Living ‘for a long time’ is meaningless. It is a time where quality of life is more important than prolonging one’s life, moving freely, living well, being healthy, enjoying life, and being respected. Aging cannot be stopped, but aging can be a more valuable life if one delays aging as much as possible, lives happily, and then dies with dignity. Aging well, which is ‘prepare if you can’t avoid it’.
When is the standard of old age? According to the Elderly Welfare Act, the standard for older people is 65 years, but the standard is said to be for a physical age of 60 years. Recently, a university in the United States announced that the ages at which aging develops rapidly are 34 years, 60 years, and 78 years. From this point on, not only the wrinkles, but also the functions of the muscles, musculoskeletal system, and brain cells clearly deteriorate, and the body feels uncomfortable and becomes self-conscious. It changes the composition of the body. At age 70, water, muscle mass, and minerals decrease, and fat doubles more than a young man in his 20s. Fat distribution also changes, reducing subcutaneous fat and increasing abdominal visceral fat.
Through this process, the number of diseases also increases, and although it can come quickly or be delayed depending on the state of health or the constitution of the individual, it is not easy to avoid without anything. In addition, there is little expectation that the pain will completely disappear or be cured, and slowing down and easing becomes a realistic goal.
◇ Diseases of old age that appear in the process of loss and deterioration = Aging can cause cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure, heart failure, ischemic heart disease, and arrhythmia if problems such as enlargement of the heart, heart wall thickening, and enlargement of the atria and ventricles are caused by aging. If you already suffer from diseases such as high blood pressure, obesity, or diabetes, the chronic disease itself can affect the heart and cause chronic heart failure.
In addition, with age, the number and weight of neurons in the brain decreases by around 10%, causing the ventricles to enlarge. Vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s are dementias along with memory loss, poor judgment and language disorders. Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by slow motor nerves, tremors, muscle stiffness, and stooped posture. In addition, chronic diseases such as lung diseases such as asthma, chronic emphysema, pneumonia, and lung cancer, bone joint diseases such as osteoporosis and arthritis, and diseases of the kidney and urinary system threaten health in old age.
As such, diseases of the elderly develop gradually and become chronic, so early detection and prevention of diseases is above all important. Treatment and functional recovery must go hand in hand, and long-term treatment and rehabilitation treatment policies are continuously administered to the elderly whose function is significantly reduced due to chronic diseases.
◇ Managing chronic diseases determines the quality of life in old age = According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year, deaths due to chronic diseases accounted for 79.6% of all deaths. The incidence of major chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidaemia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) showed an increasing trend, while the rate of adult smoking decreased, while the level of control of drinking and obesity remained stable or worsened. Among chronic diseases, cancer accounted for 34.5%, circulatory diseases including cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases accounted for 26.6%, chronic respiratory diseases accounted for 5.6%, and diabetes accounted for 4.2%. In this case, the entire population is targeted, and in the elderly, dementia, degenerative joints, etc. along with cardiovascular disease are added as causes of death and also act as a cause of reduced quality of life.
However, not all chronic diseases necessarily lead to death. There are many examples of people living healthy for a long time even suffering from chronic diseases. If chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes are diagnosed and managed early, and muscle loss is slowed by a balanced diet and exercise tailored to each disease, even if you have chronic, you can live a healthy life without reducing the quality of life or leading to premature death.
◇ Meals for the health of the elderly, balanced nutrition in daily meals = There is a longevity diet. Living a long and healthy life is not only a concern for Koreans, so various diets and recipes such as the Mediterranean diet as well as the low-sodium Dash diet (DASH, Dietary Approaches to Prevent Hypertension) have been on the table at home .
Recently, a research team in Korea published the results that Korean food lowers body weight and cholesterol levels and helps with diet and health in old age. In this experiment involving elderly people over the age of 65, they looked at the healthiness of the Korean diet, saying that the relative level of inflammation was lower despite a diet with a high percentage of carbohydrates, mainly rice, compared with a diet high in nutrients such as protein and fat. The reason why Korean food can be a healthy food lies in the basic composition of Korean food. Rice, soup (soup dishes such as soup, stew, etc.) and a variety of side dishes are nutritionally balanced. One of the elements of health is that there are many vegetable dishes such as kimchi, namul, and sam, and cooking in perilla oil or sesame oil instead of frying or frying, meat or meat included in side dishes rather than the main menu, so fat and cholesterol intake is low Dots, etc. became a ‘healthy diet’. Here, fermented foods such as kimchi, soy bean paste, soy sauce, and red pepper paste aid digestion and aid intestinal health.
Of course, there are caveats as well. Korean recipes that use soybean paste or soy sauce are often at risk of high sodium levels. You need to be mindful to lower the salt and soy sauce ratio. Here, it is recommended to refer to the benefits of the Mediterranean or Dash diet, such as eating whole grains, using oil with beneficial ingredients for the body, and low salt recipes. However, it should be remembered that Korean rice food in the experiment is a table of labor and sincerity with various side dishes on top, not a table where you eat rice rolled in water with a piece of kimchi.
◇ Exercise in old age, let’s build muscles for survival by improving muscle strength = Exercise in young adults is not only good for health, but also for rearranging muscles to create beautiful lines. However, exercise in old age creates the so-called ‘survival muscles’ for a healthy life. This is because muscles, which protect and resist external shocks by wrapping bones and joints and help cardiovascular health, are lost and their strength decreases with age. The important thing is the number of times rather than the intensity of the exercise. Stretch to contract and relax muscles, get up and sit down in a chair, hold on to an exercise band or a weight of about 1 kg, and lift 12 to 20 times, gradually increasing the number of times. Increasing the weight, increasing the intensity, or decreasing the number of repetitions increases the risk of injury without any particular benefit to the elderly. It is recommended to increase the number of times rather than the intensity of the moment and increase one by one. To increase flexibility, it is desirable to do it after exercise when the muscles’ resistance to stretching is the least. For most elderly people who are not positionally impaired, flexibility and strength exercises are more effective in preventing falls than balance exercises. In the case of these exercises, it is good to receive guidance from experts, physical therapists, and professional trainers in the case of a specific disease, and change the amount of exercise or how to exercise at different times. Especially in winter, refrain from outdoor exercise and recommend wearing a hat or shoes that can protect your feet. There is a saying ‘you decide your own destiny after the age of 50’. Rather than deny aging itself, recognize it and maintain a stable daily life, stop smoking, drink properly, exercise regularly, and manage weight from a positive perspective, you will be able to reach old age with a high quality of life.
