In this article,Let’s newsciencez.com learn more details below:Useful Ways To Manage Diabetes In The Elderly
Diabetes is often a life-long condition and requires careful treatment. By sticking to your meal plan changes, exercise, and medication plan, you can live a long and healthy life. Managing diabetes in the elderly can require special care and effort. The primary reason for this specialized care is due to the prevalence of medical conditions and the existing decline in health due to old age. To help older people with diabetes to stay healthy and active, here are useful ways to manage diabetes in the elderly you may need.
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Ways To Manage Diabetes In The Elderly
1. Eat healthily to manage diabetes
Managing diabetes in the elderly through the right food choices is different from managing diabetes for young people. Old age diabetes does not always require you to reduce fat, salt, or sugar due to different lifestyles. For instance, people living in old age homes are most likely to be underweight than being overweight. In such cases, lowering your fats can create further complications, including morbidity and mortality.
2. Make water your primary beverage
With age, we become more prone to dehydration. For diabetic seniors, this is terrible news. When the water level in the blood decreases, the sugar concentration automatically increases. Drinking lots of water is the best explication. It is also advisable to remove juices or carbonated drinks from the diet as they don’t offer hydration and increase sugar levels.
3. Stay active and exercise regularly to manage diabetes
Exercise helps keep diabetes under control. Even 30 minutes of aerobic activity like walking five times a week, can keep glucose levels checked. Always make sure to avoid a sedentary lifestyle. Seniors who sit for long hours watching TV or those who do not exercise have developed complications.
Try to incorporate activities like gardening, painting, bird-watching, and yoga, into your daily routine.
You can split up the exercise into 10-minutes of activity 3 times a day. In addition, do strength training such as free weights, resistance bands, or yoga, at least 2 times per week. Strength training builds muscle and helps control glucose levels. Talk to your healthcare professional to see what exercises are right for you.
4. Check glucose levels regularly
Your healthcare professional will tell you how and when to check your blood glucose level. In general, people taking insulin, those who are having a hard time controlling blood glucose levels, or have hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) need to monitor their blood glucose levels regularly.
Older people with diabetes are at higher risk of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) when taking diabetes medications, making it especially important to check your glucose levels. Symptoms of hypoglycemia include confusion, dizziness, hunger, and sweating.
If you or a loved one with diabetes shows signs of hypoglycemia, eat 10-20 grams of sugar or carbohydrates (1/2 cup juice or soda, 4-5 crackers, 1 teaspoon of honey, or glucose tablets) and retest the blood glucose level after about 15 minutes and repeat these steps if the levels are still low. Seek medical attention if the blood glucose levels don’t get better and tell your healthcare professional if you have hypoglycemia often.
5. Practice stress relief techniques
Did you know that increases in stress levels can negatively impact blood sugar levels?
The fight-or-flight response that’s triggered by stress doesn’t work properly in people with diabetes and can spike blood sugar levels.
Help your older adult practice positive self-care techniques like meditation, yoga, developing a new hobby, or even getting a massage.
6. Prevent and treat hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia is a condition where the blood sugar levels go lower than the normal range. A hypo occurs when sugar levels are less than 4mmols/l. Since old age diabetes can cause fluctuations in the sugar levels more often than normal, the risk of the elderly suffering from hypoglycemia is higher.
Hypoglycemia is generally treated by the consumption of fast-acting glucose. This could be a sugary drink or sugar tablets followed by starchy food such as sandwiches or biscuits. In a case where you feel the condition is still deteriorating, immediately call an ambulance. One of the recommendations for managing diabetes in the elderly would be to keep a hypo box with instructions handy at all times.
It is further helpful in diabetes management to have regular meals and snacks containing carbs. Moreover, monitoring of blood sugar levels at frequent intervals is recommended for better management and prevention of hypos.
In conclusion, here are some useful ways to manage diabetes in the elderly. Hoping that this information is helpful to you.
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