First, the functional characteristics of the digestive system of the elderly: the ancient saying: “the old man’s stomach is weak, accommodating less and late transmission”, “the old man’s intestines and stomach skin is thin, more is not eliminated, expanding the abdomen short gas”. In other words, the digestive function of the elderly is declining, as shown by the aging of the mouth, esophagus, gastrointestinal, liver and pancreas. Oral mucosa increases with age, salivary glands atrophy, saliva secretion decreases; tongue and bite muscle atrophy, chewing weakness, tongue taste buds decrease, taste perception is reduced; gum degeneration and atrophy, tooth loss; esophagus aging, peristalsis and contraction force is weakened. The gastric mucosa atrophies and gastric juice secretion decreases; from the age of 40, the secretion of pepsinogen decreases significantly, and the digestive effect of the stomach is weakened; about 35% of the elderly over 60 years old have low hydrochloric acid or lack of it, and the killing effect on bacteria entering the stomach is weakened or lost, and the release of glucagon is also reduced. The smooth muscle layer of the stomach thins or atrophies with age, and the contraction force decreases, making gastric peristalsis weakened and gastric emptying delayed, so the elderly not only have indigestion, but also often have constipation. Small intestine mucous membrane epithelial cells decreased, small intestine gland atrophy, small intestine fluid secretion decreased, a variety of digestive enzymes significantly decreased, digestion and absorption function are greatly reduced. Atrophy of the mucosa of the large intestine, decreased water absorption, reduced mucus secretion, atrophy of the smooth muscle layer, and slow intestinal peristalsis are the main causes of constipation. In addition, the liver, gallbladder, pancreas are aging, the decline in function, prone to hypoproteinemia, liver fibrosis, cholecystitis, cholelithiasis and diabetes and other diseases. Second, the elderly how to pay attention to the maintenance of the spleen and stomach: Chinese medicine cloud: “The spleen and stomach, the five organs of the clan; four organs of the gas, all endowed in the spleen.” “If you have gas, you will live; if you don’t have gas, you will die.” The importance of normal spleen and stomach function can be seen from the fact that “the spleen is the essence of the latter day”. Due to the physiological characteristics of the elderly, the function of the spleen and stomach is reduced, so we should pay special attention to their own maintenance. 1, diet in moderation: ① diet should be quantitative, avoid hunger and satiety or food is not fixed; ② diet should be warm, avoid too cold and too hot; ③ diet should be chewed, avoid swallowing; ④ avoid eating strong tea, coffee, raw garlic, chili peppers and other irritating food; ⑤ avoid eating hard, rough and indigestible food; ⑥ prohibit drinking high concentration of wine and long-term heavy drinking; ⑦ avoid eating unclean or moldy food; ⑧ eat more vegetable oil; ⑨ eat more fiber-rich Food, as well as high protein, high vitamin food. 2, adjust the mood: the elderly are easy to sentimental, easy to sulk, liver gas offending the stomach, easy to cause a variety of digestive system diseases, so we should pay attention to the mood and peace, optimism and generosity, calmness and emptiness. 3, regular living, adhere to exercise: should be in line with the laws of nature, with the weather cold and warm clothing, do not crave cold drinking cold. Pay attention to the combination of work and rest, appropriate exercise, varying from person to person. Avoid being sedentary and moving less. For example, some elderly people after retirement to pass the time, like to play mahjong, but must pay attention to play mahjong only as a hobby, do not as a “profession”, not overly concerned about winning and losing, pay more attention to the combination of work and rest, diet, especially not because of playing mahjong, and small diseases do not see, mistakenly into a major disease. 4, to avoid drug damage: the elderly often have some cardiovascular or endocrine diseases, so in ordinary times should pay attention to avoid the impact of drugs on the gastrointestinal and liver and other digestive system, such as some painkillers, anti-inflammatory drugs have an impact on the gastrointestinal tract, liver, etc., and even cause gastrointestinal bleeding, liver function damage, so should avoid drug abuse. 5, avoid superstitious health care products, early treatment of diseases: the elderly are often prone to superstitious health care products, coupled with the irresponsible propaganda of some manufacturers, exaggerating the functions of health care products, and some elderly people are too easy to superstition, and delay the disease, so the disease should be early examination, early treatment. A patient once encountered, because of the superstitious belief in a certain health care product, coupled with the fear of examination, and the fluke, began to have stomach pain, stomach distension, swallowing problems and did not seek medical advice in time, before and after taking several boxes of the health care product, the disease was delayed for half a year, and finally diagnosed as advanced esophageal cancer, which has lost the opportunity of surgery. Therefore, we should remember that health care products can only be used for health care, but not for curing diseases, and they will not cure all diseases. Severe atrophic gastritis is considered to be a pre-cancerous lesion of the stomach. However, the evolution of atrophic gastritis into gastric cancer is a long-term chronic process, and it is not necessarily an inevitable outcome, so patients with atrophic gastritis should pay attention to it, but do not need to be overly nervous. The efficacy of Chinese medicine in the treatment of atrophic gastritis is exact, and most of our patients can be transformed into superficial gastritis after systematic clinical treatment. 2, cholecystitis, cholelithiasis cholecystitis, cholelithiasis is also a common disease in the elderly, the elderly often have some other system of chronic diseases, such as heart disease, old slow branch, diabetes, etc., so often lead to a decline in resistance, tolerance, surgery is more difficult and so on. Therefore, once cholecystitis and cholelithiasis occur, attention should be paid to avoid spicy and oily food, avoid straining, take anti-inflammatory and biliary drugs frequently, avoid blind stone removal, once the onset of early treatment method, there are indications for surgery should be operated as soon as possible. 3. Gastrointestinal bleeding Gastrointestinal bleeding is also a common disease in the elderly, including upper gastrointestinal bleeding and lower gastrointestinal bleeding. It is mainly manifested as vomiting blood, black stool, blood in stool and other conditions. Once detected, seek medical attention immediately. Elderly people have poor tolerance, poor cardiopulmonary function, and it is not easy to stop bleeding, which can easily lead to shock and life-threatening due to bleeding. Moreover, the proportion of malignant tumors among the causes of gastrointestinal bleeding in the elderly is high, so a clear diagnosis should be made as soon as possible and effective measures should be taken as soon as possible. 4, elderly constipation Because of the loss of Qi, blood and fluid in the elderly, the gastrointestinal function is reduced, so it is easy to cause constipation. As the old saying goes, “If you want to live long, your intestines are always clear; if you want to stay alive, there is no shit in your intestines.” This shows the importance of keeping the bowels unclogged. Constipation not only affects the digestive function, but also can induce myocardial infarction, stroke and other serious pathologies, so constipation should also be given great attention. Constipation in the elderly should pay special attention to self-regulation, to develop more exercise, drink more water, eat more coarse fiber food, regular bowel movements equal to good habits. Can not rely too much on laxatives, because the elderly constipation more Yin and blood deficiency, so the treatment should be to nourish Yin and blood, laxative, do not abuse laxatives, but damage the right qi. Normally, you can eat more bananas, honey, black sesame, walnuts, white fungus and other foods. You can also take appropriate drugs such as marijuana pills, cistanche laxative oral liquid and other laxative drugs. 5, fatty liver fatty liver is a lesion caused by fat deposition in the liver, with the improvement of people’s living conditions, as well as drinking alcohol, pollution and other reasons, the incidence of fatty liver is increasing year by year. The incidence of fatty liver is also high in the elderly population. Once fatty liver is detected, we should pay attention to check whether there are other metabolic diseases, especially diabetes. In case of combined hyperlipidemia, we should pay attention not to use lipid-lowering drugs blindly, which will aggravate the burden on the liver. Early treatment of fatty liver is mainly to strengthen the exercise, obese people to reduce weight is very important; diet should be more vegetables, avoid high sugar, high fat diet; do not drink alcohol. Once liver function abnormalities are detected, liver preservation treatment should be actively carried out to prevent liver fibrosis and even the eventual development of cirrhosis. 6, functional dyspepsia because of the elderly digestive function, so functional dyspepsia is particularly common, often manifested as epigastric fullness, do not think about eating, early satiety, belching, or loose stools, etc.. These patients should pay attention to dietary regimen, avoid cold, spicy and oily food. In daily life, you can eat more food such as radish, yam, red dates, lentils, white fungus, coix seeds, gravy, hawthorn and other foods that strengthen the spleen and help digestion. Also pay attention to strengthening exercise, which is conducive to improving digestive function. If necessary, you can take appropriate drugs such as Baohe Pill, Xiang Sha Yang Gastric Pill, Si Mo Tang Oral Liquid, Morpholine and so on. The elderly should pay attention to some alarming symptoms of digestive system. Since the incidence of digestive tract tumors has been the first among all kinds of tumors for many reasons, the elderly should pay special attention to some alarming symptoms of digestive tract, such as unexplained weight loss, loss of appetite, jaundice to exclude pancreatic cancer and liver cancer; difficulty in swallowing, vomiting, epigastric fullness and pain, or vomiting blood and black stool to exclude esophageal cancer, cardia cancer and gastric cancer; diarrhea, pus and blood stool, or anemia. Diarrhea, pus and blood stools, or anemia should be noted to exclude colon cancer. Although we should not be alarmed, we should pay attention to early detection and treatment. In conclusion, diseases of the elderly are often complex and relatively difficult to treat, whether the treatment is timely and appropriate is an important factor affecting the regression of the disease, mental and emotional factors are also more important to the regression and prognosis of the disease, patients who are often in anger, depression, anxiety, fear, often promote and accelerate the development of the disease in a bad direction. In addition, diet, rest, climate change, living environment, and disease care can also affect the regression of the disease and should be taken seriously. Therefore, elderly people should pay more attention to health and disease prevention.