As we age, it becomes even more imperative to ensure we’re looking after our mental health. Depression, anxiety about the future, and other mental health concerns can weigh on seniors more than other age groups while negatively impacting their quality of life. Reducing stress and remaining in a positive headspace are crucial ingredients to living a longer, healthier, and more enriched life. When looking after their mental health, seniors can use the strategies in this article to make the most of their golden years and prioritize self-care.
Spend More Time with Loved Ones
One of the most beneficial ways for seniors to spend their time when retired is by regularly being around the people in their lives who they love most. Fostering strong relationships and creating unforgettable memories in your older years with your close friends and family leads to a happier, more fulfilling retirement.
In their retirement years, individuals also often have more available time in their schedules, and cherishing more moments with friends and family with extra free time is key to staying happy and productive. By reducing boredom or loneliness associated with too much retirement free time, spending time with those close to you helps become proactive in preventing these negative feelings from occurring.
Travel and Give Charitably in Retirement
Having the freedom to travel to new places is typically a key component of what many people enjoy once they’ve hit retirement age. By having saved diligently for most of their lives, seniors are usually as equipped as they’ll ever be financially to take a bucket list vacation. Going on a trip of a lifetime can work wonders for seniors’ mental health by empowering them to not only expand their horizons, but also feel accomplished in achieving a lifelong dream.
In addition to traveling, giving charitably is another way many individuals in their older years choose to experience joy. Assisting those in need and experiencing happiness by being able to do so provides many seniors with a rewarding feeling that they’re making a positive impact in the lives of others. By using retirement savings wisely and enjoying the fruits of their lifelong labor, seniors can help maximize their happiness and spread joy to others, too.
Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness techniques are a tried and proven way to boost health, improve mood, and enhance mental clarity. Individuals of any age can use these strategies to remain in a good headspace, but seniors in particular can use them to develop routines in retirement age that promote healthy activity and give them purpose (while they aren’t at work each day as they might’ve in the past).
Seniors can partake in several key mindfulness activities such as these listed below.
- Breathing Exercises: Practice techniques involving slowly breathing in and exhaling whenever you feel stressed or anxious. Breathing slowly helps slow down your heart rate, calm the mind, and ensure your bloodstream is transporting sufficient levels of oxygen throughout your body.
- Meditation: Beginning your day by meditating is an excellent mindfulness tactic to deploy. While meditating, use personal time to reflect, identify the things you’re grateful for, and temporarily let go of any responsibilities in your headspace that are tied to stress or depression.
- Taking Walks: The impact that getting frequent fresh air outdoors has on an individual’s mental health is profound. Excessive time indoors can stifle creativity and contribute to a negative mental state, so make sure you spend adequate time taking walks to de-stress and remain active.
- Enjoying Nature: The relaxing effect that being outside in nature provides is beneficial to your mental state and helps you reconnect with the earth. Enjoying the sounds of birds in the forest whistling, wind rushing gently through the leaves, or the soft babbling of a stream nearby can all help you practice mindfulness and mentally unwind in a healthy way.
Eat Healthily and Exercise Often
Taking care of your mind in your older years also starts with prioritizing diet and exercise as well. In addition to helping you develop healthy habits and remain mentally disciplined via a routine, working out, and ensuring you’re getting proper nutrition also supports healthy brain function.
Doing cardio exercises outside like biking, jogging, or walking contributes to better lung and heart function, while also delivering the aforementioned mental health benefits. Light strength training three to four days a week also can prevent muscle loss, support strong bones, and keep your body physically active for longer.
Many individuals also report that a healthy gym routine (whether they’re lifting weights or doing cardio) puts them in a better headspace, and is one of the most healthy ways in which they relieve stress. As a senior, supplementing a lighter but still effective exercise routine with a proper diet is key to positive mental health. With a diet full of vegetables, fruits, and lean sources of protein, you can continue to take care of your body as it ages and ensure you regularly have enough stamina to exercise.
Seek Professional Help
To take care of your mental health in your older years, one of the final, yet most impactful decisions you can make is to seek professional guidance. Mental health professionals are available to help support you in your journey and may recommend certain therapies that might work well for you; or in certain cases, prescribe medications that can help you better manage a disorder.
At Alvarado Parkway Institute, our fully licensed team is well-versed in treating depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders using proven therapies and solutions. For seniors, we even offer our Center on Aging, where you’ll be given necessary resources to face the mental health challenges that advanced age can present.
Contact Alvarado Parkway Institute today for more information about who we are and the mental health services we provide. With a keen focus on treating the entirety of each patient and careful consideration of existing conditions and situations, our team provides the best mental health care in the San Diego area.
