A Guide to Healthy Aging

Aging is a natural process every single one of us have to go through. If the process is inevitable, why not make it a healthy and smooth ride! Quality of life is more important than living life itself. This article will be focusing mainly on Lifestyle modifications that can improve your quality of life. Lets start to build the path to healthy aging.

What are the lifestyle factors that contributes to a successful aging?

• Physical Activity

• Healthy Eating

• Sleep

• Psychosocial factors

• Substance use

Physical Activity:

Exercise can improve your health significantly by reducing bone loss and preventing osteoporosis, reducing arthritis pain, strengthen and decrease fall and fracture risks, improve sleep and cognitive function as well as contributing to improve medical conditions such as blood pressure, Diabetes, High cholesterol and Depression. Some studies have also showed reduced risk of colon and breast cancer and death by being physically active.

It is recommended for older adults to perform at least 150 min/ week of moderate intensity exercise such as brisk walking or 75 mins/ week of vigorous intensity exercise such as jogging or running. Muscle strengthening exercises involving major muscles such as legs, hips, back , chest, shoulder and arms should be included as part of the physical activity. For those who are not active at all, even low intensity exercise such as sitting less, walking around the house while watching TV or standing more can be beneficial compared to no physical activity at all.

Type of Exercises and its benefits

• Aerobic Exercise: Aerobic exercise such as walking, running, swimming, bicycling all provide cardiovascular and muscular benefits. It is always better to increase the duration of the exercise before increasing the intensity of the exercise.

• Resistance Training : Resistance training such as use of weights or exercise bands are associated with increase in muscle strength and muscle mass. When you first start, pick a weight which you can lift comfortably atleast 8 times. when you use weights you should start slowly about two to three seconds to lift, hold for one second, and three to four seconds to return back to the starting position.

• Flexibility Training : Dance exercises such as Zumba or Yoga improves flexibility and joint range of motion, endurance and muscle strength. You should slowly stretch into the preferred position and hold each stretch for about 10 to 30 seconds.

• Balance Training : Balance training such as Tai Chi improves balance and reduces the risk of falls and fractures.

Healthy Eating

Malnutrition is a very common problem older adults encounter. It can be due to multiple reasons such as other medical problems affecting appetite or the ability to eat (poor dentures, etc) or Elderly negligence. Weight loss and decreased food intake is associated with increased harm and mortality in elderly. A healthy BMI in older adults is between 23- 32 kg/m2. Eating a healthy diet rich in protein, dairy, vegetables, fruits and reduced fat has shown to improve the quality of life in elderly. Dietary supplements with vitamins are not required unless there is deficiency. Vitamin D supplement with calcium have shown to reduce falls in people who are deficient in vitamin D, however if your vitamin D is within normal limits supplementing vitamin D will not benefit you.

Sleep

As we get older our duration and quality of sleep gets compromised. It is recommended to get 7- 8 hrs of sleep for adults older than 65, however 80% of older adults does not get the required amount and quality of sleep. When you do not get good sleep, your thinking, mood and functional abilities are compromised. It is important to try good sleep hygiene if you experience sleeping problems prior to trying medications, since sleeping pills have many side effects including drowsiness causing falls, affecting the breathing pattern and can even make you get addicted to them.

What is a good sleep hygiene ?

• Use your bed only for sleep and sex. Do not eat or do work in bed

• Make your bed comfortable to sleep by using the appropriate linen and pillows that make you comfortable and setting up the temperature to best suit you.

• Go to bed only when you are sleepy and if you cannot fall asleep for 15 - 20 mins, get up and do some light activity and then try to go back to sleep again

• Avoid drinking caffeinated beverages in the evening and even eat your dinner early

• If you have to wake up multiple times in the middle of the night to urinate, avoid drinking a lot of water late at night.

• Avoid smoking or alcohol at night

• Increase day time activity and reduce or avoid day time naps.

• Try relaxation techniques such as meditation

If none of the sleep hygiene techniques help you get the sleep you need and if you have to start sleeping medication, talk to your doctor about the risks, side effects and addiction potential of each and every sleeping pills prior to making a decision.

For more information on insomnia refer to the post about Quality of sleep is a necessity ! Are you getting enough sleep?

Substance Use :

Smoking is associated with reduced quality of life as well as increased mortality in older adult. Smoking can affect every single part of your body from your skin to your brain. In addition to causing multiple cancers including skin, Lungs, bladder etc and causing heart attacks and stroke , it can also affect your immune system and make you more prone to catch infections. As we get older the ability for our body to fight infections reduce and this leads to multiple hospitalizations and poor quality of life. Quitting smoking reduces the risk of death despite the age.

Older adults with alcohol use disorder have higher rates of death due to liver failure, falls and injuries and cancer. In addition they also have poor quality of life due to the trauma and poor wound healing, increased risk of developing dementia and stroke. It is common for older adults to be on multiple medications due to other medical problems and alcohol can interact with them and affect alcohol level or drug levels causing toxicity and even death.

Psychosocial Factors :

Despite the medical advances and awareness there is still a stigma about depression and mental health. Older adults are at higher risk of developing major depression or depressive symptoms, however it is also most commonly missed due to contributing the symptoms to other medical problems. Older adults have multiple risk factors to develop depression including loss of independence due to frailty or medical problems and complications from multiple medical problems. Elderly negligence or abuse is another common reason for impaired mental health. Older men who are single have higher rates of completed suicide. Good social support, being married , being religious are some of the factors that shows protective factor against suicide attempts.

For those with mild depressive symptoms, improving your diet, sleep , physical and pleasure activity and social support can significantly help with depressive symptoms. If symptoms are severe your doctor can help you chose an antidepressant that is safe for you.

Resource links:

• National Suicide Prevention Life line USA (1-800-273-8255)

• Suicide Prevention Canada