What are the common sense about geriatric disease prevention and health care?

The core logic of geriatric disease prevention has never been to rely on expensive health products or complicated health regimens, but to embed low-intensity intervention into daily diet, exercise, work and rest, and monitoring. It must also be dynamically adjusted according to one's own basic disease conditions. You must not copy other people's experience.

I have been doing health education for the elderly in the community for almost six years, and I have met too many elderly people who have taken detours. Don’t believe it. Last year, Uncle Zhang, who lived in Building 3, had high blood lipids and had been taking statins to control blood lipids. I heard from the health group in the community that deep-sea fish oil can open blood vessels, so I secretly bought it myself. I bought imported fish oil and doubled the dosage. In less than three months, I kept getting bruises on my arms. I went to the hospital to check for abnormal coagulation function. The doctor said that fish oil itself has a weak anticoagulant effect. When combined with statins, the dosage exceeds the standard. If it is delayed for a while, there is a risk of cerebral hemorrhage.

Nowadays, many people are controversial about the prevention of geriatric diseases. One group believes that organs age naturally as we get older, and geriatric diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes are unavoidable, and prevention is in vain. The other group believes that early intervention can greatly delay the onset of disease, or even prevent it. The follow-up data released by the District Center for Disease Control and Prevention last year also confirms the latter's view: The incidence of hypertension is 42% lower for elderly people who maintain a low-salt diet for three consecutive years and exercise regularly more than three times a week than those with casual lifestyle habits, and the onset of disease is 8 to 10 years later on average.

When it comes to diet, don’t go to extremes. Aunt Li once heard someone say that a vegetarian diet can lower blood fat. She only eats plain porridge with vegetables and rarely eats eggs. As a result, the last time she squatted down to pick up vegetables at the vegetable market, she fainted in front of the vegetable stall. She was sent to the hospital to be diagnosed with hypoalbuminemia. The doctor said that the metabolism of the elderly is different from that of young people. Appropriate supplementation of high-quality protein can enhance immunity. Eating one egg and two taels of lean meat every day is much more effective than eating hundreds of yuan of protein powder.

There is a much-discussed saying recently, saying that the elderly need to walk 10,000 steps a day to be healthy. In fact, this really depends on the person. Last month, an aunt walked more than 20,000 steps around the community every day in order to count the steps on WeChat. In the end, her knees hurt and she could not go downstairs. She was found to have worn meniscus and joint effusion. For elderly people with poor joints, it is actually more suitable for elderly people with poor joints such as swimming and Tai Chi. There is no need to force the number of steps, and it is just fine if the body feels slightly warm and does not feel sore and swollen.

Many elderly people always feel that they don’t need to go to the hospital if they are not feeling sick. They even stuff the annual free physical examination report in a drawer when they take it home. I met an old man before. The triglyceride arrow on the physical examination report floated for two years without taking it seriously. Until last month, he suddenly felt dizzy and numb and sent him to the hospital. It was already a sign of cerebral infarction. , in fact, it’s like an old water pipe at home that is rusty. It won’t leak at first, but by the time it leaks, the floor will be soaked. Many geriatric diseases have no obvious symptoms at the early stage. After each physical examination, spending ten minutes with a community doctor to identify the key points, which items need to be reviewed and which items need to be adjusted, can save a lot of trouble later.

To put it bluntly, there is never a universal standard answer to the prevention of geriatric diseases. It is the most practical health care common sense to know your own physical condition and don’t make up for it blindly, don’t force yourself to do it, and don’t follow the trend.