22/10/2025
Many *diseases* are not diseases, but *normal *. The director of a Beijing hospital gave five pieces of advice to the elderly :
You are not sick, you are getting old .. Many *diseases* you think are not diseases, but signals that the *body is aging*.
1. *Poor memory* is not Alzheimer's disease, but a self-protection mechanism of the elderly brain. *Don't scare* yourself. This is the brain getting old, not a disease. If you just forget where you put your keys, but you can find them yourself, it is not dementia.
2. *Walking slowly* and having unsteady legs and feet' is not paralysis, but muscle degeneration. The solution is not to take medicine, but to *move*.
3. *Insomnia* is not a disease but the brain is adjusting its rhythm. It is a change in sleep structure. Don't take sleeping pills indiscriminately. Long-term dependence on sleeping pills and other drugs to fall asleep will increase the risk of falls, cognitive impairment, etc.*The best sleeping pill* for the elderly is *to get more sun* during the day and maintain a regular schedule.
4. *Body aches* are not rheumatism, but a normal reaction to nerve aging.
5. Many elderly people say: My arms and legs hurt everywhere. Is it rheumatism or bone hyperplasia ?Bones do become loose and thin, but 99% of 'body pain' is not a disease, but a slow nerve conduction, which amplifies the pain. This is called *central sensitization*, a common physiological change in the elderly. Analgesics are not the solution. *Exercise and physical therapy* are the adjustment methods. You can recommend 'foot bath + hot compress before bed + light massage', which is more effective than taking medicine.
6. Abnormal physical examination' is not a disease, but the index standards have not been updated.
7. The World Health Organization recommends that the physical examination indicators of the elderly should be *relaxed*. The same is true for cholesterol. The elderly have slightly higher cholesterol, but they live longer. Because cholesterol is the raw material for synthesizing hormones and cell membranes, too low a level can easily reduce immunity. The Guidelines for the *Prevention and Treatment of Hypertension* in China' also clearly pointed out that the blood pressure reduction target for the elderly is
