Don’t think of aging as a disease. If you are over 70, you are still healthy even if your physical examination indicators are slightly abnormal.

A 70-year-old elderly friend told Huazi worriedly that many items on his physical examination form were abnormal, including high blood pressure, high blood lipids, memory loss, and some pain in his knees. He was full of diseases. How could he be treated?

Huazi advised him not to treat aging as a disease. Older people will have some abnormalities in their physical examination indicators, but as long as they can be controlled with medication, they can still be considered healthy people. He is just old, not sick.

1. What is a healthy elderly? In the impression of many people, only those who meet all normal indicators, have no diseases, and do not need to take medicine can be considered healthy. This standard is OK for measuring young and middle-aged people, but it is not applicable to the elderly. As long as the elderly can take medicine to control the indicators to the standard, they are healthy elderly.

This standard is not just something Huazi made up. It is clearly stated in the "Health Standards for Healthy Elderly People in China": "No major diseases, and related high-risk factors are controlled within the standard range appropriate for their age."

For example, an elderly person has high blood pressure, but as long as he takes antihypertensive drugs and controls his blood pressure below 140/90 mmHg, he is a healthy elderly person. Although hypertension is a chronic disease, a chronic disease that can be controlled is not a real disease.

Second, do not regard aging as a disease. Many symptoms experienced by elderly friends are not diseases, but aging. The human body is like a machine. After running for a long time, it will definitely age. This is a natural law that no one can avoid. Symptoms caused by aging are normal phenomena, not diseases.

What are the normal aspects of aging?

1. Abnormal physical examination indicators: As the human body ages, blood vessels become hardened, metabolic function declines, and blood pressure, blood lipids, blood sugar, and blood uric acid may become abnormal. This is a normal phenomenon of human aging. Don't worry if you encounter this situation. Just take medicine regularly under the guidance of a doctor and control these indicators within the normal range to prevent complications. Don't worry too much.

2. Memory loss: As we age, our brain blood vessels gradually degenerate, our brain tissue shrinks, and our nerve cell activity decreases. It is normal for our memory to decline, and this is not necessarily related to Alzheimer's disease, which many people worry about. Eat a handful of nuts every day, or practice reciting pi or a paragraph of text to slow down your memory loss.

3. Decline in cardiopulmonary function: After entering old age, regardless of whether one has a disease or not, the body's cardiopulmonary function will decline, cardiac output will decrease, and the gas exchange capacity of the lungs will also weaken. This is a normal phenomenon. Doing moderate-intensity aerobic exercise for more than 30 minutes a day can increase cardiopulmonary function and delay aging.

4. Osteoporosis: When people get old, their calcium absorption capacity weakens, and the calcium loss rate in the bones increases, which makes osteoporosis more likely. It is also common to experience bone and muscle pain. Eat more calcium-rich foods such as dairy products and soy products, and get more sun exposure to increase the synthesis of vitamin D in the body. You can also take calcium supplements to prevent osteoporosis.

5. Decreased sleep quality: Many people feel that they sleep less as they age, and their sleep time becomes shorter. There are many reasons for this, including a decrease in melatonin secretion, reduced social interactions, and a lack of timely release of negative emotions such as loneliness and anxiety, or chronic pain in the body leading to sleep disorders.

It is recommended that the elderly should do more outdoor activities, join interest groups, communicate with others more, not play with mobile phones before going to bed, and not drink too much tea and coffee. Those with chronic pain should actively treat the cause. If insomnia is severe, you can consult a psychologist and use sleeping pills under the doctor's guidance to relieve symptoms.

3. Don’t let your mentality become old. It is normal for the body functions to deteriorate after old age. Old friends should maintain an optimistic attitude and face life with a smile. Keeping a young mentality has a great impact on the body. Huazi has seen people who are only 40 years old but have the body of 70 years old; but there are also people in their 80s who look less than 60 years old. It is because the latter are more open-minded and optimistic than the former.

The elderly need to learn to coexist with symptoms and prevent serious illnesses. For example, almost all elderly men have problems with prostate hyperplasia, which can cause frequent and urgent urination, but the symptoms can be relieved by medication and there is no danger.

Urinary tract infections are also very common in elderly women, but as long as you drink plenty of water and ensure urine volume, you can effectively prevent infection. Even if an infection occurs, as long as you take antibiotics under the guidance of a doctor, it will be cured quickly, so there is no need to worry.

What the elderly really need to prevent are diseases of important organs such as the heart, brain, and kidneys. That is, they need to pay more attention to their health status, take medicine regularly to control the "three highs", quit smoking and drinking, eat a healthy diet, exercise appropriately, maintain a normal weight, and get vaccinated before the flu season to improve their immunity.

According to your health condition, you can go to the doctor for a physical examination every 3 to 6 months, and the doctor will make daily medication adjustments based on the results. Regularly check the common cancer sites such as the lungs, liver, stomach, intestines, male prostate, and female breast. As long as there is no major disease, it will not affect the quality of life, and you can enjoy a healthy and happy old age.

To sum up, human aging is a natural law that no one can resist. Don't worry too much because of some minor abnormalities in the indicators. For the elderly, as long as the indicators can be adjusted by drugs, it is not a disease, and you are a healthy elderly person. Learn to coexist with minor symptoms and prevent major diseases. As long as you don't reduce your quality of life, you can enjoy your happy life. I am pharmacist Huazi, welcome to follow me and share more health knowledge.