How to manage stress for the elderly
A huge percentage of the people who are affected by stress are the elderly people. Those who are past sixty years of age tend to have more stress symptoms than the younger people. One of the major reasons for the stress is that old people become more vulnerable to illnesses and body ailments than the younger ones. Physical pain and discomfort causes physical and emotional stress.
Elderly people have more experience on life in general. Some of the life experiences are not so good. If a person has lived with the bad experience for so long, then the burden becomes unbearable and the stress symptoms (stress symptomer is how we refer to them in Denmark)will definitely be detected. Most of the symptoms for the elderly are just the same as with the younger people. The difference is that it’s a bit harder to detect the symptoms from the old people since the more one gets old, the unhealthier one becomes. To differentiate between the symptoms of body ailment and stress symptoms in elderly people, one needs to take a closer observation.
Most of the elderly people sleep for more hours than younger people. Stress brings along insomnia and lack of sleep. If an elderly person sleeps for lesser hours than he/she used to, and when asleep he/she gets nightmares or is restless in his/her sleep, then those are stress symptoms. Other stress symptoms for elderly people include poor concentration, forgetfulness, anxiety (that’s called behandle angst in Denmark) and fear, resentment and depression. Some of them become rebellious to the people who are close to them. These symptoms become more severe with age if they are not taken care of.
There are some measures though that should be used to prevent or heal the stress symptoms. With age, most of the elderly people may feel out of contact with the mainstream world. This puts them in isolation with the society in most cases confining themselves in private and lonely places. This aggravates the situation and only makes them feel unwanted. The best way to help them in such situations is involve them in social activities that they are comfortable in. It can be a social club that involves members of their own age with the same interests. Socializing is the number one healer of stress as this will make them open up to the others or seek companionship in them.
As physical stress causes emotional stress as well, the elderly people should not be refrained from doing physical activities regardless of their age but they should not be engaged in heavy activities. There are gyms which offer aerobics for elderly people. If one does not like gyms, then he/she should be engaged in other sports like bowling or golf.
Pets are also recommended as stress healers for the elderly. But one should be very careful because if the person doesn’t like the pet, then it will become stressor. A dog is the most recommended animal as a pet since a lot of the elderly people find a personality in them and they are good listeners as well. They tend to talk to the pets on issues that they cannot discuss with anyone else, even the closest family members or spouse. And once they need to walk the dog, that’s healthy exercise. But the pets should not be given full responsibilities of taking care of the elderly. The elders should be checked on frequently by their families and if the stress symptoms are detected, maybe a medical assistance would help.
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