Heart attacks are a scary health issue, and fortunately there’s a lot about her risk factors that your senior can control, like eating healthy foods and exercising according to her doctor’s recommendations. But there are other risk factors, too, that your senior doesn’t have nearly as much control over. These risk factors can be a little more frustrating to learn about because they’re not something your elderly family member can adjust.
Gender Makes a Big Difference
Women have a lower risk overall of having a heart attack, but not by much. And women are more likely to have symptoms of a heart attack that are mistaken for something else. The bottom line is that your elderly family member needs to start paying attention to heart health now, even if it hasn’t been a priority in the past.
Your Senior Is Aging
Older adults are at greater risk of having a heart attack, for a variety of reasons. As your senior ages, her entire body tends to become weaker and more susceptible to wear and tear. That means that her heart and the rest of her circulatory system could be experiencing difficulties that are more serious than she realizes. She may also be experiencing other health issues that are contributing to placing a higher workload on her heart and circulatory system.
Knowing Her Family History Is Important
If your elderly family member doesn’t already know much about her family history with heart disease and heart attacks, it might be important to see if there’s a way to find something out. Heart attacks can have genetic factors, which are impossible to control. But if your senior knows that she’s more likely to have a heart attack due to genetic factors, she can at least take better care of her heart overall.
So What Can You Do?
With all of this working against your senior, what can you and she really do? It might feel impossible, but it isn’t. First, follow the instructions that your senior’s doctor gives her. If that means making changes to her diet and to her activity levels, work towards making those changes happen. It isn’t always easy to make those types of changes, but even small progress can help.
Home care providers can make a big difference for your senior as she faces these changes. They can take over the complicated tasks, like meal preparation, and let her spend her time and energy on improving her health in general.
If you or an aging loved one is considering homecare in Palmetto, FL, please contact the caring staff at Home Helpers of Bradenton. Call today: (941) 499-5946.
