Health Risks for Ageing Parents: Expert Tells How to Care for Them

Updated Aug 11, 2024 | 11:28 AM IST

SummaryDo you have elderly parents at your home? Are you struggling to understand them? Do your grandparents deny when you offer them help or assistance? Is this something that happens in your house regularly? If yes, then this can help you navigate helping the elderly at your home. Read on to know more.
Health Risks for Ageing Parents Expert Tells How to Care for Them

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As you grow old, your health starts to deteriorate. Everything, whether it is your mental health or your physical health, starts to slow down. However, with age, your mental health gets overshadowed by your physical health.

Signs You Should Note
Neha Sinha, a dementia specialist and CEO and Co-founder of Epoch Elder Care, with the experience of 15 years notes that with age accessing social spaces becomes a hassle. “You are not able to go out because it is not accessible anymore or is not safe. This leads to loneliness. You start to withdraw from all social gatherings, and this leads to a deterioration in your mental health,” she points out.

If you note these signs in your ageing parents or grandparents, take note of it. Try to get involved with them. It is also important to ensure that they have a separate social circle apart from the family. This way, they can have friends who they can also relate to.

With age, suggests Sinha, you are more prone to be depressed, and anxious. “Mental health conditions like schizophrenia or bipolar disorders are not something that happens when you grow older. You may have been living with these for the last 40 years, but the management differs, she suggests.

As you grow old, your symptoms start to overlap with other mental health conditions. For the proper treatment professionals use differential diagnosis, suggests Sinha. “The lines become blurred and to differentiate the symptoms from one mental health condition to another becomes difficult,” she says.

Preventive Measures
While there are ways like performing brain quizzes and optical illusions to keep your brain functioning, Sinha says that not many studies have been done on it. Thus, it cannot be guaranteed that it will help. However, it surely helps keep your brain active.

There are also food habits like eating leafy vegetables, nuts, fish, virgin coconut and beans that help with brain functions.

Sinha suggests that keeping a social circle and continuing your hobbies can help your mind stay healthy. “Men especially face this issue, after they retire, they feel like they are at the loss of authority, and they start to lose control. It is thus important to keep doing things and learning a new skill to keep your brain active. While for women, since they continue taking care of the house, their brain stays active,” she says.

Cognitive stimulation is the key, especially to managing dementia, she notes.

“Just with weight training, you push your body and after a while, it becomes your muscle memory. Same with the brain. However, one should not get into solving too many puzzles, or trivia after being diagnosed with dementia. Because that would mean you are making your already injured brain exercise which might lead to agitation,” she recommends.

How to support?
It is important to know the ways you can support your ageing parents after they have been diagnosed.

“The most important part is for the caregiver to understand what is happening and come to terms with the conditions. Because the elderly with cognitive conditions are not able to understand, they cannot be told or instructed to do anything. Thus, the responsibility is solely on the caregiver,” points out Sinha.

So, what can be done?

Awareness
Sinha suggests that the caregiver must understand that most cognitive conditions in ageing parents is progressive. “Even if you give your 200%, the condition will progress, you must not blame yourself for it. But you can delay the progression by creating a healthy environment.”

Reach out to therapists and counsellors to know the ways to create such a healthy environment.

Be Patient
With progressive neurological conditions, the capability to communicate also deteriorates. “If you have a million words in your vocabulary, your parents might have a handful. So, it is important to pay attention to their needs,” she says.

She suggests adopting the same approach that you do with kids and with your pets. This is when you focus on gestures, body language and mood over language. Due to cognitive disorders, parents experience a loss of language and the only way to communicate and to understand what they are communicating is through these means.

Be Empathetic
The earliest sign of dementia is short-term memory loss. “This means that your parents may not remember what they had or breakfast or if they had breakfast at all. But they will remember their childhood stories. You may be confused if there is at all a memory loss since they remember old stories, and you might think they are doing this on purpose. But this is not the case,” she says.

Create a healthy environment by agreeing with them and listening to their stories. The responsibility of creating a safe environment is totally with you.

There might be times when your parents may do socially unacceptable or non-compliance behaviour. But it is important to understand the triggers and ensure that the triggers do not occur anymore.

Help Them Stay Fit
It is important that they physically stay well, and do not get any infections or don’t suffer a fall. For that, you can use the help of technology like motion sensors. GPS tracker is another way you can keep a check on them. “There is a tendency of wandering off and being unable to find your way back. In these cases, a GPS tracker can help,” she says.

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Protein To Stop Brain Decline, New Study Finds

Updated Jun 1, 2026 | 10:30 AM IST

SummaryA recent study of PLOS Biology suggests that the protein called menin can impact aging. The study shows that the deficiency of the protective protein can cause inflammation, memory decline, and other age-related changes.
Protein To Stop Brain Decline, New Study Finds

Credit: Canva

The brain is a crucial component of the human body. It is an integral part of the whole system, but when the body ages, the brain does too. The brain is the organ that plays a big role in the aging process. The brain protein is an important component of the body, and can positively impact inflammation, memory decline, and other age-related changes.

A recent study conducted by PLOS Biology claims that the brain protein Menin loss can be crucial to inflammation, memory decline, and other age-related changes. The researchers in the study used mice as test subjects and tried to restore the very protein in them, which worked marvelously; aging conditions were completely reversed.

The study found that aging can be highly influenced by the hypothalamus, a strong brain region that regulates metabolism, hormones, body temperature, sleep, and stress responses. According to the researchers, the hypothalamus is a central command centre for aging.

The research was done by Lige Leng and colleagues at Xiamen University in China and mainly focused on the Menin. They intended to see what the impact would be if someone lost this very important protective protein. The study on mice shows that when Menin levels drop in the hypothalamus, it causes faster aging.

The study specifically used young mice and reduced menin levels; as a result, they faced brain inflammation, thinning skin, lower bone mass, impaired balance, memory problems, and a shorter lifespan. Thus, the conclusion of the research was that menin is likely to act as an anti-aging component in the body.

How Much Protein Do You Really Need?

Your protein needs aren’t one-size-fits-all. They depend on several factors: your weight, age, physical activity, body composition goals, and overall health status.

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for the average adult is 0.36 grams per pound (0.8 grams per kilogram) of body weight. This amount is to meet basic nutritional needs in most sedentary adults.

However, experts suggest that physically active people often need more, anywhere from 0.54 to 0.9 grams per pound (1.2–2 grams per kilogram) per day. Athletes may even require higher amounts to support muscle repair and performance.

Certain groups, such as pregnant or breastfeeding individuals, older adults, and people recovering from illness or injury, also have increased protein needs. For example, during pregnancy, the recommendation rises to about 0.5 grams per pound (1.1 grams per kilogram).

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Breaking Free from Nicotine’s Grip

Updated Jun 1, 2026 | 09:26 AM IST

SummaryEvery year, tobacco claims millions of lives silently and relentlessly. On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, observed on 31 May, the world is reminded that tobacco remains one of the leading preventable causes of death.
World No Tobacco Day: Breaking Free from Nicotine’s Grip

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco use kills over 8 million people globally each year, including non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke.

India continues to face a massive burden of tobacco addiction. Cigarettes, bidis, gutka, pan masala and khaini continue to affect millions, including young adults. This year’s WHO theme- “Unmasking the Appeal: Countering Nicotine and Tobacco Addiction” focuses on how flavoured products, attractive packaging and social media marketing are making nicotine products appealing to the younger generation.

Tobacco damages nearly every organ in the body. It is strongly linked to cancers of the mouth, throat, voice box, lungs, food pipe and bladder. In India, oral cancer remains one of the commonest cancers, largely driven by smokeless tobacco use. Tobacco also increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes, chronic lung disease, infertility and poor immunity.

Many people mistakenly believe that e-cigarettes and vaping are “safe alternatives.” However, e-cigarettes still contain addictive nicotine and harmful chemicals that can damage the lungs and cardiovascular system. They may also act as a gateway to conventional tobacco use among teenagers and young adults. Recognising these risks, India banned the production, sale and advertisement of e-cigarettes under the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2019.

The encouraging fact is that quitting works at any age. Within weeks of stopping tobacco, blood pressure and lung function begin to improve, while long-term risks of cancer and heart disease reduce significantly.

Simple Steps To Quit Tobacco

* Fix a quit date and inform family and friends.

* Identify triggers such as stress, tea, alcohol or social gatherings.

* Avoid keeping tobacco products nearby.

* Stay physically active and hydrated.

* Seek professional counselling if cravings are severe.

* Nicotine replacement therapy or prescribed medications may help selected individuals.

* Remember that relapses can happen and restarting the quit journey is still progress.

World No Tobacco Day is not just about awareness but is a call to action. Choosing to quit today may be the single most important decision for a healthier and longer life.

(Dr Akshat Malik, Senior Consultant, Head & Neck Oncology, Apollo Hospital, Delhi)

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Breast Cancer: New Genomic Test May Help Patients, Opening Personalized Treatment Options

Updated May 31, 2026 | 10:00 PM IST

SummaryThe Optima trial by the University College London shows that a new genomic test may detect the risk range of breast cancer, and if it's low, then it allows avoiding chemotherapy and choosing hormone therapy.
Breast Cancer: New Genomic Test May Help Patients, Opening Personalized Treatment Options

Credits: Canva

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research - National Cancer Registry Programme (ICMR-NCRP), India reports about 220,000 new cases every year, and the common treatment procedure for this disease is chemotherapy, which comes with profound fatigue, hair loss, nausea, compromised immunity, and nerve damage.

The University College London led the Optima trial, which studied over 4000 patients with the disease in different parts of the world, and a low score on the genomic test could be mediated with only hormone therapy.

The trial’s chief investigator and a professor of breast oncology at UCL, Professor Rob Stein, explains that the study used tumour biology to guide decisions instead of relying on traditional clinical procedures.

The research had 4,429 women participants above the age of 40 years with hormone-positive breast cancer. These patients were then divided into two groups based on the genomic test results by the researchers, and one group with a higher risk was given chemotherapy along with hormone therapy, while the others were only treated with hormone therapy.

What Is Breast Cancer?

Breast cancer refers to the uncontrolled growth of the cells that are found along the inner lining of breast tissue. This out-of-control growth of cells leads to the formation of tumours. The tumour can be “invasive”, meaning that it spreads to the nearby tissues outside the breast, or “in situ”, where the tumour does not spread outside the breast region.

Usually, the “in situ” type of tumour is non-cancerous and non-life-threatening. However, in the case of invasive tumours, the cancerous cell mass can spread to the lymph nodes and further metastasise, that is, spread to other body parts. About 80% times the breast cancer cases are invasive. Hence, upon noticing symptoms like lumps, changes in breast shape, or abnormal nipple discharge, you must promptly consult a doctor.

While both men and women can develop it, in 99% of cases of breast cancer, women are seen to be affected by it. Only 0.5 to 1% of men are affected due to this condition. Furthermore, the condition is mostly prevalent in women aged 50 or older.

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