Prevention is the best treatment
How Muscovites are treated for old age
Tatiana Sudakova, Rossiyskaya Gazeta"I feel young and healthy, and when I look in the mirror, I'm already an old lady," my mother remarked somehow without humor.
Time is inexorable for each of us, it counts down year after year and does not spare anyone. But in fact, not everything is so sad. The main thing is just in this – to feel young and healthy, and not in what you see in the mirror. Humanity, according to the luminaries of gerontology, in general, has recently pushed the age limits. And now 50-year-olds seem to be forty-year-olds, those who are 60 will easily be given a head start by fifty-year-olds. And people still continue to actively hide their age, everyone wants to stay young as long as possible. So scientists are actively looking for wonderful means of Macropoulos, and yet you can live for 20-30 years longer thanks to the simplest rules. How? Let's ask the experts.
If you feel that age is beginning to come, the reaction weakens, memory deteriorates, blood pressure jumps, it is better to consult a geriatrician, or a doctor for senile diseases. Gerontological offices are being actively opened in the capital. It is planned that by the end of 2014 there will be 121 of them, now 37 are working in all outpatient centers of the city. To find out how Muscovites are treated for old age, I went to one of them – to the polyclinic No. 138 in the north of the capital. Here, geriatrician Margarita Kashtanova receives older patients.
– The specialty in which I work is relatively new for our polyclinic, but it is in demand. After all, every sixth patient of the polyclinic is elderly. The most important thing is that, unlike a regular district therapist, I can devote not 12 minutes to each visitor, as required by the regulations, but half an hour. It often happens that an elderly person comes to the doctor for an appointment, but due to haste, he forgets to say even the most important thing. In my office, he can talk without looking back for minutes.
– Margarita Anatolyevna, and at what age does a person get old? Some register themselves as old men right after 40.
Margarita Kashtanova: There is an age gradation. Up to 45 years old, a person is considered young, from 45 to 59 – mature age, from 60 to 74 – elderly, from 75 to 89 – senile, 90 years and above is the age of centenarians.
– And from how old can I become your patient?
Margarita Kashtanova: After 60. Although no one wants to register themselves as old men ahead of time. But younger people also come to learn how to prepare for age-related changes.
– And what do you advise to do first?
Margarita Kashtanova: Lead a proper lifestyle, give up bad habits, monitor your health. But we, in addition to giving advice, send a person for a full examination. I joke that youth is given to us in order to ruin our health, so a person always accumulates a whole bunch of them for retirement. There are also age-related changes that are difficult to avoid, but can be greatly facilitated. A person with age changes occur in the brain, he suffers from a lack of oxygen, which causes pain and noise in the head, ears, memory weakens. In addition, a person becomes predisposed to osteoporosis. The bone tissue becomes looser, it is easier to get a fracture. Be sure to send it for bone radiography. And then for treatment. Someone goes to the hospital, someone just prescribes treatment.
– But you still notice that older people now look much younger than, for example, ten or twenty years ago?
Margarita Kashtanova: Of course! Especially those who lead an active lifestyle, work, and engage in social activities. Some, however, the young may envy. But often it depends on people's lifestyle, their level of education, and their optimism.
– The more educated and more fun, the younger?
Margarita Kashtanova: The more the brain is busy with work, I would say so.
– Margarita Anatolyevna, how do you solve the psychological problems of pensioners? Do they come to you with such? Retired, felt useless to anyone, hence all the illnesses and ailments.
Margarita Kashtanova: I would say that this is the main problem of old age – lack of demand. Here come to us grandmothers who have little grandchildren, they are in a hurry, in a hurry, they have a lot of worries, they have no time to be sick. Then the grandchildren grow up, the grandmothers are treated less and less, and they feel lonely and forgotten by everyone. Lonely people are more likely to get angry and get sick. A lot depends on the family. Therefore, when a patient comes to us, we start working with his family too, communicate with children, ask for help, support the mother or father. We send them to a psychotherapist to help relieve the feeling of anxiety, change the mood.
– It turns out that old age is afraid of a good mood?
Margarita Kashtanova: You know how nice it is to look at elderly people who are well dressed, who do not lose interest in life. They come to take certificates for the pool. They are enrolled in all kinds of clubs, libraries. They also share novelties of literature with doctors. I have one patient, he is engaged in social activities at the age of 85, always cheerful and fit. You'll never give him his age. You need to be able to charge yourself with optimism.
– Do you have women more often?
Margarita Kashtanova: Much. Men are usually brought by their wives. Recently, a married couple was sent for treatment together. Men generally believe that as long as they do not go to the clinic, they are healthy.
– They are afraid that they will be dismissed. Do you know how often doctors say to all complaints: "What do you want at your age, young people get sick here!"
Margarita Kashtanova: I think as soon as the offices of geriatric doctors open in each polyclinic, there will be no such problem. Our elderly patients will finally be able to speak out and receive real attention from doctors.
Simple tipsIt is important to eat right.
- Meals should be fractional and frequent. Try to buy good products and not save on food, as elderly people often do, even if they have the means. The diet should include lean meat, fish, sour-milk products, fruits and vegetables. There must be fiber, so that there are no problems with digestion.
- Observe the drinking regime. Prepare yourself a liter of water for the day in the morning, but in no case drink immediately, you need to drink often and little by little throughout the day.
- Move more. Walk down the street, climb the stairs on foot. Go to exhibitions, museums. Swim in the pool, pamper yourself more often.
- Don't be angry.
- Train your brain. The best way is to learn languages, if you can't bring yourself, read, master the computer, write, in the end, solve crosswords, learn poems by heart.
- Communicate with friends, relatives.
- Get enough sleep. To do this, you need to follow the daily routine and go to bed at the same time.
- Take nootropic medications to improve brain function. It is better to consult a doctor for this.
It is important to know
If you want to get diagnosed quickly, but do not want to stand in queues at the polyclinic, you can contact the Health Center in your area. In each district there are "Health Centers" for both adults and children, where you can apply with a passport and a policy and in a couple of hours check the condition of the lungs, heart, the ratio of fat and muscle tissue, clarify motor reactions and emotional state. And get medical advice. If they suspect something serious, they will be sent for additional examinations.Numbers
About three million pensioners live in Moscow. Of these, pensioners over 80 years old – 318,901 people; centenarians from 90 to 100 years old – 34,960 people, centenarians over 100 years old – 655 people (five years ago there were 480).
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru25.04.2014