Obesity in the elderly is the root cause of many common diseases. Therefore, many elderly people believe that obesity is an unhealthy manifestation, and regard thin as the health standard in their mind. The so-called "it is hard for a thousand girls to buy thin when they are old". Is that really the case?
In fact, people's health can not be judged unilaterally based on their height, obesity and thinness. "Being old and thin" may not be a good thing, but it may be innutrition Performance. The elderly have weak body and poor digestion and absorption, which is the high incidence of malnutrition. It is reported that the proportion of malnutrition among hospitalized elderly patients in China is between 30% and 44%.
When it comes to malnutrition, many people will misunderstand it as undernutrition. In fact, "malnutrition includes undernutrition and overnutrition. It is a series of symptoms caused by the imbalance between the body's needs and the intake of nutrients." Dr. Wang Zhong, head of the general practice and health medicine department of Tsinghua Changgeng Hospital, said that malnutrition is not only about not eating enough, It's the wrong food.
Why not? Some elderly people actually pay attention to health in their hearts, and they may arrange their diet according to some media guidance. "Experts" will eat whatever they say is good, and they will not eat what is bad, causing deviation in nutrition intake; Some elderly people live at home for a long time, and life is not convenient. They often "fool around to eat", or their diet is too fixed, which makes nutrition unbalanced; There are also some elderly people who start dieting excessively after finding out diseases such as high blood fat and blood sugar, resulting in their own anemia , appears dizzy , nausea.
Doctor Wang Zhong pointed out that dizziness constipation The obvious increase and decrease of body weight, the change of body shape, and the abnormality of blood sugar and blood lipid may all be the manifestations of malnutrition. Once the elderly have these symptoms, it is recommended to go to the elderly nutrition clinic for nutrition assessment in time and receive guidance from a professional doctor. Do not dare to eat on your own initiative after problems occur, so as to make nutrition intake more confused.
Long term malnutrition will damage the body function as a whole, and even cause other complications, with great harm. For example, long-term anemia and dizziness may further lead to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular ischemia and hypoxia, leading to miocardial infarction , vascular disease and other problems; Food preference and calcium deficiency lead to osteoporosis , plus the weakening of muscle's ability to protect the body, fracture The risk of; Nutritional imbalance may also cause hypertension Wait Slow STD 。
In addition, people often neglect to pay attention to the sports and psychological conditions of the elderly. Doctor Wang Zhong reminds that these may also be important reasons for malnutrition. During the diagnosis, he often asked about the elderly's daily activities, and found that most of them were the following three things: watching grandchildren, doing housework, and watching TV. "Let's consider the first two as' work ', and then kill time without active and effective activities. This will also affect the physical and psychological conditions of the elderly, and affect the skeletal muscles, nutrient absorption and metabolism".
Therefore, doctors suggest that the prevention and treatment of malnutrition should focus on the body and psychology of the elderly at the same time, focusing on diet, activities and mood.
First of all, when the elderly can chew and accept, try to eat a balanced diet as far as possible and do not have a preference for food. In terms of quantity, we should neither be insufficient nor excessive. We should eat three meals a day, and we'd better eat seven full meals each day. Of course, if there is hypertension, hyperlipidemia diabetes Wait, you should follow the doctor's advice to control your diet, but don't go to extremes, such as not eating at all.
Proper exercise can promote digestion and metabolism. Housework cannot replace sports. The elderly need to take active sports. It is better to have group activities, such as walking together, which can play a role in entertaining the body and mind, killing two birds with one stone.
People's Daily (May 17, 2018, 13th Edition)
