Prevention of respiratory diseases in the elderly in winter

  With the onset of winter, colds, chronic bronchitis, obstructive emphysema, and pulmonary heart disease, which are common respiratory diseases among the elderly, are making a comeback. These diseases often become the cause of chronic disease exacerbation and pneumonia in elderly patients. Among them, chronic bronchitis, obstructive emphysema and pneumogenic heart disease are often neglected at the early stage of the disease because of their insidious onset and slow progress, and the best time for treatment is often missed when serious complications appear and are seen.  It is caused by cold viruses and is mainly characterized by dry and itchy throat, sneezing, nasal congestion and clear nasal discharge, sometimes accompanied by low fever, mild chills and headache. The symptoms of chronic bronchitis, obstructive emphysema and pulmonary heart disease are different from those of colds and flu, but they usually appear in the age of 50 to 70 years old, mostly in autumn and winter, and are characterized by restricted airflow in the respiratory tract.  These respiratory diseases focus on “prevention”, in life, food, clothing, housing and transport to pay attention to the following details, you can avoid or reduce the occurrence of these diseases. First of all, clothing to keep warm and breathable, according to the temperature changes in a timely manner to add and reduce clothing, not blindly warm sweat and autumn freezing, jacket attention to lightweight, windproof, easy to carry, to adapt to the temperature difference between morning and evening and access to different places of temperature change; pay attention to the head, hands, feet warmth, to prevent cold. Secondly, food should be healthy, pay attention to the appropriate increase in the intake of acidic food to achieve the effect of appetite and beneficial effects, reduce the intake of spicy and stimulating food, while abstaining from smoking and alcohol, drink more water, eat more fruit, maintain good habits. Once again, in terms of housing and transportation, it is not advisable to close the house all day and sleep under the covers at night, open the windows and ventilate the house, and dry the bedding regularly; if there are patients with respiratory diseases in the vicinity, try to avoid contact or reduce the number of contacts, wear a mask when in contact, and wash your hands regularly to avoid contact with the source of infection as much as possible, and avoid abusing drugs and supplements. It is also necessary to exercise properly, choosing aerobic exercises such as walking and gateball to strengthen cardiopulmonary exercise. Last but not least, when it is clear that you are suffering from one of the above respiratory diseases or experiencing related discomfort and have risk factors such as smoking, you should consult a doctor promptly and regularly, do not add or subtract medications at will, and ask your doctor to develop a suitable treatment plan for you. At the same time, influenza and pneumonia vaccination for senior citizens in winter and spring is also an important measure to prevent the above common respiratory diseases.