How to be a healthy elderly who is protected from chronic disease

The health level of each person must be different. There are people who still look healthy until old age, but there are also people who suffer from chronic diseases at a young age. Health is influenced by various factors, such as lifestyle, environment, and genetics. So, if you want to be healthy until old, you need to control every one of these factors (except for genetic factors that cannot be controlled). How can you become a healthy elderly person?

The older, the more the risk of disease

Many diseases start to emerge as you get older, such as diabetes, dementia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, osteoarthritis, and others. Yes, age is a risk factor for various diseases.

According to WHO, aging is the accumulation effect of various molecular and cellular damages over time. Thus, it causes a decrease in physical and mental capacity, increases the risk of disease, and then leads to death.

However, the changes that occur are not constant and can vary between individuals. This is because aging is influenced by many factors. One of them is a healthy lifestyle that you adopt from a young age.

Can you be a healthy elderly and not get chronic disease in old age?

Health is an investment, which we must take care of from the start. Chronic disease can occur in old age because of bad habits that you have done over the years, because of a bad diet, for example. For that, start changing your lifestyle to be healthier from a young age. Some things you can do to become a healthy elderly are:

1. Implement a healthy diet

Chronic illness is usually caused by an unhealthy diet. For example, often eating sweet foods over time can cause a person to develop diabetes. Or, often eating foods that contain high salt and fat can cause a person to experience high blood pressure.

For that, choose foods that are rich in nutrients to be able to meet nutritional needs and avoid disease. Increase your intake of vegetables and fruits, food sources of protein, vitamin B12, folic acid, zinc and calcium. Replace your saturated fat intake with healthy types of fats, such as unsaturated fats from avocados, olive oil, canola oil, and nuts.

Also reduce bad eating habits, such as reducing the consumption of snacks (especially sweet foods), energy-dense foods, and soft drinks. These foods and drinks will only increase your calorie intake without providing many of the essential nutrients your body needs. You should also avoid other bad habits, such as smoking and drinking alcohol.

2. Be physically active

Staying physically active can provide health benefits for your heart and metabolism. In addition, being physically active can also help control weight and prevent chronic disease. The elderly need to do physical activity that trains strength, balance, flexibility, and aerobics to support their health.

Strength-training physical activity can increase muscle strength and endurance and inhibit the decline in muscle strength. Physical activity that promotes flexibility can provide flexibility to your joints, allowing you to move more freely. Physical activity that promotes balance can increase stability, which can reduce your risk of falling. Meanwhile, aerobic activity (such as walking) can improve overall health.

Also reduce the time you watch television or sit back for long periods of time. This can make you lazy to move around, making you less active. Ultimately, this can lead to obesity, which is a risk factor for chronic disease.

3. Keep your weight

Maintaining your weight is one of the important things you do to avoid chronic disease. Body weight is very much influenced by diet and physical activity, for that you need to pay attention to these two things.

Elderly do not have to lose weight, but should focus more on preventing weight gain. This is done to improve the quality of life of the elderly so that they can become healthy elderly people.