Growing older hits different for everyone—wrinkles, forgetting everything, including your grandchildren’s names, graying hair, loneliness, and constant “oh my hip hurts .” While you may not look, feel or act the same as a16 year old, you must enjoy life like everyone else, which means looking after your health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), senior American adults can live another 19.5 years on average after reaching 65 due to excellent health. This means careful management of chronic conditions and other health concerns affecting seniors, should be prioritized. But how will you take care of yourself if you don’t know what to look out for? This article explains the most common health concerns in seniors.

Heart diseases

Every part of the human body gets tired or worn out at some point—including the heart. Our heart starts to tire as we age which explains why many seniors have to deal with serious heart diseases in older stages. Conditions like high cholesterol, cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure also lead to more stress on the heart. To ensure that your heart is functioning properly, schedule several visits to the doctor for evaluation.

Physical injury

Unlike young people who fall, rise and continue with their business, older adults dread falling. A fall can easily lead to fractures, broken bones, and other injuries. Aging is also associated with shrinking bones and muscles that lose flexibility and strength, leading to loss of balance. More than half of people aged 60 and above have to deal with osteoarthritis, a natural process where the cartilage between joints wears with age. Lifestyle habits like smoking, lack of enough sleep, and poor feeding accelerate osteoarthritis. While hips are affected the most, hands, spine, feet, and knees may also get affected.

Depression

Your mental health is an essential part of keeping you happy and living a purposeful life. According to the World Health Organization, about 15% of senior adults suffer mental disorders. In most cases, it goes undiagnosed and untreated. A senior person who lives alone and has no social life or relatives is likely to develop depression due to loneliness. That’s why seniors are encouraged to join community projects, form groups to discuss their challenges with fellow seniors, and talk to their families.

Eye problems

Like any other body part, your eyes also age as you enter your senior years. You may develop different types of vision challenges like double vision, floaters, blurring, and myopia. Most people with healthy eyesight tend to become long-sighted, while others become short-sighted. These conditions are not life-threatening, but it’s essential to see an optician if you experience sudden eye pain, loss of color vision, double vision, or distortions. An eye exam can help detect these changes, and your optician can determine a healthy eye treatment plan for you.

Respiratory conditions

Seniors are more susceptible to respiratory conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, heart failure, or asthma, which worsens as you age. These conditions lead to shortness of breath and are the third most common cause of death, according to research done by CDC in 2014. Women are more likely to be affected by asthma, while men are more likely to deal with emphysema or chronic bronchitis.

Poor oral health

As you age, your gums grow weaker. There is also a likelihood that you have lost several teeth due to poor oral health. You may develop chewing and swallowing challenges, may end up skipping some meals, which worsens the condition. Most seniors tend to neglect their oral hygiene and may not brush, floss, or exercise their gums as frequently as needed. If you don’t look after your mouth properly, you may start dealing with periodontitis—a common bacterial infection affecting gums and bones around the teeth. Treating periodontitis is not easy as it graduates from gingivitis.