Maintaining health becomes difficult for seniors. Most of them have multiple disorders to deal with due to deteriorating body systems. Every organ needs individual care and attention in this regard. Moreover, most seniors cannot care for themselves and rely on others. Hence, seniors often encounter various health and social issues living a communal life.
They need explicit care and treatment. As a result, health care physicians and experts must guide them to live healthy lifestyles. In particular, they require guidance on maintaining various organs in their bodies. Among them, the most notable one is caring for their liver health. The liver is one of, if not, the main detoxifying organ in our body. Hence, it needs considerable care in this regard.
Significance of Liver
The liver is the detoxifying and cleansing organ. It keeps the body clean and free of toxic elements. This organ acts as a filter. It eliminates all the harmful substances while passing on the remaining essential elements in the body.
This organ also filters every drug and pharmaceutical product. Hence, maintaining a healthy liver is essential when you have other chronic illnesses as well.
Consequently, this large organ in the body filters the blood and purifies it. It takes part in the production of bile – a green, viscous fluid that emulsifies fat droplets.
Moreover, the liver stores the excess sugar in the body as glycogen. It regulates the blood clotting process and removes harmful pathogens from the blood.
A weak and failing liver compromises and weakens the entire body. Therefore, it is essential pay special attention and care for it early on.
Ways to Maintain Liver Health in Seniors
A healthy, young adult’s body has a self-healing characteristic. This means that the body heals itself naturally without receiving any external care. However, seniors’ bodies lack this mechanism. They require prompt care and treatment to avoid any complications.
A good practice is to go to the nearest hospitals or clinics to your home and get in touch with a physician. This is especially needed when your long-time specialist is in another state or city. Even if you are taking care of your body well enough, emergencies are bound to happen.
Moving forward, experts suggest some health tips to eliminate the hazard associated with liver functioning, and we’ve listed them down for you.
1. Maintaining Your Weight
Obesity is linked with many disorders, such as hypertension, stroke, myocardial infarction, diabetes mellitus, liver dysfunction, among all others. Therefore, maintaining weight is essential to curb these health issues. Being overweight or obese can lead to fat deposition in the liver parenchyma. This condition is called fatty liver or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Although this is a reversible condition, its consequences are grave. It affects the excretion of bile and impacts the digestion process. Therefore, health experts suggest seniors control their weight by eating healthy and exercising.
2. Intake of a Well-Balanced Diet
A healthy lifestyle can make your body fit and strong. Eating healthy prolongs your age and keeps your body part in proper shape. Hence, experts advise seniors to take fiber from cereals, whole grains, bread, vegetables, and fruit. Taking an adequate amount of low-fat milk, cheese, good fat, and meat is also beneficial for the liver’s health.
Health professionals suggest seniors to avoid consuming saturated fat, refined carbohydrates, a high-calorie diet, and sugar. It upsets the natural balance in the body and causes various liver diseases. Moreover, keeping the hydrated body boosts the normal functioning of the liver. Therefore, a well-balanced diet is another way to keep the liver healthy.
3. Regular Workout
Exercising keeps the liver and other organs functioning properly. It is a remarkable way of maintaining a healthy body. Workout stimulates the body’s muscles and activates the mitochondria, it then regulates the body to start burning triglyceride molecules in the fat. This happens to be the best way of getting rid of unwanted fat.
Fat also gets deposited on the liver. It restricts the liver from functioning properly. If a senior needs medical assistance regarding his incapacity to work out or if they experienced any trouble during, he may consult any medical officer. Moreover, he can type “medical officer near me” on any search engine for immediate consultation.
4. Avoid Toxins
The liver is responsible for clearing the blood from toxins. If you continue to intake toxins in your diet, this significantly impacts the liver’s working capacity. These toxins come from pesticides, insecticides, aerosol products, etc.
Therefore, experts request seniors to regularly consume home-grown or organic vegetables. Moreover, they should wear a mask when going outside. It will inhibit the contaminants from entering the body. This way, by avoiding toxins, a senior can care for his liver’s health.
If you need more insight on what types of food are good for you, schedule a consultation with your doctor or with a physician near you.
5. Avoid Alcohol and Drug Usage.
Alcohol and drugs are other examples of harmful toxins to our bodies. They deteriorate cells, body functions, and, ultimately lead to organ failure. Moreover, alcohol abuse can cause tissue necrosis and breaking.
Continued consumption of these harmful substances in old age leads causes overexertion of the liver. As the organ is primarily responsible for cleaning, it simply cannot keep up causing it’s damage and eventual failure.
Moreover, alcohol overuse can lead to fatty liver disease. Therefore, experts suggest seniors to avoid these toxic chemicals as they can harm their vital organs like the liver.
6. Avoid Contaminated Needle
Health professionals advise seniors to take care of personal hygiene. Moreover, they must be cautious when visiting the hospital for regular check-ups. Unsafe injection practices can have grave and detrimental consequences. They may get contaminated with various infectious diseases, such as hepatitis.
Hepatitis is the inflammation of the liver. It targets the liver’s anatomy and functioning.
7. Get Proper Medication
Primary care physicians often prescribe preventive medicine to keep the body in shape. Most of the time, they suggest the consumption of vital supplements and nutrients to replenish the body’s needs. It should be a given that seniors should follow the instructions and take their medicines on time. This way, they can prevent or lessen organ damage.
Further, seniors should take vaccination related to certain viruses which attack the liver. Seniors should take the dose of vaccine for hepatitis A and B. This way, they can protect their liver against any virus attack.
But, precautions must be made before and after vaccinations. It’s best to have it in a medical office or in the hospital, just in case there are emergency situations, and to monitor them better.
Conclusion
The liver is an integral part of the body. A person cannot live without this delicate organ. Moreover, a liver transplant is the only option in case of liver failure. However, many fall prey to tissue rejection and die.
Seniors should try to preserve this vital organ by following all these instructions. They must avoid the intake of hazardous substances. Further, they should opt for better and healthier lifestyles to sustain and preserve their liver.
