Population issues are usually geared towards addressing the growing population due to pregnancy, but, population actually covers all stages of life and not only the newborns. Today, many health professionals seek to address the needs of one of the world’s growing population—the elderly population. People can be categorized based on which stage of their lives they are in. When we reach our 60th year of living, we can then be called elders, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
And when we get 75, we can then call ourselves old. Even before we can become elders, we will observe and experience many physical changes that affect our usual performance. It is because our body ages and there is an observable weakening of the body systems. The inside of our body refuses to give what it could give years back because it just can’t. And that is why we target the health issues of the ageing people. Many products have been out in the market which tries to fight “the signs of ageing” because it cannot fight ageing itself.
What these products do is not to counteract the effects of ageing but it could minimize those effects. What are the effects of ageing? Well, there are observable changes in our physical appearances—our skin loses elasticity, most become plump and some seem to shorten their height. And ageing people can feel many changes which gives them difficulty in performing many activities. Muscle aches, inflexible joints and weakened senses are the common difficulties.
The products in the market try to resolve this but what could actually help our elders go through this stage of life and stay healthy is good nutrition. Inevitable ageing and its effects Osteoporosis, is one of the common diseases of the elders. It is when the bone mineral density becomes reduced and the bone structure becomes altered. It is a difficult and painful disease because it results to high risks of falling and fractures. It is one of the reasons why our elders look fragile and they find it difficult to get up from bed and step up the stairs.
Sarcopenia is another effect of ageing. Sarcopenia is the loss in the muscle mass and its strength. This is degenerative which means that the disease is progressive and worsens over time. Because of the decrease in muscle mass and strength, elders become weak and that prevents them from performing their tasks alone. Weakened bones combined with weakened muscles can really cause a great amount of difficulty for the elders and to the people around them. Another effect of ageing is the cognitive decline which manifestation includes poor memory.
It is very common among the elders that people joke about it and none takes offense. But for experts, it is a serious concern for elders. Alzheimer’s disease is the common worse case of cognitive decline and the family of those diagnosed with the disease experience great difficulty. An elder suddenly finding himself in a place he is unfamiliar with and can’t remember how he got there or an elder who couldn’t completely recognize his family makes Alzheimer’s disease one of the most dreaded disease of ageing.
Are these diseases inevitable as ageing is? We actually do not know who these diseases would victimize. There are higher probabilities if you have a history with the disease, like Alzheimer’s or if you are part of the demography the disease is common to. It doesn’t mean that when we become elder we will have such diseases, these are the diseases that may come to us as we go through ageing but we really cannot say if we will have these diseases. However, we can help ourselves and our family prevent the onset of these diseases with right nutrition.