Elderly Health News

There is no universal template for elderly health. The most cost-effective health plan is to not blindly follow the health rules of Internet celebrities, adopt lifestyle habits that match your own basic disease conditions, standard physical examinations once or twice a year, and seek medical attention promptly if there are physical abnormalities. Unified standards such as "walk 10,000 steps a day" and "eat a vegetarian diet for longer" spread online may cause additional damage to the body.

It's interesting. Last week, a community health specialist in Chaoyang District we contacted complained that Aunt Zhang in the community signed up for the "10,000-step walk" with the health care group last year. She walked for three months, and her knees hurt so much that she even struggled to buy groceries. She went to the orthopedic department to find out that she had second-degree meniscus wear. The doctor said that she already has degenerative arthritis, and walking 7,000 steps a day is too much. Walking 15,000 steps is just torturing her joints. Regarding the appropriate intensity of exercise for the elderly, different departments actually have different views: Western orthopedics generally recommend that elderly people with joint degeneration and osteoporosis problems do less weight-bearing exercise, and give priority to non-weight-bearing activities such as swimming and seated baduanjin. ； However, many doctors in the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Rehabilitation will also mention that if you have no underlying joint disease and maintain walking habits all year round, it is absolutely fine to walk 10,000 steps a day. The key is not to suddenly increase the amount or to compare the number of steps with others.

Not only exercise, but also the controversy over diet has never stopped. We have consulted experts in different fields on the question of whether to be vegetarian or not: Most doctors in the clinical nutrition department do not recommend that the elderly become completely vegetarian. After all, the elderly lose muscle very quickly. If they do not eat meat for a long time, they are prone to lack of protein, vitamin B12 and iron, which will lead to decreased immunity and anemia. ； However, some experts from the dietary therapy school of traditional Chinese medicine have suggested that for elderly people with severe hyperlipidemia and gout, maintaining a light diet in stages can indeed reduce the metabolic burden, and there is no need to apply one-size-fits-all. We went to a community in Xicheng District for a free clinic before and met 76-year-old Grandma Li. She heard from a health class that a vegetarian diet can lower blood pressure. After taking it for half a year, the high blood pressure has indeed stabilized, but her feet are so weak that she can't even climb the third floor. When the hemoglobin was tested, it was only 6 grams. She was suffering from severe iron deficiency anemia. She just blindly followed the trend without considering her own constitution.

We have been doing health science popularization for the elderly for so many years. What we are most afraid of is that the elderly "take other people's prescriptions to make their own medicines." When I see the old man next door taking a certain health product and his blood pressure has stabilized, I will buy it myself. When I read online that a certain type of multigrain porridge can lower blood sugar, I will drink it every time, completely regardless of my basic condition. The 82-year-old Grandpa Wang in the community is a "health model" that we have followed for three years. He never takes health care products that cost thousands of dollars. He does Tai Chi for half an hour every morning, eats meat and vegetables at noon, and plays chess in the pavilion with his old friend in the afternoon. The indicators in his annual physical examination are better than those of many 60-year-old people. He himself always says, "What standards are not standard? I am comfortable eating and not tired when I move, which is the best standard."

What’s worse than following the trend in diet and exercise is blindly buying health care products that claim to “cure diseases.” Last month, our reporter who went to the health clinic encountered this incident: Uncle Liu from Fengtai attended two health lectures, spent 30,000 yuan to buy magnetic therapy insoles that are said to "can cure diabetes", secretly stopped his anti-diabetic drugs, and was admitted to the ICU for ketoacidosis in half a month. After he was rescued, he regretted slapping his thigh. Let me remind everyone that any product that claims to be able to "cure the cure for chronic diseases of the elderly such as hypertension and diabetes" is a scam, without exception.

In fact, when it comes to health in the elderly, it is never about copying answers from other people's papers. Your own physical feelings are always the most accurate barometer. When people get old, eating well, sleeping well, and being able to go out and chat with old friends are more realistic than any vain standards of longevity. If you are really unsure about something, don't go to the "health experts" in the group. Go to the community hospital near your home and ask the doctor who is attending the consultation. It is free and reliable.