You are facing an unfortunate fact that your parents are getting older as the years pass by. They now have the harder time to wake up from the bed, climb the stairs, and to walk around outside the house. With this, it is your obligation to give the best care to them.
Geriatrics play an essential role in the life of every parent for their unique healthcare needs. It is the branch of medicine or social science that specializes health and care for the elderlies.
A geriatrician, on the other hand, is a doctor who provides the health and medication and treatment preferences of the senior citizen. They are the ones who examine and treat elder’s common medical problems such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Here are the top four hot areas in the field of geriatrics:
Cognitive Decline: Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)
Cognitive decline is considered as the primary area of geriatrics. It involves mostly of Alzheimer’s disease and other mental problems involving dementia. It is necessary for geriatricians to recognize this area to lessen the elders who will possibly suffer this type of medical problem.
Mild Cognitive Impairment is the conventional medical problem that your parents might face in their late adult stage of life. It declines their cognitive ability such as thinking skills and the memory. Having this type of disorder will increase the risk of acquiring dementia like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other similar diseases.
Although MCI is a mild disease, its symptoms are evident to those who are experiencing it. This disease is also likely to give you memory problems that might develop to dementia.
Amnestic MCI, which is the one that affects the memory, will cause the person to forget the necessary information quickly which they just recently say or remember. Nonamnestic MCI, on the other hand, affects the thinking skills aside from memory. It mostly jeopardizes your ability to judge time, judge your steps, and complete a series of tasks.
Unfortunately, there are still no medications found to cure this type of disease. But, it’s good to note that studies discovered some techniques to lessen the memory and thinking skills to decline.
Some of these techniques include proper daily exercise to achieve a much healthier heart and brain, avoiding the food that affects the cardiovascular risks to help defend heart and body systems that support the heart, and participate in some mental activities to maintain a proper brain operation. It is imperative that geriatrics will be able to address the cure to the cognitive impaired elders and MCI.
Depression
Depression is an area of geriatrics that doesn’t have such recognition and treatment to the elders who are suffering it. Having this type of disorder will affect how you act, feel, and think. Elders with depression have little to no chance to recover. The worst cases of depression to elders will result to heart attack to those who have diabetes or congestive heart failure. Depression is also accompanied by mortality or death if not treated.
But, proper treatment discovers the electroconvulsive therapy effective. It is the most common treatment to cure some bipolar diseases and depression. Besides, it is still recommended by professionals that exercise is still the best therapy for those who have depression.
Mobility
Mobility is becoming a known area in geriatrics. It refers to the movement of the elderly persons or their physical disability. Walking is recommended as one of the most effective treatments for physical disability. Walking with speed involves a lot of physical function including muscle strength, proper posture, vision, and healthy mentality which elders will benefit.
Nutrition
Nutritional status for elders keeps on changing every year. The changes in eating habit are the main reason for aging or physiological anorexia of aging. Being not able to eat the proper meal and decrease of snack and other eating practices lead to aging which will soon incur a significant possibility of undernutrition and mortality or death.
That’s why being able to recognize this area in geriatrics will help elders improve their health. Nutrition is vital to them to help cope up with aging. Also, good eating practice for elders will help them gain enough weight to support health and the body system.
Takeaway
Older people like your parents are the most important people in life. So, to properly take good care of their health will be a great help in extending their lifespan. Geriatrics are indeed one of the keys to giving extra lives of the elders through their brilliant ideas on how to treat their diseases.
Although aging and death are something that every person can’t control, what matters most is the fact that geriatrics are made to maintain healthcare for elders. You can catch some of this essential information for elders through https://www.partnersforhome.ca/ and other links on the internet or social media.