Q4. In which areas of caregiving should mosques provide greater support for elders?

Singapore will become a super-aged country by 2024, with one in every five residents being 65 or older, and its residents are among the world's longest living. According to a Lancet study, Singapore's average life expectancy at birth will rise from 83.3 years in 2016 to 85.4 years by 2040, putting it third among the 195 countries studied.

You may have noticed that as people age (especially between the ages of 65 and 75), they lose muscle mass and strength. Sarcopenia is the progressive loss of muscle mass and strength. It is related to age. Muscle weakness is the primary symptom of the condition.

Because the elderly are frequently weak and frail, cardiovascular or low-intensity exercise is usually the first choice. Although these training plans are beneficial, they are not as effective as strength-based resistance training in terms of increasing muscle strength and size.

In fact, if done gradually and under the supervision of a professional, strength-based training has been suggested as an important and valid way to reduce problems caused by sarcopenia.

Our ability to focus for extended periods of time typically declines as we age. People between the ages of 60 and 75 have a shorter attention span than people between the ages of 18 and 30. A decrease in neurotransmitter levels in the brain, such as serotonin and dopamine, could be one explanation. It is also possible that if you do not use that information or skill on a regular basis, you will lose this facility, as well as the ease of use and retrieval. Thus Train Your Brain to keep it active (even if the elderly suffers from early and mild dementia!)

Furthermore, ageing has an impact on an individual's mental health.

Loss of relatives, financial dependence and a shrinking social circle all contribute to daily worries about the future. And if they have medical or physical challenges that limit their mobility, these additional stresses and barriers have a significant impact on their mental health.

Despite the fact that there is a lot of evidence linking physical activity (PA) and mental health, exercise training as a treatment for mental health is limited by the uncertainty of how the elderly with different mental health domains will respond to it and how much it will benefit. However, some exercise and physical activity are required. Many exercises for the elderly can be done in the comfort of your own home while sitting, standing, or lying down! There are many exercise examples for the elderly on YouTube.

Our community is still unaware of the changes and effects of ageing, as well as what can be done to stay healthy. None of us wants to be a burden to our families when we get older. While we can see physical changes, we do not know much about the physiological and biological changes that occur within our bodies, at the cellular level, in our brain, and with our five senses. Knowing what changes are coming as we get older can help to decide whether you want to make changes or adjustments to your lifestyle, diet, or environment as you get older.

Sedentary living is a curse of modern life. With the Malays' love of sugared drinks, carbohydrate-rich and santan-based dishes, fried and sweet snacks, and processed foods, such indulgence consumptions made in our youth and middle-age years will bear its consequences in our mid-60s and later years. And yet many are not bothered to take up physical activity even at moderate levels! Some things can cause an inflammatory response that cannot be stopped, leading to chronic disease that can be fatal.

Points to Ponder

In a 2021 study by Fong, (Leisure-time physical activity and its correlates in a multi-ethnic sample of adults over age 50 in Singapore), controlling for sociodemographic and health characteristics, her findings revealed significant ethnic differences in regular LTPA participation. In particular, Malay Singaporeans were less likely to engage in leisure-time physical activity than their Chinese counterparts.

NATIONAL POPULATION HEALTH SURVEY 2020 – Select Statistics

• Malay males (32%) and Malay females (11%) had the highest proportion of daily smoking (Graph 2.1)

• Malay females had the highest proportion of diabetes mellitus at around 15%. (Graph 4.1)

• Malay females had the highest proportion of hypertension at 35%. Malay males (40%) had the second highest proportion with hypertension compared with the Chinese (42%). (Graph 5.1)

• Malay females (40.0%) had the highest proportion with high blood cholesterol compared with the Chinese (35.3%) and Indian (34.3%) females. (Graph 6.1)

• Malay females had the lowest proportion of undergoing mammography at 18%. (Table 8.1)