Last Updated on February 7, 2023 by Mike Robinson
Emotional Needs of an Elderly Person
The emotional needs of an elderly person are much different than when they were younger and more self-reliant and independent. Helping ensure your elderly loved one’s emotional needs are met will not only prevent them from getting depressed, it will also improve several other areas of their lives.
Taking care of your aging loved one’s emotional needs is one of the most crucial things you can do to ensure they remain healthy and content. As we age, we become more dependent on others for our happiness. Our bodies and minds change the older we get.
According to the American Association of Retired Persons, an inability to focus, a poor appetite, or trouble sleeping indicate his lack of support. Therefore, it is important to take measures to alleviate a senior’s feelings of vulnerability, loneliness, boredom, and isolation by providing emotional support.
Here are examples of areas you can help support or provide that will positively impact the emotional needs of an elderly person.
Keep Them Safe and Secure
When we age, we are not as capable of performing certain tasks as easily as we did when we were younger. This can create safety risks, especially for seniors who live alone. Seniors can feel scared and anxious, especially if they live alone or have trouble moving around. Help them keep their minds at ease by taking steps to keep strangers out.
Set up extra locks or chains and a spyhole in the door so they can see who is calling before opening the door. Install an inexpensive security system to provide additional security and peace of mind. Also, provide an emergency call button. That way, they don’t have to worry about not getting help if they fall or get sick. And, of course, make sure they have their own easy-to-use cell phone.
Keeping in Touch with Family and Friends
It can be challenging for people to maintain close bonds with long-time friends, especially as they get older. Help older people stay in touch with their family and friends. Encourage younger family members to visit and use the phone to keep in touch regularly. Keeping them in touch with those close to them will fuel the emotional needs of an elderly person.
When family or friends can’t visit often, an older person may find it helpful to access the Internet. You can help by showing them how to use it. Use pictures, books, and music to help him remember happy times in his life, and include him in significant family events like weddings and the birth of new babies to show him that he is still an important part of the family.
Another way to stay in touch is to learn how to use FaceTime, Zoom, or Skype to connect with new and old friends on social media.
Seniors can also keep things straightforward by writing letters or scheduling regular phone calls. And seniors can always make new friends, just like anyone else!
Get Them Involved in Their Community
Seniors can feel more connected to the world outside of their family if they stay in touch with their community. Make sure they don’t spend every day by themselves. You might be able to take them to a local event, to church, or to go shopping. Contact local groups that might be able to visit her or send her newsletters that match her interests.
Make sure they know how to use the controls on their TV or radio and how to tune in to local channels so they can stay involved in their neighborhood.
An Active Mind Will Support the Emotional Needs of the Elderly
The brain requires stimulation to stay active and prevent cognitive decline as we age, just as the body needs both to stay healthy. According to Harvard Health Publishing, playing brain games can help you improve your short-term memory, planning abilities, reaction time, and processing speed.
The brain benefits from any activity that keeps the mind active and working to solve problems, but some of the most popular and easily accessible activities for seniors include:
• Spend time writing in a journal and reading: Reading has been shown in studies to improve memory, lower stress levels, and encourage sounder sleep. Additionally, keeping a journal can aid in managing and reducing the impacts of stress and anxiety.
• Learn a second language: Learning a language works brain areas that are frequently impacted by aging. It may boost confidence and even promote socializing with people who may already know the language or are learning it.
• Practice playing a musical instrument: o In elderly people with dementia and Alzheimer’s, listening to music enhances memory. The Washington Post claims that learning and playing an instrument can increase verbal fluency and cognitive speed within a few months and be enjoyable.
• Playing games and puzzles: Different puzzles have been shown to improve senior mental health and prevent memory loss in addition to being entertaining.
Keep Them Moving with Various Physical Activities
It is a known fact that the body and mind are connected. We’ve discussed the importance of ensuring your loved one exercises their mind to prevent cognitive decline. Likewise, it is just as important to ensure they don’t become couch potatoes.
The benefits of exercise and physical activity are that they can improve both the mind and the body by boosting confidence and lowering the risk of falling. These benefits come from activities like going for regular walks or taking yoga classes and ballroom dancing.
Seniors’ mental health and overall well-being depend on staying active and getting enough exercise, just as they do at any other stage of life. In fact, seniors need low-impact exercises like stretching and strength training to maintain their health and lower their risk of age-related conditions like joint pain, bone fractures, and other chronic illnesses.
Exercise has numerous health advantages for seniors, including managing stress, anxiety, and depression, which can be just as harmful to their health as physical illnesses and injuries. It’s critical to exercise to maintain good senior mental health.
Help Them Find a Hobby
Supporting the emotional needs of an elderly person means helping them keep active after retirement. Everyone has a personal wish list of goals and endeavors. But sometimes, life gets in the way, putting these plans off. Seniors should take advantage of their retirement to revisit their lifelong objectives, whether they involve gardening, sewing, painting, or French cooking.
Making shadow boxes is one hobby that increases the brain’s neuroplasticity. This change occurs when nerve cells connect or reconnect, changing the brain’s structure and function when stimulated. People experience the comfort and a greater sense of belonging as neuronal connections in these pathways become stronger.
New relationships are formed, ultimately improving mental health.
Let Them Volunteer to Help Others.
Helping others is the best way to feel good about yourself. It is an excellent way for elderly people to fulfill their emotional needs. Seniors who volunteer for a worthwhile cause often feel fulfilled and have a sense of purpose.
There are numerous opportunities for older adults to get involved and, as a result, feel valued and needed because there is no shortage of organizations and causes that need support. Seniors who volunteer for a cause or organization can have a fulfilling experience at any age.
After retirement, volunteering can provide several additional advantages that improve seniors’ physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Time donated to worthy causes can improve mental health.
Volunteering in retirement can help seniors stay active, become socially engaged, and become a part of a vibrant and diverse community, whether you enjoy reading to or sharing your skills and expertise with children and young students or you feel moved to volunteer in a hospital, neighborhood food pantry, or soup kitchen.
Volunteering can be a fulfilling experience for everyone involved, whether making new friends or maintaining physical activity.
Get Them a Pet
If they are willing and able, look into getting your loved elderly one a cat or dog. In the last 20 years, many studies have suggested that having a pet is good for your health (see study confirming health benefits of pet ownership). As a result, most people now think there is a link between having a pet and being healthy.
Overall, the literature seems to accept this simple hypothesis without question.
The idea is that the relationship between a person and their pet is suitable for their health. There also seems to be a direct physiological effect. For example, the presence of a pet can slow down changes in the heart, like when blood pressure goes up or down.
Conclusion
The emotional needs of older people are not that different from the emotional needs of people of other ages. Seniors want to feel close to the people they care about. They want to know that they are safe. They also want to feel like what they do makes a difference. If you can help your loved one meet these needs, you will do a lot to keep them emotionally healthy.
Related articles: Emotional Psychology: Theories of Emotions
