Caregiver Corner
By Jennifer Beach
Mr. Smith is 69 and Mr. Jones is 79. Both men had severe flu this past winter. Mr. Jones fully recovered. Mr. Smith has not; he has never returned to where he was prior to getting the flu this past winter. The difference in outcomes is often frailty.
Most people hear the word “frail” and think of a person who looks old, thin and weak, but frailty is not about how someone looks, it is about how much reserve they have left. Frailty is when your body can’t get through and recover from illnesses and injuries on its own. It means your body has less ability to absorb stress.
A “stressor” doesn’t have to big; it can be a mild illness, a medication change, a poor night’s sleep, a minor fall or a hospital stay. Your body is more vulnerable with frailty, making it harder to recover with less ability to bounce back when something goes wrong. As it worsens, frailty can disable you. It can keep you from doing day-to-day tasks that are part of being self-sufficient. It can also shorten your life expectancy.
Frailty and physical weakness are not the same thing. With frailty, your endurance, mental health and brain function also play a role. Frailty is like a spectrum, ranging from least severe to most. And frailty can happen to anyone, not just adults over 65.
Think of your health like a bank account. It covers the cost of everything you do, from simple things like breathing to complex tasks like running to the grocery store, cleaning your house or maintaining your yard. It also includes your ability to recover from injuries and illness. The bigger your balance in your “bank account” (your health), the farther from frailty you are.
When your reserves in your the “health bank account” are low, small things stop being small. This is why Mr. Jones fully recovered and Mr. Smith did not. The flu left Mr. Smith with less strength, less confidence in doing things, and slower mobility. Frailty is often the reason behind why we can each go through something yet have different outcomes.
Frailty doesn’t happen overnight; it builds slowly. You begin to walk a little more slowly, a little less often; fatigue lasts longer; doing routine things becomes a little more difficult; we don’t bounce back from things like we used to. It is not just aging or muscle weakness.
The real reason is that your reserves are shrinking, and when your “health bank account” is low on reserves, ordinary “stressors” (i.e. a cold) creates unusual outcomes. It does not have to be a crisis that changes your daily life; rather a slow quiet slide into frailty, into a body that has no more reserves left in your “health bank account.”
How can we prevent frailty? We need to make regular deposits into our “health bank account.” We need to build up our reserves.
Ways to do this:
- Stay active – move your body daily
- Maintain weight
- Eat nutritious food daily
- Stay properly hydrated daily
- Practice good hygiene by washing hands
- Maintain preventive care by going to annual appointments including dental, hearing and vision
- Create a safe home environment (grab bars, remove trip hazards, proper lighting at night)
Frailty isn’t just about physical weakness. It’s your body’s way of signaling that it can’t handle the strain it’s under. While frailty is most common in people over 65, it isn’t inevitable. It’s never too early to take steps to prevent or delay it. Make those daily deposits into your “health saving account.”
