Are you suffering from diabetes, heart disease, or arthritis? Well, you’re definitely not alone! If you’re over the age of 65 and suffering from a chronic disease, you’re part of group that includes 80% of all seniors. At least that’s the finding of a new report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The report was an effort to understand how many seniors are dealing with health conditions and what can be done to help. “We are really interested in healthy aging and in ways we can promote healthy aging even in the presence of chronic diseases,” said Lynda Anderson, chief of the CDC’s Health Care and Aging Studies Branch.
The report allowed the CDC to see how individual states measured up to the national goals set in Healthy People 2010.
The report details the number of physically unhealthy days seniors experience, their frequency of mental distress, their oral health, and levels of physical disability. The report then evaluated physical activity, nutrition, obesity, and smoking amongst seniors.
The CDC also used the report to assess preventative care and screening. Screening categories included flu vaccine, pneumonia vaccine, mammography, colorectal cancer screening, preventative screening, and cholesterol levels.
According to the report national goals are now being met in mammograms, colorectal cancer screening, cholesterol testing, and the reduction in the number of smokers.
There are two areas, however, that are lagging behind; physical activity, and maintaining a healthy weight. “If we can point to a critical area where people can benefit, it is physical activity,” Anderson notes. “Physical activity can prevent functional decline, falls, and it may even improve cognitive health.”
Anderson calls the epidemic of obesity plaguing the U.S. ‘the hidden threat to senior health.’ “Obesity can undermine all the other good things that are happening,” she said. Only three states met the target for lowering obesity – Colorado, Hawaii, and New Mexico – and no state has met the target for physical activity, or eating fruits and vegetables daily.
What can you take away from this information?
Staying healthy is a real challenge for most seniors. Nutrition and exercise are still two of the best preventative measures you can take. A healthy diet, and some light physical activity can help you feel better. And it can help you fight off some
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Tags: health breakthroughs, obesity
