The Lunar New Year holidays are approaching. Holidays are a time when you can rethink the meaning of your family and check your parents’ health status, which you couldn’t take care of. However, the conditions are not good this year. A strong distance is being implemented in the aftermath of Corona 19. Even if you make a phone call to ask about your elderly parents’ regards, it is difficult to find out if there is a problem with your parents’ health. This is because many parents are hesitant even if they have health problems because their children’s concerns will increase. If you’re worried about this, it’s better to take a video call instead of a phone call. You can check the complexion through the screen. We looked at how to check the health of parents this year when meeting is difficult due to Corona 19.
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Difficulty making video calls leads to cognitive decline
The elderly complain of a lot of difficulties with using smartphones. As we get older, it is easy to think that it is natural because of the lack of learning skills, but if you do not perform properly even though you have learned how to use it several times, you should suspect cognitive decline.
There is a simple way to check. It is to have elderly parents make video calls to their children. As the method of making a video call with a smartphone has been simplified, it may be an early symptom of cognitive decline, such as a lack of concentration or comprehension, if it is not possible to perform several explanations. It can also be viewed as a sign of decreased visual acuity or hearing loss.
Jang Il-young, a professor of senior internal medicine at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, said, “If cognitive decline is noticeable, it is also related to dementia.” Dementia begins with a memory impairment. He said, “I have a hard time practicing it alone.” In this case, you need to find an expert and get an accurate diagnosis.
If the screen shakes too often during a video call, it may be due to a shaking (forward) symptom. It is easy to think that anyone complains of trembling in old age, but it is rare that a tremor occurs at the weight of a smartphone. If you have a flickering screen, you should check if it trembles even when you are alone.
If your behavior is slower than usual and it’s difficult to center, it’s likely that it’s not just a metaphor, but an early symptom of Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is caused by a lack of dopamine, a neurotransmitter. Dopamine is a substance that helps people move their body as they want. There is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, but finding and managing it early can control symptoms. This is why you should visit the hospital early.
Suspicion of sarcopenia if you have lost more than before
You should also look closely at the face of your parents on the screen. Losing a lot of facial fat in old age can be a sign of a health problem. Decreased cheek or jaw muscles are also seen as an indicator of sarcopenia.
If you don’t get enough nutrition and eat well for various reasons, the subcutaneous fat on your face will fall. Even when the ability to chew food decreases, the jaw muscles appear thin. Poor writing skills are more likely to have problems swallowing food.
Sarcopenia is a condition in which muscle mass decreases due to aging and muscle function declines. Loss of muscle mass is an unavoidable symptom in old age, but the quality of the muscles deteriorates. Muscle mass is judged to be’reduced’ when the skeletal muscle mass (kg) divided by the square of the height (㎡) is less than 7kg/㎡ for men and 5.7kg/㎡ for women.
Muscular strength is when the grip strength is less than 26 kg for men and 18 kg for women. Even when the usual step is less than 0.8m per second, it is considered as a decrease in muscle strength. Usually, loss of muscle mass and loss of muscle strength are considered as sarcopenia. With sarcopenia, steps are slow and complain of difficulties when sitting and standing up. Joint pain symptoms tend to get worse.
I am tired easily because I have no energy, and even if I take a rest, the fatigue does not disappear. Because of this, you often lie down. They often complain of dizziness and many of them lead to osteoporosis. Frequent falls and falls can lead to fractures or cerebral hemorrhage. The risk of sarcopenia in old age is that it can cause walking problems. The early use of a cane or wheelchair increases the rate of admission to nursing facilities and increases the mortality rate.
Professor Jang said, “There is no cure for sarcopenia yet,” and “It is good to do strength training, protein intake, and vitamin D supplementation at the same time.” Protein intake is more important for older people. If you have trouble eating meat, taking leucine can help. There is a lot of leucine in the egg. Eating 2 to 3 meals a day can help you get enough leucine. Vitamin D can be synthesized when exposed to sunlight. However, for most Koreans, it is not enough just to get in the sun. In this case, taking supplements is helpful.
Check muscle mass with both index and middle fingers
When conditions allow you to see your parents in person, there are more ways to check your health. A simple way to check muscle mass is to spread the thumb and index fingers of both hands around the calf. The amount of muscle in the body is generally proportional to the circumference of the calf. There is also a study that 82% of patients with sarcopenia have a calf circumference of less than 32 cm.
Make a large circle with the thumb and index finger of both hands and wrap the thickest part of the calf. If the circle made with both hands is large and the space is spared, the risk of sarcopenia increases by more than 6 times.
It is also important to check the medications your parents are taking. If you have chronic diseases such as high blood pressure or diabetes, you must take medicine. It’s also a good idea to follow the dosage instructions and write the date on the package or set an alarm for your phone.
Make sure your hands or feet aren’t too cold
If you’ve met your parents, make sure your hands and feet aren’t too cold. It is a natural phenomenon to have cold hands and feet in winter. It may be just cold hands and feet, but the possibility of vascular health problems cannot be ruled out.
Professor Ahn Hyung-jun of the Department of Transplantation and Vascular Surgery at Kyunghee University Hospital said, “Peripheral blood vessels deliver oxygen and nutrients to muscle cells. He said that the leg can be amputated due to tissue necrosis as well as gait disorders because the wound does not heal easily.”
People with peripheral arterial disease complain of a lot of symptoms of claudication, which causes pain in the calf or thigh after walking a certain distance. There are many symptoms of pale skin or rough and thick toenails. Usually, the risk factors are identified and medications are taken or blood vessels are pierced. The main cause of blockage of blood vessels is atherosclerosis. If severe, it can lead to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, so you should visit a hospital early.
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