Ageless men’s health | stay healthy over 50

It’s no secret that the body changes as we age. However, we can make the process easier by taking care of our bodies. We can stay healthy longer by taking proper care of our bodies. Follow this advice to find out how to keep yourself healthy as you age.

NUTRITION AND AGING

As men age normally, their nutritional needs change. Getting older decreases your ability to burn calories, so you’ll need less food or lose your appetite

In addition to getting older, you will also need a different number of vitamins and minerals than when you were young. Some nutrients, such as calcium, iron, and vitamin B12, may be hard for your body to absorb. Consult your doctor or a registered dietitian

HEALTH ISSUES FOR MEN

Smoking, not exercising, and eating inappropriately are some of the most common causes of illness, especially as we age. You still have time to make some healthy changes!

In their 50s, men are more likely to suffer from the following four health problems.

1. Heart disease

The term heart disease encompasses many different conditions that affect the heart and arteries. These include heart attacks, chest pain, and arterial occlusion, cardiovascular disease  (CVD) is a general term that describes a disease of the heart or blood vessels.

Blood flow to the heart, brain, or body can be reduced because of:

• blood clot (thrombosis)
• build-up of fatty deposits inside an artery, leading to the hardening and narrowing of the artery (atherosclerosis)

There are four main types of CVD:

• coronary heart disease.
• stroke.
• peripheral arterial disease.
• aortic disease.

To reduce the risk of heart disease

Ⅰ.  Stop smoking

Among the risk factors, the most “easily” modifiable and the least expensive is stopping the consumption of cigarettes: stopping smoking and preventing thrombosis and infarction , reduces the risk of recurrence and mortality by 50%. when stopped after the onset of a heart problem. ” There is always a benefit to quitting smoking, in our cardiology department, 90% of heart attacks in a person under 45 affect smokers.

Ⅱ.  Adopt a healthy and balanced diet

Food is also important to prevent the increase in cholesterol: the diet recommended by cardiologists, the Mediterranean diet, allows you to make really warm and pleasant meals! Therefore, favor bread, fruits, and vegetables, fish, white meats, with few fatty types of meat, all while using olive oil, in seasoning or cooking.

Ⅲ.  Monitor your cholesterol and triglyceride levels

Your doctor has specific recommendations on how to screen and diagnose cholesterol problems. He must assess your cholesterol at least once before the age of 40. If you don’t have any risk factors, your total cholesterol and triglycerides should still be measured once. If everything is normal, no problem, he will redo you at 45 if you are a man, at 55 if you are a woman;

If, on the other hand, you have a risk factor, he must do a complete lipid assessment directly for you, in particular the dosage of HDL and the calculation of LDL. The LDL number and the number of risk factors will lead to either the prescription of a diet alone or the addition of a drug, such as a statin.

Ⅳ.  Treat your diabetes

Diabetes is known to damage blood vessels and promotes atherosclerosis. The risk of heart attack and stroke is then multiplied. It is therefore important to diagnose possible diabetes and to have an adapted treatment with regular follow-up.

Ⅴ. Manage stress

Stress is bad for health, increased blood pressure, and heart rate, weakening of the immune system… It influences the onset of cardiovascular diseases, including myocardial infarction. So try to fight your stress, this can go through the practice of a sport, meditation, relaxation, sophrology, consultations with a psychologist if necessary… find the solution that suits you and soothes you.

2. Prostate cancer

It is the most common type of cancer in middle-aged men. It affects the prostate gland, which is an organ of the male reproductive system. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. It occurs most often in older men: 66% of prostate cancers appear in men aged 65 and over. It is exceptional before 50 years. The main characteristic of this cancer is its generally slow evolution, over several years.

Around 50,000 new cases of prostate cancer are estimated in France each year. There is an increased risk of prostate cancer in case of multiple family history (at least two relatives affected), or in case of prostate cancer appeared in a young relative (before 45 years). The risk of developing prostate cancer is not influenced by having an adenoma, which is a benign tumor of the prostate.

Ⅰ.  The physical signs that alert

It is common for prostate cancer to cause no physical signs, especially at the start of its growth, because it generally develops on the periphery of the prostate and therefore does not interfere with the passage of urine through the urethra. Its discovery is therefore sometimes totally fortuitous on the occasion of a health check-up, for example. When the tumor comes to compress the urethra, symptoms of prostate cancer such as difficulty urinating, a need to push, frequent urges to urinate or pain while urinating may occur. But beware, the presence of these signs in humans more often reflects the presence of a simple benign adenoma than the presence of cancer.

Ⅱ.  How is the diagnosis made?

If prostate cancer is suspected, the doctor always first performs a digital rectal examination aimed at palpating the prostate and detecting any irregularities or altered consistency.

A blood test is also carried out to determine the PSA level, which is a marker of prostate pathology. If this rate is high or its progression is rapid, cancer must be suspected, but be careful here too, because a high rate does not necessarily indicative of cancer. Indeed, the PSA level can be increased for various other reasons: a digital rectal examination or recent sexual intercourse, prostatic adenoma, or prostatitis. Conversely, a normal PSA level does not exclude the presence of cancer.

If the suspicion is confirmed, a transrectal ultrasound (under local anesthesia) is then performed in order to perform biopsies of the prostate (using a needle) which alone allow the diagnosis of cancer to be established with certainty. Depending on the needs, various examinations such as a scanner, an MRI or a bone scintigraphy can then be performed to specify a possible extension of the disease.

Ⅲ.  Principles of treatment

In some cases, no treatment is considered at first, and simple regular monitoring is put in place due to the slow progression of the disease. In other cases, one or more combined prostate cancer treatments may be considered, always depending on each situation. The treatment is always adapted to the general state of health, the age and the degrees of extension and aggressiveness of the disease. Depending on the case, the proposed treatments may aim to:

• to cure cancer by seeking to destroy the tumor;
• to contain the progression of the disease;
• to treat the symptoms in order to ensure the best possible quality of life.

The different treatments used in prostate cancer include:

• surgery;
• radiotherapy;
• hormone therapy;
• and more rarely chemotherapy.

3. Gout

A gout is a form of arthritis caused by the presence of high levels of uric acid in the blood. It causes joint pain and can increase the risk of kidney stone formation.

To avoid gout, things that should be taken enrich amount:

• low-fat dairy products, three servings a day
• fiber, contained in whole grains, beans, as well as fruits and vegetables
• vitamin C found in bell peppers, citrus fruits, broccoli, and strawberries
• folic acid, which is found in beans, whole grains, almonds, and asparagus
• exercise

and things that you should must avoid:

foods high in “purine”, such as fish;(anchovies, sardines, herring, trout, salmon), shrimp, offal, soy, and dried boletes; red meats (beef, pork, lamb), limited to a 75 g (2.5 oz) portion; alcohol, especially beer. Stick to one drink a day.

4. Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a bone disease that affects one in three women after menopause. It is characterized by an accelerated decrease in bone mass, resulting in increased fragility of the bones of the skeleton which can break very easily. While women are the predilection victims of osteoporosis, men are not spared, however, since one in four fracture victims due to osteoporosis is a man Osteoporosis

Ⅰ.  WHAT ARE THE COMPLICATIONS OF OSTEOPOROSIS?

When bone mass decreases below a certain threshold, the bone becomes frail and brittle. Therefore, a trivial fall or, more rarely, a sudden movement can cause a fracture. The most frequent fractures are those of the wrist, vertebrae, or femoral neck. It can be a fall from the height of the person, a simple shock, or rarely, a spontaneous fracture (a bone that breaks on its own). A wrist fracture is frequently indicative of osteoporosis in women over 50. Vertebral fractures, also called vertebral compression, are very painful; if they are repeated, they lead to a reduction in size and, over time, the appearance of a bump. After 80 years, it is mainly fractures of the neck of the femur that are observed.

Ⅱ.  WHAT CAUSES OSTEOPOROSIS?

Our bones are the seat of a constant process of renewal. They are continuously, but very slowly, destroyed and rebuilt so that their structure is perfectly adapted to living conditions. During life, the skeleton is thus rebuilt four to five times. Bone strength is linked to the importance of bone mass, which increases during childhood, and especially during adolescence. Around the age of 20, we have built up our bone capital. From the age of 35, this bone capital decreases slowly, for both men and women. In these, bone loss accelerates at menopause, due to the decrease in sex hormones ( estrogens ). During the first years of menopause, bone loss is significant in 30% of women. Around the age of 65 to 70, the loss is almost identical for both sexes.

Obese people are less likely to suffer from osteoporosis. Accumulated fat produces substances similar to estrogens and the stresses imposed on the bones by being overweight promote the maintenance of bone mass. 

Secondary osteoporosis can be caused by long-term treatment with cortisone derivatives, by the treatment that puts the ovaries to rest (” artificial menopause “), untreated hyperthyroidism, or even other hormonal disorders (hypercorticism, hyperparathyroidism ). 

In older men, osteoporosis is often secondary to disease or hormonal imbalance. For example, prolonged treatment with corticosteroids, alcohol dependence, smoking, low testosterone, chronic gastrointestinal disorder, untreated hyperthyroidism, taking antiretroviral drugs for HIV / AIDS, chronic inflammatory disease, etc.