We know that age changes us, even if we try to evade the consequences of the passage of time. Some subtle changes, however, are nonetheless very significant. Ignoring these possibly harmful changes of aging can be hazardous to your health – but addressing them can mitigate the harm. Seniors Guide writer Terri Jones explains.
As you age, you go through a sort of metamorphosis: your skin wrinkles and your hair thins, you gain inches in unexpected places, and everything aches when you get out of bed in the morning. You may forget why you opened a cabinet door or walked into a room. But some changes do more than just affect your appearance or limit your activities.
Beware of these harmful changes of aging
The following changes could impact your health, so be on the lookout – and take action when needed.
1. Muscle loss
Maybe you’re having more difficulty walking up stairs or carrying your groceries. This could be caused by loss of muscle mass, called sarcopenia. In your 30s, you begin losing muscle – 3% to 5% per decade; however, that percentage of loss accelerates as you age. Between ages 50 and 70, you can lose up to a significant 30% of the tissue that helps you move, breathe, pump blood, and digest food, among many other functions.
With sarcopenia come many health risks, including limited mobility, which can cause falls and fractures. Muscle mass loss can also cause your cardiovascular and pulmonary health and your ability to fight off infection to decline. It may even shorten your life.
What to do: You can slow age-related muscle loss by strength training, which uses resistance from either your body weight or free weights, elastic bands, or specialized machines to build muscle. Also be sure to incorporate quality sources of protein in your diet as well as carbohydrates and healthy fats like avocados, nuts, and fatty fish to fuel your muscles.
2. Bone loss
Among the harmful changes of aging, this is perhaps the most insidious. “Bone constantly remodels – old bone is broken down and new bone forms. But in osteoporosis [a condition that causes bone loss and thus a higher risk of fractures], breakdown exceeds rebuilding,” explains Katherine D. Van Schaik, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of musculoskeletal radiology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. While an estimated 10 million Americans age 50 and over have osteoporosis, most of them may never have a single symptom until they break a bone. Some unexpected warning signs might be neck or back pain from small vertebral fractures, loose teeth from bone loss in the jaw, loss of height and brittle nails, which could mean that you’re not absorbing collagen properly or getting enough calcium in your diet.
What to do: To prevent osteoporosis, participate in weight-bearing exercises, like walking, dancing, stair climbing, and weight training. These activities support bone remodeling to build more bone – or at least slow the loss.
Make sure you’re getting sufficient calcium and Vitamin D through your diet or supplements, and avoid smoking and alcohol. Because osteoporosis is a virtually silent disease, you should get a DEXA scan to measure your bone density – at age 65 for women and 70 for men. If you have risk factors for the disease, your doctor may suggest an earlier scan. If the scan confirms osteoporosis, your doctor may prescribe a medication to combat the loss.
3. Clumsiness and loss of balance
Yesterday, you dropped a glass as you unloaded the dishwasher. A few days before, you collided with the doorframe as you rounded the corner too fast and have a large bruise on your shoulder to show for it! As harmful changes of aging go, this one seems innocent, but the consequences could be worse than a broken glass or a few bruises.
First, a variety of age-related reasons could account for clumsiness, but medical conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, arthritis or diabetes, can also wreak havoc on your coordination.
Also, when balance declines, falls become more frequent, which can result in fractures, head injuries, and loss of independence.
What to do: Get a good night’s sleep to improve your focus and stability. It’s also beneficial to participate in exercise programs like yoga and tai-chi to improve balance and in resistance training to build muscle. Activities like knitting and jigsaw puzzles can also improve hand strength and fine motor skills. However, if you’ve suddenly become more accident-prone or fallen during one of these mishaps, you should see a doctor to rule out medical causes beyond old age.
4. Diminished taste
Does your favorite pasta dish or apple pie not taste as good as it used to? Aging can cause a decrease in the olfactory nerve fibers in your nose, compromising your sense of smell. And since smell accounts for about 80% of taste, that loss can make food taste bland. Plus, damaged tastebuds don’t regenerate like they used to, and each tastebud that you do retain becomes smaller. Certain medications or medical conditions, such as COVID 19, polyps in your sinuses, and even neurological diseases, can also impair these senses.
Why is this considered one of the harmful changes of aging? When you can’t taste your food, you may not get sufficient calories, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals, causing you to lose or gain weight or worse yet, become malnourished.
“From limited studies with aging adults who report a loss of smell, we know they are less likely to conform to dietary guidelines and [more likely to have] poor dietary quality when compared to the guidelines standards,” explains Caroline West Passerrello, M.S., RDN, LDN, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
What to do: Try activating your tastebuds with spices like sage, thyme, rosemary, or with intense flavors such as garlic, ginger, or hot pepper. Lemon or lime juice can also accentuate flavor. Additionally, you can try giving your food more visual appeal. For example, perk up a simple green salad with a variety of colorful veggies or add drizzles of sauces or garnishes to your plate. Sometimes incorporating different textures, like crunchy granola or chewy raisins, can also support a healthy appetite.
5. Body temperature
When you think of your grandmother, you may remember her huddled beneath a huge, crocheted afghan in front of the TV. Now that you’re her age, you find yourself grabbing the blanket off the back of the sofa more and more often. While normal body temperature doesn’t vary much with age, it does become harder to regulate body temperature.
There are a few reasons for this temperature regulation problem, including a slower metabolism, less fat beneath your skin, and decreased circulation. Heat can be more harmful to older bodies due to a decreased ability to sweat for less of a cooling effect. Plus, certain medications as well as medical conditions, such as diabetes, thyroid diseases, and cardiovascular diseases, can impact your ability to tolerate both cold and heat. This harmful change of aging is why seniors are more likely to suffer illness or death during extreme hot or cold weather.
What to do: Dress warmly and in layers. Drink warm beverages in cold temperatures. Avoid alcohol, which can accelerate heat loss. In the heat, remain in cool, air-conditioned spaces as much as possible and drink plenty of liquids to avoid dehydration.
6. Dehydration
When you stop and think about it, you’ll probably realize that you don’t get thirsty as often these days – another consequence of aging. To compound the effects of feeling less thirsty, declining kidney function and certain medications can cause you to have to urinate more frequently. This set of circumstances create a perfect storm for dehydration. In fact, up to 40% of those over the age of 65 experience chronic dehydration, which can lead to fatigue, confusion and even life-threatening infections.
What to do: The National Academy of Medicine recommends that men over 51 drink 13 cups of water and women 9 cups daily (includes water contained in other beverages as well as in hydrating foods like watermelon, cucumbers, and soups). To achieve this amount, always keep your cup or water bottle within easy reach, flavor your water with healthy additions like fruit, or drink through a straw, which can increase the amount you drink.
7. Poor sleep
Remember when you could sleep until noon or fall asleep anywhere and at any time? Around midlife, you start getting about 30 minutes less sleep every 10 years. The period that you sleep also shifts earlier, plus you may also find yourself waking up repeatedly through the night and not easily getting back to sleep.
Despite the misconception that older people need less sleep and the challenges in getting adequate slumber, the National Sleep Foundation still recommends that you get seven to eight hours per night. You need to combat this, as one of the harmful changes of aging, in order to prevent health risks such as cardiovascular and cognitive decline, weakened immunity, diabetes, weight gain, and balance and coordination issues that could cause falls.
What to do: Get plenty of exercise during the day and establish a consistent sleep schedule. Make your bedroom conducive to sleep, turning off all technology at least an hour before bedtime, lowering the thermostat, and closing the blinds. Jing Wang, MD, associate professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, even suggests removing your clock or at least covering it up to avoid repeatedly checking it.
8. Snoring
Light or occasional snoring usually isn’t a health issue, but if your bed partner says that you are gasping for breath between snores, you may have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). This condition occurs when the muscles in the back of the throat relax during sleep and block your airway. When you stop breathing, your brain alerts you to breathe, but this disruptive cycle not only impedes your slumber, but it could also lead to heart failure, liver problems, and type 2 diabetes.Despite the health risks, OSA often goes undiagnosed. Michigan Medicine researchers reported that 56% of those 65 and older have a high risk of obstructive sleep apnea, but only 8% have been tested for it.
What to do: If you suspect that you might have OSA, see your doctor. They will do a physical exam and, if necessary, a sleep study. If diagnosed with this sleeping disorder, your doctor may suggest that you make certain lifestyle changes like losing weight, quitting smoking, or increasing your physical activity. They may also prescribe a CPAP machine, which uses a mask to deliver constant air pressure to help keep your airways open.
9. Urinary incontinence
When you get older, it’s common to occasionally leak urine when you cough or sneeze. Or your urge to go may sometimes be so sudden and intense that you aren’t able to make it to the toilet in time. Urinary incontinence or loss of bladder control becomes more common with age because the muscles that support your bladder lose some of their strength. A number of medical conditions can also cause incontinence, including urinary tract infections (UTI), constipation, enlarged prostate or prostate cancer in men, and neurological disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and stroke. It can even be brought on by certain medications and by food or drinks that act as diuretics.
At first, incontinence may seem like only an inconvenience, but over time, it can lead to skin infections (from being perpetually wet), UTIs, and embarrassment.
What to do: Limit foods and drinks that can irritate your bladder, including alcohol, caffeine, and spicy or acidic foods. Also, maintain a healthy weight so you’re not putting undue pressure on your bladder and the surrounding muscles. Exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor can also help.
Getting older is rife with changes. If something new is happening with your body and you’re unsure what it means, make an appointment with your health care provider. Chances are good that it’s just a normal part of aging and nothing to worry about, but it’s best to make sure – and to counteract when needed. Maybe your metamorphosis won’t turn you into a butterfly, but it also shouldn’t have a negative effect on your life!
