Geriatric Care: Maintaining Emotional Health

   When we talk about the older population, typically over the age of 60 years, we tend to focus just on their physical health.  We often overlook the aspect of their emotional health. Older adults go through a lot in their life.

They deal with personal and professional losses. With progressing age, these tend to overshadow their personality leading to lots of psychological issues. 

Emotional Wellness: What Is It?

In theoretical terms, emotional wellness is defined as the state of feeling happy while functioning effectively in day-to-day life.

It is visible in old people as they have a jolly mood, a positive outlook on life, are engaged in positive activities, are social, and have active physical health. 

Old people often have to deal with loneliness; the loss of their loved ones, and failing health and this leads to them being irritable, withdrawn, and depressed.

For a community to be healthy, it is important to ensure that the older population is equally happy and content. We will discuss this aspect here.

Why Emotional Wellness Matters Along with Physical Wellness

A bad emotional health can cause substantial damage to physical health. It is equivalent to smoking 10 cigarettes per day. Bad emotional health comes with the loss of will to live, loss of appetite, constant bad mood, and lots of other symptoms.

Major emotional issues faced by the aging population are:

Depression:  About 7 million Americans over the age of 70 suffer from depression. It is due to their loneliness and further fueled by medical conditions. It is also genetic and environmental. It also leads to insomnia and eating disorders.

Loneliness: After the age of 70, many people lose their spouses, friends, and loved family members. This leads to the feeling of loneliness. They do not find themselves appreciated and included. The feeling of grief fuels this and they tend to become more irritable.

Loss of purpose: With retirement comes the realization that you are no longer needed in your workplace. The feeling that you are replaceable often makes people distressed. They lose their purpose of living.

Addictive disorders: Many people suffer from addictions in their active years. This gets worse in their later years, and this also leads to their bad emotional health.

Alzheimer’s and Dementia: These cause forgetfulness, loss of physical balance, and worsening emotional health in the older population.

How to Improve Emotional Health

Maintaining good emotional health is as important as maintaining a healthy and active body in older adults. Here are a few tips to keep them psychologically fit.

1.Keep them active

 It is important to keep the elderly active. Engage them in an hour of morning walk followed by a group yoga session with their counterparts.

Research has proved that an early morning walk and yoga keep stress away and stimulate the secretion of dopamine, the feel-good hormone. 

Also, when they interact with people in their group, it creates a bond. They can share their worries and joke away the situation. It will help keep the tension away.

2.Engage in a hobby 

The human mind tends to wander and overthink. This is especially true when you have gone through 60-70 years of life and have seen lots of unfavorable situations.

Another aspect is that a normal person is too engaged in their active years in their job, paying mortgage and raising children. And when they are done with their responsibilities, they are already old! 

They seldom get time to explore hobbies. So, old age comes as a boon to go after their calling.

If someone loves to paint, it is best to get them to attend a painting school for adults. They can polish up their skills there and learn new things as well. It will give them a sense of purpose and achievement.

3.A good sleep

Often old people tend to overthink. They have already gone through a lot in their active years. In older years, they just ponder over their life and as a result, insomnia kicks in.

 Furthermore, many adults are diagnosed with depression, Alzheimer’s, and dementia which also causes insomnia. It has been proved that lack of sleep is an important factor in regulating someone’s emotional health.

Just look at the post-partum mothers. They are also diagnosed with depression because the newborn keeps them awake all night. So, proper sleep is very important.

To achieve this, older people should be engaged in physical activities so that they get tired to have a sound sleep. 

If someone has been diagnosed with insomnia, they should be prescribed a sleeping pill. It is best to keep them in constant touch with a doctor.

What Is Our Role as A Community?

When human civilization began, it was a community where people included everyone. Slowly, we moved towards individualistic lives. Kids left their parents’ house as soon as they turned 18 and older parents often found themselves in hospice.

 As members of the same community, we need to let go of this mentality. It is important to realize that they are still an important part of our community. Their wisdom, experience, and expertise should be utilized regardless of age.

So, instead of keeping them aloof on the pretext of retirement or old age, we need to keep them engaged. We should organize weekly programs in the cities where old people can gather and have a good time.

We should also promote community service and volunteering where young people can help them with daily chores. It will make the older feel loved and included and will help them with sound emotional health.

Conclusion

Old age comes with lots of physical challenges. While doctors and medications help with them, the emotional well-being of the older population is often overlooked. Once an important part of the active social life, they are pushed into oblivion.

This is not what makes a community progress. We need to ensure that our geriatric population feels included. For that, we need to take age-inclusive steps such as regular community meets, activities, and making more old-age-friendly programs.

Their good emotional well-being will pave the way to a more productive population.