, seniors usually don’t want to do much that is active, it’s essential to work with your doctor to find ways to stay active. Controlling your diet in terms of blood sugar, frequent stretching of your muscles and joints, and avoiding injury are helpful ways to help reduce your risk of arthritis.

Fish is also a way that helps reduce inflammation in your body. Arthritis is significantly caused by the inflammation of joints and previous injuries. Fish is very high in Omega-3s, which can help to reduce arthritis activity within the joints. You can get omega-3s even if you don’t like fish by taking supplements, nuts, seeds, and plant oils.

Bladder Control and Digestive Problems

Incontinence is a common occurrence with aging, occurring more often in women. The loss of bladder control can be embarrassing, but it is more prevalent in most seniors. Involuntary leakage of urine can occur in many ways, from stress incontinence due to sneezing, laughing, or coughing and urge incontinence when you feel the consistent urge to go to the bathroom.

Constipation is another digestive issue in seniors, where going to the bathroom can become extremely challenging. The trouble with having regular bowel movements or constant abdominal pain can lead to more severe conditions.

Ways to help control your incontinence and constipation issues include:

Exercise your kegel muscles to help stop urine from leaking out
Investing in women’s adult diapers and briefs by Because Market to help manage urine leakage
Avoid foods that can cause digestive back-ups like rice and grains, cheese, and chocolate
Eating more foods with fiber, such as vegetables and beans, to keep your digestive tract

Exercising regularly is good for your overall help and can aid your digestive system. Establishing a regular bathroom routine can also help keep on a schedule for your urinary and digestive tract.

Heart Disease

Heart disease is a leading killer in seniors over 65 and affects more men than women. As people age, they increase risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart failure. As a result, they can develop heart disease or even suffer a stroke.

Your heart pumps blood throughout your body. As you get older, your heart doesn’t beat relatively as fast. You should regularly have your blood pressure and cholesterol levels checked. Try to be more physically active to keep your heart rate higher during the day.

Other preventative measures to help your heart include following a good diet with foods low in added salt and sugars and trans and saturated fats. Quit smoking if you are a smoker since smoking is a leading cause of preventable death. Managing stress so that you feel more relaxed is also helpful in improving your emotional and physical health.

Mental Health

People don’t like to age, and if you suffer from other health conditions, depression and other mental disorders can occur. Unfortunately, older adults often suffer from depression and other mental problems as a side effect due to other chronic health conditions. Because of this, the diagnosis often goes untreated in older adults. However, managing other conditions can help with mental health as well.

Seniors account for over 18% of suicide-related deaths. Isolation and loneliness are prominent causes of mental health problems. Keeping healthy relationships and active social life is imperative as you age. Staying connected, picking up a new hobby or two, caring for a pet, and actively volunteering can help combat those feelings of sadness.

Talk To Your Doctor

Seniors can suffer from other health issues, including oral problems, substance abuse, and malnutrition. Understanding the cause and preventative steps to take can help ensure that you are more prepared to take on common health issues as you age. Your diet and exercise are common places to help take care of your well-being, both physical and mental.

Talk to your doctor, ask questions, and discuss your concerns with age to start taking action to keep yourself healthy, active, and happy as you get older. Creating an action plan and working towards a healthier lifestyle can provide significant changes for your overall health and help prevent those common health issues when you age.