Elders with already poor sleep quality, with pre-existing medical conditions, those who are living alone or those who got separated from their loved ones are at greater risk in these testing times of Covid 19.
Also, loss of freedom or loss of purpose, boredom, and uncertainty can be major reasons of deterioration of mental health in the elderly.
Such anxiety, depression issues not only affect the quality of life of elderlies but also that of the family around. So it becomes important for the family as unit to support the elderlies through the time of Crisis. Family needs to always look for the behaviour of their aged ones such as increasing irritation, shouting behaviour, and change in appetite- either increased or decreased, disturbed sleep patterns, emotional outbursts, unexpected headaches and pain throughout their bodies. This list is not exhaustive. The first step should be to support them emotionally at home, younger ones should take out some time to talk to elderly members of the family and involve them in some of their daily routines.
The foremost issue to resolve is to have a long term purpose in your life about which you must be passionate. More the interest you have, lesser will be the anxiety and stress. And then one must be setting achievable targets to it, like reading a lot about topic for the purpose of writing a book.
Persons over 60 have a lower water reserve, because of the natural ageing process. They easily dehydrate and they don’t know consciously about their dehydration, which may astonishingly lead to severe consequences in the body like mental confusion, increased heart palpitations, dropped blood pressure, angina and others; so one must always be vigilant about the intake of fluids in the body.
To improve the quality of your sleep for beating stress in corona times, do physical exercise of about half to one hour daily, have long walks which boost the Happy Hormone Serotonin and improve other vital health indicators. If you are not doing physical exercise, all you’re doing is aggravating you own physical and mental conditions. There is no substitute to physical activity. Simply because it allows your body to produce more Endorphins and other important neurotransmitters of wellbeing than usual.
Avoid foods with lots of Sugar, Caffeine or Alcohol. Maintain a healthy diet and Stay Fit. Sugar and caffeine may give you brief moments of energy; but soon they will bring about Anxiety, Stress, Gastro and other internal problems.
Another important question is do you get enough of Sunshine? Lack of exposure to sunlight is responsible for the secretion of Melatonin hormone, which can trigger a dispirited, sluggish mood. We do have the privilege of being a Tropical Country, we have plenty of Sunshine. Enjoy it for good mental health. It sets Circadian rhythm right in order.
Most important is, in corona times, stay away from the negative news, and watch creative TV channels than negative news. Just have a look once or twice a day at news. Be some tech savvy, connect with other people through social media, mobiles, video calls. Learn to play YouTube and you can take help of the children around you, from whom you can learn many new things. Search about making yourself healthy on google and watch videos on YouTube about health, your hobbies, cooking, and gardening and spend time watching documentaries on your favourite topics.
Do the things you love every day. Make a list of things, if possible those activities which involve physical hard work, like taking a leisurely stroll in the park, playing sports, reading books, and activity which can be social too, it will be very good,(as its our mind requirement to be social which cannot be ignored) like organising online Kirtan Bhajan with your known group.
If you still don’t feel comfortable, do take the help of a counselling session, from a psychologist or you can try Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or CBT. You can get good literature about it from the internet and especially YouTube.
If you are new to any medical treatment regarding depression, anxiety, OCD, the prescribed medicines usually show up symptoms like relaxed muscles, sleepiness, or drowsiness. Rather than getting scared and desperately leaving medicine, consult the doctor again.
The article herein is for informational purpose. If you are already under medical treatment, please follow you doctor’s advice. This is no replacement for your medical and professional treatment.