Dr. Tanju Yılmazer, Medical Director of the Home Health Unit at Private Izmir Gazi Hospital and Specialist in Family Medicine and Elderly Health and Care, answered frequently asked questions about the currently popular topic of "Active and Healthy Aging."
What does active aging mean?
Efforts towards making the aging process successful and active are increasing worldwide. Successful aging is to continue getting older without entering the disease process by supporting the changes that occur with aging with a positive lifestyle, aiming for a healthy long life. Active aging, on the other hand, is the creation and optimal use of opportunities for health, social participation, and security in order to improve quality of life as people age.
How do you define healthy aging?
Nowadays, instead of the concepts of patient and disease, the importance of "being healthy, healthy living" has increased. An important dimension of the definition of health or state of being healthy is the ability to do what one wants. This subject gains even more importance in advanced age. The World Health Organization has also addressed healthy aging on the basis of "functional ability" in its "World Report on Ageing and Health."
What does functionality mean in aging?
Aging is an inevitable and irreversible process involving time-dependent changes in individuals. It also has psychological, socio-cultural, economic, and social dimensions. Biological aging can be seen differently in everyone, but the main goal in elderly follow-up is to live a higher quality, more productive, and independent life. Protection of elderly health, improvement of quality of life, and active aging are conditions that should be emphasized at least as much as medical problems. We should all fulfill our responsibility to develop individual and social awareness about an active, productive, peaceful, happy life, and healthy aging.
What is your approach as the Home Health Unit of Private Izmir Gazi Hospital?
Chronic diseases are more common in the elderly. Healthy nutrition, physical exercise, staying away from smoking and alcohol, and conducting regular health screenings can ensure a life away from many chronic diseases. Preventing diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and smoking will reduce vascular risk and delay aging and dementia. In the elderly, the musculoskeletal system should be checked regularly from an early age because functionality must be preserved in the elderly. Daily care practices for individual hygiene such as foot care, skin care, oral/dental care, and regular health check-ups also increase the quality of life. Administering flu, pneumonia, and shingles vaccines to the elderly will also be preventive. We care about all these issues.