Take Charge of Your Health
Health and cheerfulness mutually beget each other.
ADDISON
Nothing is more disconcerting than entering into senior years with health problems. Not all are caused by heredity, accident, or a poor environment in the workplace. Some are avoidable by carefully paying attention to basic rules of good health. If you have health, you have wealth.
LIFESTYLE MATTERS
Today's seasoned citizens are better educated, healthier, and more active than any in history. Old is no longer a synonym for sick, dependent, and problems. If you report a complaint and your doctor tells you you're just getting old, don't buy it. Modern medicine understands the aging process better than ever. Thanks to improved nutrition, better personal health habits, improved medical diagnosis, and better health care, older Americans are entering retirement stronger than ever.
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And retirement years aren't necessarily a time to slow down and do less. It isn't true that physical decline is an inevitable consequence of aging. Some people at seventy are more spry and athletic than people thirty-five or forty. The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports reported that much of the physical frailty attributed to aging is actually the result of muscular disuse and poor diet. Many such problems, the council found, can be halted, or even reversed, through proper eating habits and a regular exercise program. Good exercise and proper eating habits can stimulate the formation of new bone tissue, and improve cardiovascular endurance, muscle strength and flexibility.
In the United States, fewer than half of all people of retirement age engage in regular, vigorous exercise. Unfortunately, most of them also believe that they get all the exercise they need. One reason may be that many persons are unfamiliar with what constitutes good exercise. Activities often associated with exercise and sports do not attain adequate levels of exertion to generate the desired physical changes in our bodies.
Regular exercise can change a retired person's level of fitness to that of a person ten to twenty years younger. No matter at what age you begin, or for how long you may have been inactive, proper exercise will always improve your physical condition.
Don't expect overnight results, but if you stick with it, you will see progress. Anyone who tries to exercise beyond his or her level of ability or endurance is inviting discomfort or injury. Before beginning, have a thorough physical examination. Discuss your program with the physician and follow the doctor's advice.
FINDING HELP
Alex Comfort, one of the world's leading gerontologists, estimates that more than half of the diseases of the elderly
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are sociogenic, foisted upon them by society. Old age, he writes, is a trip that society lays on the old, telling them that at a given point — sixty-five, widowhood, or some other arbitrary point — they are henceforth to become drab, spiritless, useless, incompetent, and on and on, even though the day before they may have held the highest power and esteem among their peers.1
| "Some people at seventy are more spry and athletic than people thirty-five or forty." |
Most people of retirement age have at least one health problem. The most frequent are arthritis (46 percent), hypertension (38 percent), hearing impairments and heart conditions (28 percent each), sinusitis (18 percent), visual and orthopedic problems (14 percent each), arteriosclerosis (10 percent), and diabetes (8 percent).
Let's spend a few paragraphs looking at the causes, early warning signs, and professionally accepted treatments of the most common medical problems seasoned citizens face. I know whereof I speak. A jeep accident during World War II when I was in the Army left me with an injury that gave me a limp but didn't impair my moving about or the enjoyment of playing golf.
Diseases
Many of the most difficult medical problems older people face are caused by diseases. Modern medical advances have taken away much of the hopelessness formerly associated with these diseases. Let's examine a few of the most common ones.
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Arthritis. This major crippler can make ordinary tasks painful and/or impossible. It is one of the oldest diseases in medical history, currently affecting more than thirty-one million Americans.
Don't buy into the so-called miracle cures — pills, potions, bracelets, and other promises of relief. In ferreting out postal frauds, the United States Postal Service warns that any promise that seems too good to be true usually is. Investigate completely any advertisement before buying it, but especially when it comes to your health.
A sufferer can improve life greatly by developing a positive mental attitude. If a crochet or knitting needle becomes unwieldy, try knitting with larger patterns and thicker yarn, for example. If you can no longer sew, teach a grandchild how to follow in your footsteps.
The National Institute of Arthritis and the Arthritis Foundation cancels out diet as having anything to do with either causing or curing arthritis. Such diets abound, but they can offer no proven relief. Watching your weight can help by putting less strain on joints. People with gout ought to avoid overindulgence in liver, sweetbreads, and kidneys because these foods aggravate their condition.
The United States Food and Drug Administration advocates the use of plain aspirin and asks consumers to avoid more expensive aspirin labeled "arthritis strength," or "arthritis pain reliever." Buy the cheapest aspirin available.
For more information write:
Arthritis Foundation
Room 1101
3400 Peachtree Road, NE
Atlanta, GA 30326
National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes, and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
National Institute of Health, Building 31, Room 9A04
Bethesda, MD 20892
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Cancer. The very word strikes fear in the hearts of most people. Older people succumb the most quickly to cancer. It occurs mostly in people over fifty. Three out of ten Americans may develop cancer, but medical science has made enormous strides in treating many types and in helping to prevent others. Both heredity and lifestyle (smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, and eating certain types of food) play a part. Women should have regular checkups to detect lumps in the breast. If you have no doctor or nurse to teach you how, call the Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER.
Memorize these warning signs:
Lung Cancer: A cough that won't go away; coughing up blood; shortness of breath.
Breast Cancer: A lump in the breast, change in breast shape; discharge from the nipple.
Colon and Rectal Cancer: Difficulty or pain while urinating; the need to urinate often.
Uterine, Ovarian, or Cervix Cancer in Women: Bleeding after menopause; unusual vaginal discharge; enlargement of the abdomen; pain during intercourse.
Skin Cancer: Sore that does not heal; change in shape, size, or color of a wart or mole; sudden appearance of a mole.
Report to your doctor immediately any of these symptoms. Ask questions. Write down your doctor's answers.
Write for the free government pamphlet "Cancer Prevention: Good News, Better News, Best News." It gives advice on what you can do to protect yourself against cancer. A second free pamphlet, "Everything Doesn't Cause Cancer," discusses the causes and prevention of cancer. Write:
S. James Consumer Information Center
P.O. Box 100
Pueblo, CO 81002
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When ordering two or more free pamphlets, please add one dollar to help defray mailing costs.
Diabetes. This disease develops when the body cannot properly convert food into the energy needed for daily activity. When the nondiabetic person eats starches and sugars, the body converts them into a specific sugar called glucose. This in turn combines with insulin produced in the pancreas to enter the cells and later be used for energy. Insulin is not produced or is unavailable in the diabetic's system.
This is a self-help disease. Stick to a diet, keep your weight down, get plenty of exercise, and take prescribed medication in order to enjoy a happy and productive life. More information is available from:
The American Diabetes AssociationBox AP
2 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10016
A free publication titled Dealing with Diabetes is available from:
Ages PagesNational Institute on Aging
Building 31, Room 5C35
Bethesda, MD 20892
High Blood Pressure / Stroke. An estimated sixty million Americans suffer from hypertension (high blood pressure). It can't be cured, but it can be controlled by diet and medication.
Take advantage of free senior citizens testing centers in your area. Lower your intake of salt. Keep off excess fat. New research shows that potassium — found in bananas, potatoes, orange juices, raisins, and melons — can help reduce your risk of hypertension. One study found that women who were
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given calcium supplements to prevent osteoporosis saw their blood pressure go down to rates closer to normal.
If your doctor has prescribed an antihypertensive drug, it probably means that you will need to take it for the rest of your life. Even if you feel better, don't stop taking it. Once embarked on the road to a low-cholesterol, low-salt diet, don't turn back.
Hypertension can cause kidney failure and stroke as well as heart disease. A stroke occurs when a blocked artery starves the brain of blood. In other cases, a ruptured artery spills blood directly into the brain or its surrounding areas. Both types can cripple or kill. Prevention, again, is the best treatment for stroke. For more information write:
High Blood Pressure Information Center
120/80 National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD 20892
Two excellent pamphlets are "Understanding Stroke" and "Handy, Helpful Hints for Independent Living After Stroke." Write for other information on the subject to:
National Easter Seal Society2023 West Ogden Avenue
Chicago, IL 60612
Influenza. The common flu bug, easily handled by young people, is often life-threatening to the older person. Lowered resistance can allow flu to cause complications for older adults: pneumonia, infected lungs, sore nose and throat, to name only a few.
Learn to detect pneumonia symptoms early (chills, coughing, high fever, chest pain) and get medical help immediately.
The thermostat of an older person is different from a youngster's. When Aunt Esther came calling, she could sit comfortably in the summer heat and might ask us to turn up the thermostat. The most susceptible are the chronically ill,
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the poor who can't afford enough heating fuel, and older people who forget to take steps to keep warm. Older people don't shiver, and so they don't produce the same body heat as younger people when they need it. Strange as it might seem, older types who have felt cold for years may actually have a lower risk of accidental hypothermia.
In cold weather, set the room temperature at sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit or higher. Dress warmly even when indoors, eat enough food, and stay as active as possible.
In hot weather, stay indoors out of summer heat. Replace water loss by drinking large amounts of cool water or other beverages. Avoid heavily iced drinks. Salt tablets are usually unnecessary and might be dangerous.
For more information, write:
"A Winter Hazard for the Old: Accidental Hypothermia"National Institute on Aging/Hypo
Building 31, Room 5C35
Bethesda, MD 20892
"Don't Be Beat By the Heat" Poster (D12200)
American Association of Retired Persons
1909 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20049
National Campaign on Heat and Cold Stress
The Center for Environmental Physiology
Suite 1100
1511 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
Osteoporosis. Back in East Cleveland, Ohio, where I grew up, my parents would take us on frequent visits to my Aunt Esther's house. She had a widow's hump, or osteoporosis. Mother would tell my sister, "Now stand up straight and drink your milk. You don't want to grow up to be stooped over like Aunt Esther."
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This disease, often called dowager's hump or brittle bone disease, afflicts more than fifteen million Americans. It strikes one in four women over the age of sixty and can be both painful and crippling. It is eight times more common in women than in men because the bones of females are less dense than males and because pregnant and breast-feeding women often lose calcium from their bones to supply the needs of their developing babies. Women live longer than men, thereby putting themselves at greater risk.
If you are a woman between the ages of forty and fifty-five, maintain a high calcium intake and take extra vitamin D. Consult a gynecologist concerning your need for estrogen.
Natural Effects of Aging
It is a fact of life that our senses lose their sharpness as we age. Although we may not be able to avoid these natural effects of aging, we can make use of the many medical resources available. These resources can help extend physical independence and social involvement to levels unprecedented in earlier decades.
Balance. Organs of sense tell you when you're right side up and how you are moving along through space. These organs, with age, grow less sensitive as instruments. Sudden movements might cause a person to stagger. Add poor sight to such a situation and the danger is compounded.
An easy solution is to move more slowly. Take plenty of time for your walk. Even if you are not lame, take a cane along. If you are shopping in London, ask for a walking stick; if you ask for a cane, you will be given the directions to a store selling teachers' supplies.
A light cane can be a pleasant aide. You'll feel safer and avoid accidents if you wear shoes with rough soles. Fasten miniature crampons to the soles when you walk on icy surfaces.
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With a bit of care, you'll feel better about getting around and you'll do it more often.
Care of the Feet. Corns, calluses, warts, and fungal or bacterial conditions such as athlete's foot, dry skin, bunions, and ingrown toenails visit us. Here are some tips to avoid this suffering:
Apply body lotion with either petrolatum or lanolin to legs and feet daily. Use mild soaps, especially those containing cold cream. Avoid prolonged friction from shoes. Trim toenails regularly. Diabetics especially are prone to sores and infections on their feet. Avoid extremely cold or hot bath water, keep the feet dry, and void stepping on sharp objects or dirty surfaces.
Constipation. Senior citizens are five times more likely than younger people to have problems with constipation. The problem is probably overemphasized, but remember, a person is only as healthy as his colon.
Avoid filling your stomach with laxatives on a regular basis. Instead, eat more high-fiber foods such as whole grains, vegetables, and fruits. Avoid too many meats, dairy products, eggs, and rich desserts. Drink plenty of liquid as well.
Hearing Impairment. A violin concert, the chimes of a grandfather's clock, the song of the first robin in springtime, a grandchild's warm greeting on the telephone, the television on a long, lonely night — these sounds can lift older people out of isolation and loneliness. Many people of retirement age miss these sounds, or strain to hear them. What beauty and enjoyment they miss.
Practically everybody in the United States begins to suffer some hearing loss by the age of thirty. The rate of loss doubles and triples with each succeeding decade. More people have hearing disorders than heart disease, cancer, blind-
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ness, kidney disease, tuberculosis, and multiple sclerosis combined.
For some fifteen million Americans, the loss is severe enough to interfere with their ability to function in a world of sound and speech. Another two million Americans are totally deaf. What causes hearing loss? Facts other than simple aging may contribute, including noise, injury, medication, disease, and heredity. Antibiotics such as streptomycin and erythromycin, diuretics, and large dosages of aspirin
"It is a fact of life that our senses lose their sharpness as we age. Although we may not be able to avoid these natural effects of aging, we can make use of the many medical resources available." |
can be ototoxic — a term used to describe medications that can damage the structures of the inner ear. Heart or kidney disease, diabetes, emphysema, or stroke may disrupt the blood flow to the inner ear, causing permanent hearing loss.
If you know someone with a hearing problem, take these steps to improve communication.
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Hearing aids have been much more slowly accepted than eyeglasses, possibly because those who first wore them were usually particularly hard of hearing and hence were often avoided by others. Manufacturers consequently tend to emphasize concealment.
A small earphone can be plugged into the phonograph, radio, or television set for your individual use. That will keep neighbors from complaining. Beware of the temptation to enjoy too much of the once familiar level of sound produced by headphones; it can do further damage to your ears. Earphones can keep you from hearing the telephone, doorbell, or dog barking and racing about when the phone rings or the doorbell sounds.
B.F. Skinner, professor emeritus of Harvard University, was once invited home for dinner in Evanston, Illinois, by a professor at Northwestern University. He was seated in a rather dark corner beside the wife of the chairman of the psychology department. The woman, who happened to be Chinese, pointed to what looked to Dr. Skinner as a thick, dark patty; but he did not hear what she said about it. Having admired Chinese cooking before, he attacked the patty with
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knife and fork. It had the kind of crispy crust he had admired before in Chinese cooking. After he ate it, he noticed the young woman beside him peeling hers. He had eaten a hard-boiled egg, shell and all.
For more information about hearing loss write for a free brochure:
"Facts About Hearing Aids"Better Business Bureau
1515 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22209
The free Age Page fact sheet, "Hearing and the Elderly," discusses all aspects of hearing loss and treatment. Write:
National Institute on AgingBuilding 31, Room 5C35
Bethesda, MD 20892
American Academy of Otolaryngology —
Head and Neck Surgery, Inc.
1100 Vermont, Ave., N.W., Suite 302
Washington, DC 20005
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
10801 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD 20852
National Hearing Aid Society
20361 Middlebelt Road
Livonia, MI 48152
You can learn more about hearing impairment by calling or writing for additional information.
The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf2417 Volta Place, N.W.
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 337-5220
Taste and Smell. Foods in your senior years will not taste as good as they once did. You may be inclined to eat less of
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such food. Less saliva will flow and so you may have trouble swallowing.
To overcome the difficulty here, season your food a bit more and sip a drink as you eat. A dry mouth can mean trouble for your teeth, about which your dentist will advise you. If your voice is scratchy because of dry throat, try sugar-free mints or throat lozenges.
The loss of smell can be a blessing in this increasingly polluted world, but it can be a danger, too. You might fail to smell dangerous fumes or smoke. Be sure to install a smoke detector and be doubly careful about keeping clean and about odors in your own clothing and living area. These affect relationships with other people.
Touch. Fingertips of seniors become less sensitive. You reach out to pick up a cup, misjudge the firmness of your grasp, and drop it. Heavier plates, glasses and cups, and knives and forks, will be easier to handle. To keep from missing pages of thin paper, note the page numbers routinely. And you have a good reason also to note the serial numbers when you separate bills fresh from the mint.
Urinary Incontinence. One person in ten over the age of sixty-five has a problem with loss of urine control, or urinary incontinence. The problem is especially common in older women, but it occurs also in men. Aunt Harriet might decline invitations to church; Uncle George might find an excuse for not joining his friends for a round of golf — all because of the fear of not being able to keep a full bladder from leaking.
Seek medical attention to determine the cause of incontinence. Some cases can be cured. For more invitation write:
Help for Incontinent PeopleP.O. Box 544
Union, SC 29379
Vision. More than half the people over sixty-five have some noticeable loss in vision. Properly fitted eyeglasses are,
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of course, essential. They should stay in place without fussing with them. While reading, make sure you are not holding your head at an uncomfortable angle in order to get a good light.
A large lens mounted on a floor stand will enlarge type and can be surrounded by a helpful fluorescent ring. A large hand lens is handy for reading small print. With a pocket or purse flashlight, you will be able to read menus in dark restaurants and get about in dark places. Books with large type are available from your public library. The Reader's Digest (Pleasantville, New York 10570) issues a large-print edition available to anyone. Most publishers of the Holy Bible offer large-print editions.
If your peripheral vision has grown weak, learn to look in new ways. In crossing streets, look farther to the right and left than you once did and look both ways to avoid being run down by a cyclist (or jogger) who is going the wrong way. Watch other people and use them as guides. If you cannot easily judge depth, learn to watch how curbs and steps change as you approach them; you can thus get a better idea of how high they are before you step down. If you have lost part of your field of vision, as in glaucoma, remember the deceptive effect of the blind spot. You are not really seeing all of what you are looking at even though you may be aware that there are gaps. When searching for something that you have dropped or lost, cover the area carefully and systematically.
It also helps to simplify your world, as blind people necessarily do. If your vision is really poor, get rid of things you don't need — in particular, things that cause trouble because you can't see them easily. Clean out your cupboards and bookshelves. Small, bright-red, pressure-sensitive markers can be put on things that are especially hard to find or often needed. Whenever possible, avoid the unhappy consequences of not seeing things clearly.
Dry eyes need especially prescribed eyedrop solutions. Excessive tears might be a sign of increased sensitivity to
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light, wind, or temperature changes. Sunglasses might help. Tearing might be the symptom of a serious eye problem including infection or a blocked tear duct. For detailed information, write:
National Eye Care Project
P.O. Box 7424
San Francisco, CA 94120
| "Health quackery is a ten-billion-dollar business in the United States each year." |
Don't laugh at people who empty their savings in order to travel outside the borders of the United States for treatment for cancer offered by maverick doctors; don't scoff at the idea of wearing a copper bracelet to cure arthritis, or spending three hundred dollars for a miracle spike to cure cancer; don't be surprised when you learn that someone has spent their last dollar for moon dust through a mail-order Congo Kit.
Health quackery is a ten-billion-dollar business in the United States each year, according to the Health Subcommittee of the House Select Committee on Aging. Unfortunately, too many of the victims are older types like those of us in retirement. Medical fraud extorts not only its victims' money, but their health as well. Add to that the emotional trauma of disillusionment, pain, and delayed treatment and the cost is staggering.
Always be skeptical of unproven remedies whose common elements are conscious deceit, profit, and disregard for scientific fact. None of the products fulfill their claims; some
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are dangerous. Even those that are not life-threatening can cause a patient to delay seeking necessary medical attention, thereby minimizing your real chances of finding a cure. For a number of free brochures write to:
Food and Drug AdministrationOffice of Consumer Affairs, HFE-88
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857
"Tips on Medical Quackery"
Council of Better Business Bureaus
1515 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 222092
TEN MYTHS ABOUT AGING3
Most older people are sick and senile. False
Most older people are dependent on their families. False
People become ever more alike as they get older. False
After the age of sixty-five, mental abilities begin to fail. False
Older people have a hard time learning anything new. False
People should retire at sixty-five because they become less productive. False
Older people have no interest in sex. False
Older people are stubborn, "cranky," and set in their ways. False
Older people are isolated and lonely. False
Most old people live in nursing homes. False
