Our parents are the best gift in life. They gave us life and gave us their all to raise us up. As a gratitude for their unconditional love, we should give them all the love they deserve. 

Sometimes we are so busy growing up, we often forget that our parents are growing older as well. As our parents grow older, their physical health may deteriorate as well. Aging is an inevitable process of life, therefore we should be taking care of our health by practicing a healthy living habit. 

According to the World Health Organization(WHO), common conditions in older age include hearing loss, cataracts, back and neck pain and osteoarthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, depression, and dementia. Let’s see if your parents are facing any of these health issues:

• Loss of skeletal muscle, strength and function. 
• The consequences of sarcopenia include physical disability, impact on quality of life, inability to care for themselves and an increased risk of mortality.
• They should consume adequate amounts of nutrients such as protein, vitamin D and HMB, and be physically active to increase muscle strength and muscle mass.

• A syndrome in which there is deterioration in memory, thinking, behaviour and the ability to perform everyday activities.
• Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and may contribute to 60–70% of cases.
• Studies show that people can reduce their risk of dementia by getting regular exercise, not smoking, avoiding harmful use of alcohol, controlling their weight, eating a healthy diet, and maintaining healthy blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels.

• Vision loss among the elderly is a major health problem. Approximately one person in three has some form of vision-reducing eye disease by the age of 65. 
• Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of loss of vision in people over 65 years of age.
• Risk factors for AMD include advancing age, family history of AMD and cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension and cigarette smoking.

In order to reduce the risk of these health issues, we can encourage our parents to develop good living habits and towards healthy aging. Healthy aging is defined as “the process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables wellbeing in older age.” A healthy lifestyle for the elderly includes:

Physical activity helps maintain the ability to live independently and reduces the risk of falling and fracturing bones.

Lots of activities can keep their mind active and improve their memory, including learning new skills, reading, and playing games.

• Healthy eating allows us to get an adequate amount of nutrients everyday, it does help with the elderly health. Healthy diet provides us with adequate carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber.