Introduction
Stress nowadays is a concern for all age groups, but it is essentially important for senior health. Chronic stress can be the cause of numerous health concerns; this means that regulating your stress levels is important to older adults. This should be a priority for them. Even though stress is an inevitable part of life, it doesn’t have to compromise your well-being. Many ways to reduce daily stress on seniors’ health include fun and accessible activities. This article will highlight how older adults can manage their stress and try incorporating these ways into their daily life and make it a routine to prevent any other health hazards. Stress can infest as backpains, indigestion, heart palpitations, headaches, crying, irritability, and more. This is why it becomes important to manage stress in older adults.
Following are the ways to manage stress in a senior’s health:
1. Regular physical activity
This releases “happy” (serotonin) and “pain-killer” (endorphin) hormones, which enhance health, elevate mood, and lower stress. Aim for 30 minutes of exercise each day, including endurance, strengthening, and flexibility exercises. Other activities like walking, yoga, chair exercises, swimming, aerobics, cycling, and more benefit from combatting stress and feeling better mentally and physically.
2. Have more social connecting
Spend time identifying your emotional and physical requirements, then communicate them to your loved ones. In hard times, friends and family can offer a shoulder to weep on, and sometimes just talking about your thoughts with others can make you feel less stressed. Additionally, establish connections with neighborhood resources and agencies that could offer housing, money, caregiver, family, or bereavement assistance. The neighborhood associations, places of worship, or community centers may be some.
3. A good diet
Eating more attentively and paying attention to diet can improve physical health and relationship with food. Pay attention to all hunger cues and cravings. Aim to eat more fruits.
4. Being in Nature
Spending time in nature can help deal with psychological stress. A good walk in the park and nature can do the trick. Gardening is another way for stress management in seniors as a relieving hobby. It will encourage seniors to spend time outside while also giving them a sense of satisfaction and achievement. It will also strengthen arms and hands.
5.Making Art
Engaging in creative hobbies like creating music, playing an instrument, or painting can help reduce stress. In addition, research shows that singing can release endorphins and oxytocin, improving mood while also decreasing stress levels. Singing with a group will also help socialize more. Choirs and community services can help find the groups.
Creating art like painting, drawing, sculpturing, knitting, and more can reduce stress. No experience or skill is needed to make art; one can simply start with adult coloring books. This will allow the seniors to rest and relax.
Dancing can release stress and provide good exercise and a form of self-expression. Dancing can also add to the fun, especially when done in groups.
6. Getting Pets
Spending time with animals can reduce cortisol levels and lower blood pressure. Animals also help feel less lonely, which is a major contributor to stress for older adults. Animals can distract the senior from stressful situations. Not just owning a pet but going to animal refuges to socialize with the animals can contribute highly to stress management.
7. Reflection
Reflecting on one’s achievements throughout life helps one positively reflect on their own life.
8. Professional help
Elders can seek professional help to cope with issues of smoking, drinking, and harmful substances that might be a big contributor to stress in them.
9. Understanding the source of the stress
Sometimes stress can come for many different reasons, including changes in lifestyle, financial status, caring for sick spouses or grandchildren, death of beloved ones, worrying about aging, and more. Just understanding the cause can help understand and find ways to combat stress.
Conclusion
While one of these strategies could help you feel less stressed in the short term, it’s crucial for your long-term health to continue using them. Stress has a cumulative effect on the body, but so do the actions taken to lessen it. As a result, our ability to reduce stress increases with time spent doing these activities. This also means that right now is the best moment to get started.