Summary of lectures on geriatric disease prevention and health care knowledge

There is no "universal health care formula" suitable for all elderly people. An individualized plan that can be adhered to for a long time based on one's basic diseases, exercise ability, and dietary preferences is the best way to prevent common geriatric diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and osteoporosis. This lecture corrected a total of 8 common misunderstandings about health care, such as "Ten thousand steps a day to strengthen joints" and "Notoginseng powder can open blood vessels and is suitable for everyone". The lecture helped 37 elderly people adjust their previously erroneous daily health care habits, and answered questions covering the key points of home care for 21 common geriatric diseases.

Just 20 minutes into the lecture, Aunt Zhang, who lives in Building 3, stood up with half a can of Panax notoginseng powder and said that she had been following the trend for half a year and had been bleeding while brushing her teeth recently and had inexplicable bruises on her body. I wonder if it was related to this. The lecturer, Director Wang, is a general practitioner who has worked in a community hospital for 20 years. She flipped through the physical examination report she brought last year, pointed to the abnormal items in the coagulation function column, and asked her to stop the Panax notoginseng: Your prothrombin time is too long, and there are no signs of blood stasis. Indiscriminate consumption of these blood-activating Chinese medicinal materials may cause problems. Mentioning this, by the way, there is indeed a lot of controversy about traditional Chinese medicinal materials for health care. There is also a clear view in the field of traditional Chinese medicine. As long as the syndrome differentiation is accurate, Panax notoginseng does have an auxiliary conditioning effect on some people at high risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. However, the prerequisite must be to find a professional traditional Chinese medicine doctor for pulse evaluation first. You must not eat it on your own according to the short video.

Don't tell me, there are quite a few elderly people like Aunt Zhang who follow the trend of buying health care products. Half of the problems collected on site are related to random supplements. Some aunties held up three or four boxes of Coenzyme Q10 and asked if they had bought it for nothing. Director Wang did not kill him with a stick: If you usually take statin lipid-lowering drugs, or have a history of myocarditis, proper supplementation can indeed relieve muscle damage and protect the heart muscle. If you don’t have any basic health problems, you can get enough by eating animal offal and deep-sea fish normally. There is really no need to spend a lot of money to stock up.

The second most asked question is about sports. Uncle Li, who lives in Building 1, heard from a blogger that "walking 10,000 steps a day can prevent osteoporosis." He walked for three months with knee pain. Last month, he was diagnosed with effusion in the knee joint and could not even climb stairs. Doctors from different departments actually have different opinions on this point: Doctors in the sports medicine department generally recommend that elderly people over 65 years old who already have degenerative knee joint disease should give priority to swimming, Tai Chi and other exercises that put little pressure on the joints. Excessive walking will increase cartilage wear and tear. ； However, nutrition doctors also added that if you don’t feel discomfort in your joints, wearing well-cushioned sports shoes and knee pads, controlling your stride length to two-thirds of your foot length, and walking 5,000 to 6,000 steps a day can actually promote calcium deposition, which is of great benefit to your bones. To put it bluntly, there is no need to stick to any unified standard. If you don’t feel pain, feel tired, and feel comfortable after walking, then the amount of exercise is suitable for you.

Everyone has been taught before that "elderly people should strictly control salt and cannot exceed 5 grams per day." This lecture also mentioned the latest clinical research conclusions. There are actually different judgments on this issue: if you are an elderly person with high blood pressure and renal insufficiency, you must strictly limit salt.； However, if you often do farm work, sweat a lot when going out for exercise, and have a poor appetite, excessive salt control may easily cause hyponatremia and make you feel weak and lack of energy all day long. In this case, you can appropriately relax to 6 to 7 grams per day. There is no need to be too stuck. There is also the issue of "Will calcium supplementation cause kidney stones?" that everyone has been arguing about for a long time. Director Wang also gave the right answer: as long as you have no history of kidney stones, take a daily supplement of 600-800 mg of calcium and vitamin D, drink plenty of water and urinate regularly, and there will be no risk of stones. If you already have a history of stones, just adjust the dosage according to the doctor's advice. You don't have to be afraid of taking calcium supplements because of choking.

We have done health follow-up for the elderly in our community for half a year, and we have seen many counter-examples of rigidly applying health standards: There was an aunt who heard that eating bitter melon to lower blood sugar, so she ate it with cold salad every day. In the end, she had a stomachache and was hospitalized, and her blood sugar was not stable.； On the contrary, Uncle Zhao, who also has diabetes, followed the doctor to adjust his diet plan. The doctor allowed him to eat a small piece of his favorite peach every day, as long as he reduced his staple food by half a tael that day. He happily persisted for more than half a year, and his blood sugar has been stable within the normal range. Even the constipation he always suffered before has improved a lot. To be honest, health care is not about being an ascetic. It is a good and effective plan that can make you happy and stick to it for a long time.

In the middle of the lecture, an old man suddenly asked, "Can drinking two taels of white wine a day promote blood circulation?" This made the whole audience laugh. Director Wang also smiled and gave the correct answer: Whether it is white wine, red wine or medicinal wine, as long as it contains alcohol, there is a risk of liver damage. The so-called blood-activating effect is far less harmful than the harm of alcohol. If possible, try not to drink it.

After the show, we posted the contact information of the lecturer on the community bulletin board, and also established an exclusive health consultation group. We will arrange free blood pressure and blood sugar measurements every month. If you have any questions when adjusting your health plan, you can always ask. After all, there is never a standard answer when it comes to health care. Slowly adjusting according to your own physical condition, making it comfortable and long-lasting, is better than anything else.