Senior Health Care: Guide to Healthy Living - MalluWorld.org

**asha** · 06-02-2009

Senior health care helps an elderly person to keep the body fit and healthy.

It is said that health is wealth. As people grow old, they are more prone to face many health disorders such as obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart diseases. Most of these diseases occur due to inactivity and consumption of spicy foods. Aging causes several disorders such as constipation, indigestion and irritable bowel syndromes. Senior citizens may suffer from poor eyesight, hearing loss and fatigue. Therefore, it is necessary to check the blood glucose level, blood pressure level and cholesterol level for a sound health.

Guide to Healthy Living

There are some guidelines that may help the senior citizens to lead a happy and contented life with a healthy body.

Proper diet: Food plays a vital role in maintaining a sound health. Nutritious foods like leafy vegetables, cereals, grains, fresh salads, and fruits should be a part of daily diet. It is best to opt for a low fat diet to keep the cholesterol level under control. Besides, senior citizens should consume lots of spinach, nuts, beans that have enough magnesium necessary to maintain blood pressure.

Adequate Hydration: Water is another important element that keeps a person hydrated and helps in curing diseases such as dehydration and constipation.

Avoid fast food: Fast foods or processed foods have adverse effect on body despite their delicious taste. Therefore, senior citizens should minimize the intake of processed food. Instead of oily fried foods they should consume boiled, baked, steamed or grilled foods.

Exercise: Exercise keeps the body fit and healthy. Therefore, one should do exercise on a regular basis. Besides, exercises like aerobics can enliven the mind with zest and enthusiasm.

Lose excess weight: Sometimes senior citizens put on too much weight. These extra fats are bad for their health and can lead to many health hazards such as obesity, unreasonable fatigue and risk of high cholesterol level. Therefore, senior citizens should try to lose excess weight by doing exercises and yoga.

Reduce stress and anxiety: Senior citizens often face job stress, relationship breakup stress and financial stress as they grow older. Often they are overloaded with varied tensions and insecurities. This anxiety or tension may cause heartburn, panic attack, acid indigestion and constipation. Therefore it is mandatory for senior citizens to reduce the excess amount of stress and anxiety. Relaxation techniques like listening to music, imagining beautiful objects, watching TV, sharing sorrows with near and dear ones may help senior citizens to fight against stress. These techniques help in building self-confidence, decisive power and positive thinking.

Physical Activity: Some amount of moderate physical activities such as gardening, cooking, walking are good for health and keep the body fit to fight against diseases.

Avoid smoking and alcoholic drinks: It is known to all that alcohol addiction and cigarette is injurious to health. Therefore, it is better to avoid smoking and consumption of alcoholic drinks.

Laughter therapy: Laughter is another element that can assist in healthy living. It lifts oneâ€™s spirit and provides physiological benefits too.

Regular health checkup: A senior citizen should undergo medical checkup on a regular basis. It includes, measuring the blood pressure, blood sugar level,blood cholesterol levels,ENT and ophthalmic checkup etc. Senior citizens who develop hearing loss can use hearing aids for better hearing effect.

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