Health Essentials
Identifying the geriatric giants & taking appropriate steps
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This week I bumped into Deborah, one of my avid readers and I promised her I will be writing this weekend. So Deborah, this is for your reading pleasure and to pick some golden nuggets for the future.
The quest to find the best way to make one’s golden years, happy, exciting, healthy and a time most people look forward to continues unabated. One factor that keeps popping up is the need to grow friendships with people more than 20 years younger than yourself.
Do not take this for granted. It is a form of “social security” since these close friends who are much younger than you will step in to support you in more ways than you can ever imagine.
Some conditions may make life challenging for older adults but knowing these Geriatric Giants helps us to take the necessary steps to reduce our risk.
“Geriatric Giants” refers to a group of chronic health conditions that are common in the elderly, typically 65-year-olds and older.
These conditions quite often co-occur and can impact on the independence, dignity and overall wellbeing and quality of life of an elderly person.
These Geriatric Giants include:
- Impaired Intellect/ Memory (e.g. Dementia)
- one of the major battles we need to deal with is challenges with memory
- Exercise, adopt the Mind Diet, build a great social network and enjoy time outdoors
- Keep reading and solving puzzles for as long as possible
- Instability – leading to much feared falls
- A good reason to indulge in Balance Training and Core Strengthening exercises from today
- Ensure your home is safe; avoid clutter such as cables crisscrossing floors, toys etc. These are all trip hazards and should be avoided
- Many healthy, happy and fun-loving older adults have died soon after a fall with its attendant complications.
- Do whatever it takes to avoid falling
- Immobility (opening the doors to pressure sores, joint stiffness)
- Even when you are unable to move about on your own it is important to get support to change positions as often as possible or get an appropriate mattress or bed that prevents prolonged pressure over any single point.
- Make sure you passively or actively move joints daily.
- Incontinence (urine, faeces or both)
- This is one of the reasons older adults prefer to stay at home and avoid going out to meet friends etc.
- Iatrogenic Disorders – adverse effect of medication
- Quite often most older adults are on several medications and some side effects such as drowsiness may seem to cause more unhappiness and may even lead to falls.
- Inappetite – this may result in poor nutrition
- This may also be linked to loss of teeth thus making chewing very difficult or limited.
- The loss of smell and taste may also reduce the amount of food one may willingly eat.
The power to reduce the impact of the Geriatric Giants starts now and should be a lifetime commitment. It is never too early to start making the appropriate lifestyle modifications, nor is it too late to reduce the impact of the giants on one’s life.
Other conditions that significantly impact on the lives especially of the elderly are:
- Sleep Disorders
- Good sleep has the power to give us energy, improve our thought pattern and even helps us to make good choices.
- Good sleep sets the tone for a healthy life
- Constipation
- This is a challenge that confronts quite a number of older adults.
- Movement, fibre and lots of water go a long way to reduce the stress that frequent constipation generates.
- Fraility
- Muscle loss is real and as we age, we lose a significant percentage of our muscle plus our bones also become brittle.
- Make sure strength training is part of your exercise schedule
- Polypharmacy
- Another headache that needs to be confronted head-on
- Everyone especially older adults need a good primary care physician or a general practitioner who can coordinate all medicines from the different Specialists who may be attending to an elderly person. This ensures that unnecessary medicines are dropped
The goal of care at all times is to optimise the quality of life. As family, professional caregivers and friends we should always show respect so that the dignity of the elderly is preserved at all times. For those of us who are not yet in the age group with such challenges, we need to start the conversation about the type of care we will prefer and take steps to stay healthy and independent for as long as possible. The goal should be a long Healthspan and not just a long Lifespan.
AS ALWAYS LAUGH OFTEN, ENSURE HYGIENE, WALK AND PRAY EVERYDAY AND REMEMBER IT’S A PRICELESS GIFT TO KNOW YOUR NUMBERS (blood sugar, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, BMI)
Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel
Health Essentials Ltd (HE&W Group)
(dressel@healthessentialsgh.com)
*Dr. Essel is a Medical Doctor with a keen interest in Lifestyle Medicine, He holds an MBA and is an ISSA Specialist in Exercise Therapy, Fitness Nutrition and Corrective Exercise. He is the author of the award-winning book, ‘Unravelling The Essentials of Health & Wealth.’
Thought for the week – “There is no magic formula to being happy but making a conscious effort to be happy goes a long way.” – Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel
By Dr. Kojo Cobba Esse
I have over the past two decades looked beyond mainstream medicine to assess other options that lead to holistic health, and I must say it’s been exciting and revealing but it’s not an easy path.
As I matured and my knowledge expanded, I have changed my opinion on some aspects of wellness and many findings have been humbling. We all continue to learn each day.
I will share some of the life-changing skills that we take for granted. In our quest for wellness there appears to be more questions than answers, but moderation still remains key in our daily lives.
The power of prayer, praise and worship of God cannot be taken out of the equation.
Ready. Set. Let us do this together.
- Strength training is a must for ALL of us
- Yes, we all need to dig into the various aspects of exercise; strength training, cardiovascular training, stretches or flexibility training and balance training. If you asked me about a decade ago to pick the king of all exercises, I would naively have answered cardiovascular such as walking, cycling etc. but I am certain now that strength training trumps all and we need to incorporate at least a bit of that in our exercise programme.
- Take a short walk after each meal
- Many of us (your truly included) after dinner barely get to wash our hands before the miracle of the Lotus Eaters sends us to dreamland. Our fingers will be signaling to rats and cockroaches to come out and party.
- Walking a few minutes after eating may hold the key to helping control our blood sugar levels and reduce the spikes in insulin that come with a myriad of issues. At the very least the short walks after eating will add up to increase the energy you expend daily.
- Eating your vegetables and proteins before your carbohydrates may be helpful
- Well, how true may this be? I suggest it is worth trying. I am not saying clear your plate of all protein before you even take a spoonful of carbohydrate. The fibre will slow the absorption of the sugar for hours and even better, you may feel full after the vegetables and protein and not be able to gobble down the mounds of carbohydrates you had planned to dismantle.
- Eat slowly but do not get your boss angry
- Eating slowly does not mean spending hours at lunch and courting the displeasure of your superiors. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to realise you are full so dear friend, take your time to chew and enjoy your food. A meal “downed” in less than 20 minutes may cause you to virtually suffocate when you top up with water. This is a message to myself and all those who like me eat so quickly that Usain Bolt will envy our speed.
- Eat from small, colourful plates
- Small colourful plates make an impression on our brains. Since the little food appears loaded on a small plate our brains tend to “believe” it’s a lot of food and we feel full for a strange reason. Put the same amount in a large plate and you are likely to be asking for second servings.
- By all means make friends
- The power of social wellness and its role in longevity and an enviable health span is no longer in doubt. By all means make a few good friends and enjoy life! Thank me later.
- Sleep!
- Yes, I do agree there are at least seven forms of rest, and they are all equally important BUT start off with sleep and we will gradually rope in all others.
- Keep your eyes on your numbers
- I have written and spoken about the miracle of knowing our numbers and keeping them in check; blood pressure, blood sugar, lipids and BMI. Today I suggest you look at your heart rate closely. A low heart rate may be an indicator for staying here on planet earth for a long time. Also keeping glycated haemoglobin (long term blood sugar) low is another feather in the cap of longevity.
- Appropriate supplementation
- The golden rule is to get all your nutrients from your food but for many of us that may not be possible hence the need to supplement ( note that supplement overdose does exist)
- It is ideal to discuss supplementation with your healthcare professional and your discussion should look at probiotics, magnesium glycinate, Vit D3 + K2, a good multivitamin and in some instances creatine or whey Protein. I am in no way suggesting you take all these, each individual is unique and that is why it is crucial to discuss your options with a professional.
- Make a conscious effort to be HAPPY
- Happiness affects our entire being in positive ways; smile, say a kind word to someone, be grateful, surround yourself with people who make you happy and not ones who sap your energy, volunteer to support people and by all means get a hobby eg gardening, playing a game etc and the best get news yet; you don’t even have to be good at your hobby to benefit.
We are not waiting for a magical or ideal day to start working on our Health and Wellness, we start today bearing in mind that “the most efficient way to reach our realistic health and wellness goals is to make small healthy choices daily.
AS ALWAYS LAUGH OFTEN, ENSURE HYGIENE, WALK AND PRAY EVERYDAY AND REMEMBER IT’S A PRICELESS GIFT TO KNOW YOUR NUMBERS (blood sugar, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, BMI)
Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel
Health Essentials Ltd/ Medics Clinic
(dressel@healthessentialsgh.com)
*Dr. Essel is a Medical Doctor with a keen interest in Lifestyle Medicine, He holds an MBA and is an ISSA Specialist in Exercise Therapy, Fitness Nutrition and Corrective Exercise. He is the author of the award-winning book, ‘Unravelling The Essentials of Health & Wealth.’
Thought for the week – “WHERE YOU LIVE SHOULD NOT DETERMINE IF YOU LIVE.”- WHO
Very often we leave the doctor’s office only to remember that we left out a major complaint. Some patients immediately rush back to the consulting room totally oblivious of the privacy that the next patient is entitled to.
They expect that as they walk in, the doctor should ignore the seated or positioned patient and attend to them. That is totally outrageous. Others go home and continue to live with the condition hoping to be healed miraculously.
Most of us will be extremely lucky to spend 15 minutes with our doctor and this time is often much shorter in countries/communities where the doctor-patient ratio is so low that at best it can be described as criminal.
We are now in the second half of 2026, and I highly recommend that you see a doctor not only when you are unwell but as a means to assess your state of wellbeing and take the needed precautions. It is critical that you find a good primary care doctor who is knowledgeable and proactive and will also be able to coordinate specialist care that you may require.
To make the most out of our time with the doctor we need to PREPARE. If your condition is an emergency, then you do not have the benefit of time to prepare.
A must do!
Kindly ensure your personal hygiene is excellent.
- Take a good bath and brush your teeth
- Wear clean clothes that also make undressing easy, especially if you need to expose some areas for inspection/examination.
This may sound ridiculous, but the opposite does happen in real life.
Remember that doctors are human and when you are unkempt you may not get adequate contact with your doctor.
Research on the symptoms
If you have access to the internet or a book worth its salt you may read about your symptoms or wait to read after your doctor tells you your diagnosis.
Remember that if you need to research on the internet, it is essential that you use a reputable site.
In tune with your complaints
- Write down your complaints/symptoms if you think you may forget.
- If you have had a similar problem and have the results of any investigations e.g. Laboratory tests, x-rays, CT scans etc kindly carry them along
- Let your doctor know if you react to any drugs.
- Be truthful about any medications you have taken for the condition, if you do not remember the names make sure you go with the containers.
- If you have any other medical conditions (and medication) make the doctor aware.
- Remember to make a note of the following
- When did the symptoms/complaint begin?
- How long have you had these symptoms?
- Is it getting worse?
- Does anything make the condition worse?
- What makes you feel better?
- Is anything related to their onset?
- How often does it occur?
- How long does it last e.g. in pain conditions as well as rash, allergies etc.
- Does anyone else in your family have them?
- How do they affect your daily life?
- Is it related to work or home?
You may need to modify these slightly when you have skin lesions, swellings etc. This list is by no means exhaustive, and you may not need to find answers to all of them before getting help, but they will definitely help you ace the visit to your doctor.
If your doctor books you for surgery, do not leave his presence without finding out the following:
- Will you go home on the same day of the surgery?
- Will you need assistance to go home or can you drive unsupervised for instance
- What form of anaesthesia will you be given?
Then, if your visit is for a medical examination, do remember that also being aware of disease conditions in your family will help your doctor select the appropriate tests and make the whole experience and time useful.
Finally do not leave your doctor without finding out:
- How much physical activity/exercise you require; the Almighty “FITT” prescription
- What you need to eat or avoid.
- Some basic information regarding SLEEP.
See you in the consulting room soon.
AS ALWAYS LAUGH OFTEN, ENSURE HYGIENE, WALK AND PRAY EVERYDAY AND REMEMBER IT’S A PRICELESS GIFT TO KNOW YOUR NUMBERS (blood sugar, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, BMI)
Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel
Health Essentials Ltd (HE&W Group)/Medics Clinic
(dressel@healthessentialsgh.com)
*Dr. Essel is a Medical Doctor with a keen interest in Lifestyle Medicine, He holds an MBA and is an ISSA Specialist in Exercise Therapy, Fitness Nutrition and Corrective Exercise. He is the author of the award-winning book, ‘Unravelling The Essentials of Health & Wealth.’
Thought for the week – “The next big thing in Healthcare in Ghana is the Medics Clinic. Visit https://medicsgroupgh.com/ for more information.”
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