It's no secret that as we age, some of our key health markers tend to trend downwards. What not everyone knows is how preventable some of the most common age-related issues can be with a little preventive action. We know, changing lifelong habits can be way easier said than done (that's why we built the Restart! app to make it as simple as possible to help aging adults increase physical activity!), but sometimes just having more information can add a little fuel to your fire and help you get motivated to take real action.
So we sat down again with one of our fave docs, Dr. Larry Gassner, to talk about what the most common age-related issues are and what you can do now to decrease your risk of developing them.
Before we get started listing a bunch of bummer health issues and the preventive measures that can help you dodge them, we do want to make something clear: if you've found this blog at a time in your life when perhaps you have already encountered some of these issues, it's really important to remember that although you can't change the past, it is never too late to improve your health from where it stands today, and any action is better than no action.
Of course, when you're dealing with an existing condition, it's also extremely important to collaborate with your doctor to ensure you're setting goals and engaging in activities that won't inadvertently hurt you or worsen your condition, so please also remember that this blog (and all our content) is purely educational and informational (and hopefully motivational!) and should not be taken as medical advice.
So all that to say: don't be discouraged if you're in your 70s and have high cholesterol. You can make a positive impact on your health by taking any action rather than none.
These are the main issues Dr. Gassner sees in his patients of a certain age:
We covered mental health in aging adults, including dementia, in our last blog post here. Cognitive decline is something we are seeing more of as more people live longer. To some degree, if you live long enough, you will probably experience some degree of dementia. But the keys to staying sharp for as long as possible are staying active and staying connected.
Hypertension (high blood pressure) forces your heart to work harder and can raise the risk of heart attack and heart failure. It is caused by eating a diet too high in salt, fat, and carbs, and too low in fruits and vegetables. Eating highly processed foods (virtually anything from the center aisles at the grocery store) and fast foods is hard to avoid in a food economy that has ultimately sacrificed good nutrition in the name of convenience and sales, so it does take a conscious effort to eat more of fresh, whole foods (the stuff around the perimeter of the store).
How do you lower high blood pressure? Exercising and losing weight will always help, along with eating less processed foods. If you choose not to treat hypertension, it won't get better on its own.
High cholesterol contributes to heart disease, which is still the #1 cause of death in the U.S., and stroke. The good news is it's always preventable. The bad news is it's usually not prevented. It's important to keep tabs on your cholesterol early on so that you can intervene before it reaches the danger zone.
For a lot of folks, preventing or lowering high cholesterol means they have to essentially relearn what and how to eat, especially when a lot of us grew up under the reigning mid-century nutritional edicts that a proper dinner was a hearty dish of red meat and potatoes with dessert to finish it off. That kind of eating made sense when we had to labor in fields all day, but if you're the average modern working American, you're probably sitting at a desk.
The fact that nutritional guidelines have changed over time can be hard to swallow (pun intended), but the beauty of science and medicine is that we are always learning more and improving recommendations accordingly. So if you're concerned about your cholesterol, it may be time to examine your underlying beliefs around what constitutes a "good meal" and see if they align with current nutritional guidelines. If not, it's time to learn a better way to feed yourself than the way you were fed growing up.
Adult-onset diabetes is the inability to process sugars, leading to significantly higher inflammation, kidney failure, blindness, and stroke. While there is a very small genetic component to developing Type II diabetes, it is 98% determined by lifestyle factors. Being sedentary and gaining an excess of abdominal fat in particular are two ways to get on the fast track to adult-onset diabetes. Men are more likely than women to both gain that excess abdominal fat and develop diabetes. And it's unfortunately easy to do on the average American diet of huge portions with sugar as a ubiquitous ingredient.
When it comes to detecting an elevated risk of diabetes, you can track sugars, but you won't see them go up until you're already two-thirds of the way to being diabetic. At that point, though, there is still time to stop it with interventions like weight loss, improving activity levels, and eating less of an American diet and more of a Mediterranean diet. That means less simple carbs and more lean protein and vegetables.
Arthritis causes pain, stiffness, and inflammation in joints. Left unchecked, it can lead to debilitating disability, which in turn can lead to a sedentary lifestyle, which can increase isolation, which we learned in our last post is one of the worst things you can do for your health. Arthritis pain can also negatively impact your sleep quality, which can also have a domino effect on your overall health. So just like everything else on this list, the best way to avoid the worst effects is to prevent it from getting that bad to begin with.
When it comes to managing arthritis, the prevailing wisdom is "use it or lose it." It's much easier to maintain mobility and conditioning through regular activity rather than try to regain it after you've lost it. You know how a rolling stone gathers no moss? Keeping your body in motion will help you stay mobile for longer if you're struggling with arthritis. Plus, it will make you more resilient to all the challenges of getting older.
The risk of cancer increases with certain lifestyle factors we have more control over, such as smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, and inflammation from obesity. But there are also factors that may lead to increased risk that can be harder to avoid, such as toxins in the environment. Screening tests can help you catch cancers early when they can be more effectively treated, so it's important not to ignore the recommendations for when you should start getting screened. Make those appointments!
Everyone's risk of developing each of these issues increases with age, but the odds can be helped or hindered by all the mileage of what's come before: factors like your eating habits, exercise habits, and weight maintenance over the course of your lifetime. All your choices over time compound to create your current health status.
Let's say someone decided at age 50 to do a complete 180 on their health habits. They start exercising and eating healthily, but up until that moment, they'd lived an inactive lifestyle and didn't really pay attention to what they ate (and didn't eat well). It's like walking through a muddy field for 50 years and then stepping into a room with a spotless linoleum floor: you're gonna track some mud in with you. But it's still better to step onto the linoleum rather than keep wandering around in the mud. It's a lot easier to walk around on a smooth surface rather than wading through muck, isn't it?
It might feel kind of scary to read about how important early prevention is for all of these age-related health issues, especially if you feel like you're late to the game or already have symptoms of one or more on the list. But what matters most is that you are taking steps towards a healthier lifestyle now. And that can be an incredibly empowering experience in itself. It's certainly not easy to break down old habits and build new ones, but by starting from where you are and making small, consistent changes over time, you'll give yourself the gift of not just a longer lifespan, but a longer healthspan.
Need help getting started with incorporating more exercise in your routine? The Restart! app meets you where you are and helps you improve your strength, balance, and flexibility to ensure you can stay active for as long as possible. Get on the list to be among the first to know when the app is available for download here: