Health > How to reduce stress and anxiety in elders?
8th Oct 2020
stress-and-anxiety
Health

How to reduce stress and anxiety in elders?

Stress and anxiety can be caused by several reasons and can be treated with an immediate effect or long term effect. The reasons to do so are stress hormones, inabilities of mind, and proper nap. It’s really important to understand this concept as it is suffered by many elderly people. To cope up with something stressful, exercises and activities like walking, stretching, etc. with many other ways can be opted to reduce the stress and anxiety. But there’s a lot to know and understand regarding how to tackle such conditions, by knowing in a systematic manner that what exactly leads to these situations. That’s why, we will cover many pieces of information, for you to understand the various ways to reduce stress and anxiety.

What exactly causes stress and anxiety?

When we talk about stress, we always generate it as a minimal issue that can be resolved easily. But Amidst all this, we forget that as we grow old these minimal issues turn into bigger issues. Elderly people can experience stress and anxiety in many attributes. The cause of their stress could be work, family issues, medical issues, etc. the stress becomes difficult to handle with age which indeed is already increasing.

Taking care of elderly individuals is a moral obligation of family and society. To prevent such situations where they can come under stress, elders usually use medicines to reduce stress and anxiety. This might help in the short-run but not in the long run. This is the reason why the proper De-stress management method needs to be known.

Why is stress harmful to elders?

Loss of memory, poor health, chronic disease due to old age, habits like smoking; drinking; extreme coffee intake, etc., are the prime reason for stress and anxiety in a person, and also in the case of an elder. Apart from all these, the issue regarding one’s personal life can be also a prime reason as to why they get encountered with such and such situations. Here come the questions that what can be done to prevent such circumstances? The only way is to incorporate certain appropriate activities in their lives, for them to concentrate and work engagingly. Working on hobbies, taking long walks, and socializing can be few remedies that could prevent having such stress and anxiety over elderly people.

There can also be certain elderly people who have had anxiety attacks when they were younger. A certain accident or event that might have caused it. In this case, it’s very important to know that when we take care of elderly people we look after the past medical history or incidents that could lead us directly to the exact cause or reason for such stress and anxiety

Hence to form a base, the importance of the cause is understood and analyzed to be very crucial. Indeed it should be seriously looked after when you get the initial hints of your beloved elders suffering from stress and anxiety.

Ways to reduce stress and anxiety for a long term effect

There are multiple ways that one could naturally reduce and anxiety:

1.    Yoga

Yoga primarily is known to be effective in reducing anxiety and stress more quickly, with consistent practice. Many studies have determined that yoga has several health benefits which are essential in old age. If done daily, it shows amazing changes in the body of the doer without causing any side effects.

Some asana or Yoga poses are directed specifically to reduce stress. The breathing exercises such as anulom-vilom helps greatly to reduce stress and anxiety. For depreciating the intensity of stress in elders, yoga deems to be perfect.

2.    Exercise

This method is an unpopular option when it comes to the elder population. Exercising is important to everyone regardless of their age, gender, etc. One of the key benefits of exercises has shown that it refreshes your mind and body.

When a person exercises, it automatically lowers down the stress hormones referred to as ‘Cortisol’ in a certain period. This has a great impact on the mind and body of the person. Eventually exercising also engages in releasing endorphins in the form of a natural painkiller. In this way body in a very natural way could help itself to not endure the pain of having such stress.

Exertion is the key to having a good sleep. It is a known fact and can also be acquired when we get involved in constant workouts.

3.    Meditation

20 minute guided meditation for reducing anxiety and stress meditation to reduce stress and anxiety is one of the oldest and most efficient methods. It has helped all generations, especially elders to be relieved of such a problem. It is not only the cheapest method but also the easiest way for elders to release stress without any exertion.

4.    Medication

Medicines are always an option to reduce stress and anxiety. Medicines act directly towards the cause of stress and relieve you of stress. But in the case of an elderly person, it’s important to know the proper prescribed medicines that are to be issued for the relevant cause. It’s important to the effect that it might have on the patient.
Medication like antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs, beta-blockers, etc. provides you with a positive result as it neutrals the chemical imbalance that has occurred in your body. But it is important to know that before every round of medication, it is crucial to get the elderly person’s health checked thoroughly.

Who can help?

A well-certified physician is the authorised person to look after an elderly person who is going through stress and anxiety. A doctor with experience is well aware of all the symptoms that can cause stress. If such symptoms exist then it is only right to get diagnosed and get the best treatment available in any form mentioned here. It is important to properly diagnose the elderly individual if he or she is having stress and anxiety.

It’s always advised to seek professional help before going forward on internet acquired knowledge. Stress and anxiety can be fatal, if not taken seriously in the matter of an elderly patient. Hence here the doctor and the patient need to go hand in hand to seek the best possible outcome for the individual suffering from stress and anxiety. Apart from this one can choose us to get all in one solution, because we, at Emoha help elders, get everything satisfied in |
their lives, starting from looking after health till helping them chalk out their daily chores.

Caring for the Elderly

Care towards elderly individuals is one of the important moral lessons that as humans we need to learn. Many elders are in a dilemma of not being taken care of which ultimately results in them ending up in elderly homes. Some might also prefer specialised services rendered by our company to adhere to their needs and wants.

In certain situations, elders do face rejection from their family members or the people they know. This causes stress and anxiety and confuses the elderly person on how to reduce this stress and anxiety. So given below are 5 immediate remedies that can be helpful if an elderly person is facing stress and anxiety.

Here are the top 5 quick tips to reduce stress and stop anxiety:

1.    Diet and Nutrition

As per the World Health Organisation and other trusted sources, Nutrition is yet another important factor of a proper lifestyle. A child, a teenager, an adult, and an elder, all of them need to have a proper diet of eating habits to be healthy and happy. Often in the case of elderly people, the lack of such a proper diet leads to stress and anxiety. By not eating properly, one tends to get inactive in doing various day to day activities, whereas the same age person eating proper food can do better.

Fueling your body is important. Your body needs to generate endorphins which act as a natural painkiller for stress and anxiety. If there is inactiveness due to improper diet then it becomes impossible to generate enough endorphins for the individual’s body. Hence improving eating habits is one of the immediate ways to reduce stress and anxiety.

2.    Music therapy

Music, as we say is a portrayal of emotion and thoughts. Music generates a passage through which an emotion or a feeling is felt. Several genres within music depict a different kind of emotion. Hard Rock music could help you be active and increase concentration where low tempo music could release all the world’s worries that are set in your mind.

Music therapy in this way is used in medical fields or otherwise to generate such specific emotions within a human being. For elders who are under stress and anxiety need calm and soothing music to relax their thought process and be calm. This is one of the remedies used on babies as well for them to relax and go to sleep. This method if properly proposed, can release elders of their stress and anxiety.

3.    Socializing

Humans are social animals, who need to communicate and to be around people for a healthy surrounding and environment. For elders, this activity becomes very restricted due to physical inabilities. This can sometimes become a cause of anxiety and loneliness and hamper with the person’s mind. Joining clubs and interacting with people then becomes essential. Going out and playing with grandkids or owning a pet can all suffice to be enough for relaxing your mind and having a stress free experience with the persons that are closest to the individual. Doing that sort of activity with anyone you love, care about in your family or outside could be very effective in releasing stress and anxiety.

4.    Use of medicinal herbs

There comes a lot of disagreement when it comes to taking pills and tablets. People don’t usually feel like consuming certain chemicals into their body for stress. When it comes to elderly people, the involvement of pills becomes more of a serious issue. There comes a need of getting rid of anxiety and stress naturally. Hence the use of herbs comes into the picture. Herbs having medicinal properties can help with releasing stress and anxiety to a great extent.

Herbs like ginger, known for healing can be great for stress release and more herbs like Ashwagandha, lavender, etc. can also be used in a proper way to reduce the feeling of depression, anxiety, and stress.

5.    Hobbies

As we grow old we tend to not restrict ourselves in doing activities. It can include various hobbies that you once used to do. Releasing stress can be difficult, but it can become a fun process if you go back to your favorite hobbies such as singing, dancing, sports, etc.. Whatever that makes one happy can help them a great deal to leave back all that anxiety

Hence these were some of the quick/instant methods that one can use to reduce their stress and anxiety.

How can we help Elders to lead a stress-free life?

We, at Emoha, take care of our elders with the utmost respect. We claim to have a stressful life for them because all the amenities and services we provide are all-in-one. It is so because we focus on all the factors and methods mentioned above. Emoha is a community, who believes in providing for the best health care, living, and leisure activities for all the members. We believe in bringing about the change that society needs to see concerning elders.

We help them lead a happy and stressful life by taking care of their hobbies, interest, socialization ways, and also by taking care of their physical health. Meaning thereby, when a person or our elders will have always someone by their side, through physical or virtual contacts, it will automatically make them feel free from any sort of stress or anxiety. Get in touch with us by calling us at 1800-123-44555, and become stress-free. We are not saying out of the blue, but we assure it because to provide elders with a good life, is our mission at Emoha. Our team works day and night in providing these services and helping elders in need.