Healthy Aging

Growing old is an inevitable fact of life. One of the most common myths about old age is its association with getting sick. Thus, growing old successfully has to be planned.

Successful ageing has 3 components:

i. avoiding disease and disabilities,

ii. maintaining high cognitive and physical function, and

iii. a continual engagement with life.

Avoiding disease and disabilities has to do with understanding common diseases and disabilities in the older person - namely, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, strokes, arthritis, falls, instability, osteoporosis and fractures and incontinence.

Adequate nutrition and fluid intake are important avenues to maintaining a healthy body. Maintaining high cognitive and physical function requires keeping our mind and body active through mental and physical exercises.

Continual engagement with life requires the person to have a good quality of life and still actively contributing to the family and society at large. This need not be an economic contribution, but sharing of life experience and guidance of the young.

Recently, there has been a movement to classify ageing as a disease itself, and hence, grew the concept of ‘Anti-Ageing Medicine’.

Anti-ageing management uses healthy lifestyle (e.g. nutrition and exercise), supplementary vitamins, anti-oxidants and hormones to turn back the clock internally, and other cosmetic procedures to make the person feel and look young.

To learn more about aging and caring for the elderly from Dr Chan Kin Ming, go to http://medihub.org/index.php/main/cat/99