The days are starting to get cold again. Fall has officially started and winter can’t be far behind. Head to the closet and take out your senior’s flannel sheets, crank up the heat in the home, and make yourself a cup of hot tea (or coffee, whatever is your Fall’s beverage of choice). We are going to chat about your senior’s immune system, a very timely topic especially with the threat of Covid19 still very much around us.
What weakens your senior’s immune system?
1. Age slows down the response time of the immune system.
Our body’s immune system is constantly defending itself on several fronts. From outside the body, it protects and defends against the harmful spread of bacteria or viruses. These can be through the air, water or liquids, foods, blood, insects (and their bites), and direct skin contact.
Inside our body, the functioning and strength of our immune system are affected by health, genetics, diet, stress, sleep, and many other factors.
Ugh, talk about being over 65. Is this when we officially call someone a “senior citizen” by virtue of eligibility to collect Social Security or draw from a retirement account? Tax-free.
Having said that, let’s add aging to the list of challenges to the immune system.
What this means is that the ability of the always-on-duty immune system typically decreases in our elder years.
This is a process also known as immunosenescence, a rather long and hard to pronounce term which simply means the immune system deteriorates as we age. Another ugh..
So with a slower response time, your elderly loved one is at increased risk of getting sick.
It increases the possibility of catching an infectious disease (such as Pneumonia and Influenza), and pathological conditions that are related to inflammation (such as rheumatoid arthritis) and autoreactivity (such as Lyme disease).
A deteriorating immune system is also one of the reasons why an illness such as Covid-19 is so prevalent among seniors.
Not only do they have to battle other pre-existing health conditions, but their weakened immune system is also unable to protect their bodies from this deadly virus.
2. Poor nutrition among seniors is a contributing factor to a weakened immune system.
A diet that’s lacking in necessary nutrients impairs the creation of their immune cells and antibodies.
Have you recently checked what’s in your senior’s pantry cabinet or inside the freezer?
Those tv dinners that they pop in the microwave oven are never a good source of good nutrition.
When your senior lacks nutrients, their white blood cells count decreases. These cells are important to help them heal or fight an illness.
Moreover, white blood cells have a shorter life span, typically 13 to 20 days.
This means your senior’s bone marrow needs to constantly make white blood cells to defend the body against potential infection, inflammation, or wound.
3. Mental stress in seniors is prevalent during these Covid19 days.
The coronavirus is still present in our environment. We are inundated by news of nursing homes plagued by it and the increasing count of their resident seniors who are at higher risk (due to reason I’ve already mentioned in #1).
But even outside of a nursing home environment, the older loved ones we have at home whom we’re protecting by a lockdown order may feel physically safer, but not from emotional distress.
Prior to this global pandemic, depression in older adults is already a common problem.
The ongoing pandemic is causing unprecedented mental stress among our seniors. There are feelings of isolation from the lockdown, confusion about the cause of the virus, and anxiety about their health.
4. Lifestyle vices like smoking and drinking alcohol are the culprits behind a weak immune system.
Did you know that each puff of cigarette smoke contains a mix of over 7,000 chemicals?
When you breathe in this smoke, it hits your lungs right away which means the blood that is then carried to the rest of your body contains these toxic chemicals. Moreover, the smoke contains deadly carbon monoxide. It displaces the oxygen in your blood, depriving your organs of the oxygen they need.
In other words, smoking suppresses your immune system.
Couple this with excessive alcohol consumption especially when in self-isolation, the strength of your immune system is completely diminished. It could also signal higher mental distress.
So, if your senior has been smoking and drinking alcohol, their immune support system is very likely to be compromised.
5. Chronic sleepless nights offends the immune system.
Toxin built-up during your waking hours are flushed out during restful sleep. Sleep restores your brain functions, poor sleep weakens your memory.
Not only does it weaken your memory, but it also impairs your reasoning, problem-solving abilities, and it decreases your focus and attention to details.
During sleep, your body boosts the production of proteins called cytokines. These proteins regulate inflammation and work closely with T cells (also called T lymphocytes), both of which are sent to your lymph nodes.
I know, it’s starting to sound technical now, but hang in here with me.
When your senior suffers from chronic sleep deprivation, it affects the production and transport of their cytokines and T cells to the lymph nodes which make them susceptible even to the common cold.
A drop in white blood cell count means a decreased ability to fight inflammation and infections.
How to Boost Your Senior’s Immune System
While you can’t control the age factor in this equation, you may be able to manage other lifestyle contributors – smoking, sleep, diet, mental health.
We can both agree that an immune system that’s healthy (as much as it can be, albeit old age) has the means to defeat invading antigens (foreign substances).
The United States’ National Library of Medicine (NLM) released its health and wellness information on decreasing the risk of an aging immune system. NLM is the world’s largest medical library and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Here are some of the best things you can do to help your senior. They most certainly can apply to you as well:
1. Go for the flu shot.
And if possible, avail of the pneumonia vaccine and any other vaccines their physician recommends.
2. Daily exercise is always a great booster of the immune system.
Your senior can do light yoga poses while sitting on a chair or do daily brisk walks around the block. Just remind them about safety and to put on their face covering while outside.
Mental exercises are also important to lower down their anxiety during this unprecedented health chaos.
You can check out the post here on How to Keep Your Senior Active at Home During Coronavirus.
Browse the list of some light physical exercises they can do. You can also download the PDF for a few fun mental exercises for them.
3. Superfoods like kale, strawberries, oranges, apples, garlic, grapefruit, and broccoli help the body produce more white blood cells.
To make sure they don’t experience adverse effects, consult first with your senior’s physician before consuming large quantities of any of these superfoods.
4. Always keep an eye out on how how much (or how little) water your senior is drinking in a day.
Drinking plenty of water means keeping the lymphatic system healthy. Water helps the lymph which carries white blood cells move easily throughout the body.
The elderly is always at a greater risk of dehydration.
The Age and Ageing Oxford Journals conducted a study on 200 older people who were admitted to the hospital.
37% of them were dehydrated. Of those dehydrated, 62% were still dehydrated 48 hours after admission. Overall, 7% of the participants died in the hospital – 79% of whom were because of dehydration at admission.
Make sure your loved one drinks plenty, or eat lots of home-cooked (low sodium) soups to supplement their water intake.
Note: alcohol does not count as a healthy liquid intake. On the contrary, it can cause dehydration. Which takes me to the next tip.
5. Limit their intake of alcohol.
Do they have bottles of hard liquor inside their china cabinet? Do they have a history of alcohol abuse?
I think the most important question is why your senior is drinking heavily.
There could be underlying emotional distress that hasn’t been addressed to this day and it might be a good idea to check in with a specialist.
If your senior is tight-lipped (most are, especially growing up during an era where feelings or problems were kept as private matters), find other indirect ways to get their hearts “open.” A good geriatric counselor may be able to guide you.
The pandemic has also created great anxiety among the elderly. Do what you can to stay connected with them with the aid of facetime technology.
Here’s my post on Lifting your Elderly’s Spirits During the Winter Months that might be helpful to you.
PS: Ask their doctor if half a glass of red wine is ok for them on a daily basis.
6. Encourage them to throw away the pack of cigarettes and never look back.
The fact is, smoking weakens their immune system. Try to explain how important healthy lungs are, most especially in the coronavirus time.
It won’t be easy, of course, if they’ve been smoking for years. But sometimes, fear is greater than the reward.
If they fear the Covid19 virus, and their lungs are susceptible due to smoking, it’s time they understand their vulnerability.
7. Take supplements such as Zinc.
Foods rich in zinc should be your first recourse. They are the beans, chicken, turkey, shellfish, red meat (easy on this if they have heart issues).
Ask their physician for any medicine interactions if your senior takes zinc supplement instead.
Zinc helps the immune system fight off invading bacteria and viruses.
The amount of zinc needed by the body will depend on their (or your) age.
One final thought:
Look into safety measures around your senior’s house to prevent falls and injuries. If they trip and fall and, heaven forbid, break a hip bone, their healing process can slow down if they have a weak immune system.
You can read my post on Making Your Senior Safe from Falls at Home, and pick 11 Tips on how to do so.
Always remember, the ability to fight off infection and other inflammatory illnesses boils down to your senior’s healthy immune system.
You can help boost it.
Hey, thanks for being here. Remember to subscribe below so you never miss out on useful tips and advice.
See you again next time!
Sources:
https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7288963/
https://www.rnceus.com/cbc/cbcwbc.html
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/gps.5320
https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/products-ingredients-components/chemicals-cigarettes-plant-product-puff
https://www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/health-information/keep-your-air-clear-how-tobacco-can-harm-your-lungs
https://www.news-medical.net/health/Effects-of-Tobacco-on-the-Immune-System.aspx
https://www.breatheright.com/amp/when-we-dont-sleep-well-our-immune-system-weakens.html
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/21199-lymphatic-system
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4621229/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4621229/
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?
