[Wan Qingyi Care]Learning to coexist with illness and regaining the value of life makes the elderly believe that it can be done

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Text: Chen Zhenji, Zhang Shumei Photo: Deng Jiaxuan

Taiwanese sculptor Ju Ming died at home at the age of 85. There were reports that he was suspected of being world-weary due to illness, and people from all walks of life were shocked and saddened.

The elderly often talk about “old age, broken machines”, and countless chronic diseases, pain, and mental fatigue. After long-term struggle, it is inevitable to feel uneasy, helpless, and fearful.

It is especially important for older adults to learn to accept illness as a part of life.

(Hong Kong News) How do the elderly “coexist with illness”? How can the people around them help them regain the value of life?

“When the elderly suffer from many chronic diseases at the same time and are unable to do many things, they will ignore the value of their own existence.” Yuan Lihua, the manager of the nursing home who has been serving the elderly for 20 years, estimates that many elderly people in the community are different. Negative emotions to a certain degree may not necessarily be depression, but unhappiness and low mood are very common.

Illness impairs self-care ability becomes negative

When we get older, every organ may have problems. Yuan Lihua pointed out that chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes are more common. Some elderly people are in poor health, and their heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys may be affected, as well as stroke, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and even cancer.

Pain caused by illness, such as joint pain, is especially uncomfortable; if the illness also impairs self-care ability, the psychological impact on the elderly will be even greater. After the deterioration, many things are restricted and cannot be done, and self-confidence will be hit. Needing to rely on others to take care of them is a big shock to them, and their mood will become more negative.”

Appreciate, encourage and affirm self-worth

Yuan Lihua believes that helping the elderly relieve some symptoms or pains and reduce the impact on their lives can improve their acceptance of chronic diseases and make it easier to “coexist with the pain”. To do this, it is necessary to transform their “can’t” thinking and remind them to focus on “can” things, which is very important.

“Life is unsatisfactory, nine out of ten, often think about one or two, there is always one or two good things.

We encourage and appreciate what the elders have done and the abilities they have,

He will feel ‘I still have a lot to do’. “

Caregivers can also try to help the elderly review their life experiences and find their forgotten self-worth, such as devotion to the family, nurturing children to become talents, and contributing to society. They find a sense of existence and accomplishment from it, affirm their own value, and gradually get rid of negative thoughts.

Accepting elders is slow and unclean

Do a good job in ideological work and cooperate in action. Try to preserve the autonomy of the elders, so that they have the idea of ​​”I am not completely dependent on others”; take eating as an example, some elders eat clumsily, but caregivers should not directly feed the elders, and should accept the elders’ slowness and uncleanness. Let him eat slowly, “Give the elder a chance to do as much as he can, so that he will have the belief that he still has the ability, and will have the desire to train; because some abilities that he should have will be lost if he does not practice. Slowly lost.”

If you really have difficulties, such as if you can’t pick up the dishes or feel tired after eating half, then you will help.

Participate in activity groups to broaden your social circle

Yuan Lihua added that allowing elders to find entertainment or interests is equally important to maintain positive emotions. Every elder has interests or happy things, such as singing, playing chess, calligraphy, etc., “making them feel that they have something to do and feel happy because of it”; even by participating in different activity groups, they can broaden their social circle, ” Even old people who don’t like socializing still need friends to chat, play chess, and eat together.”

Get to know and get acquainted with each other through different activities to avoid becoming hidden elders.

Lifestyle Changes Depression Signs

Elderly people often complain about physical discomfort, but emotional problems are more difficult to detect. How can caregivers detect negative emotions or even depression tendencies in them? She pointed out that after excluding the influence of diseases, you can pay attention to whether there are changes in the living habits of the elderly. The most obvious one is loss of appetite. Second, you need to pay attention to the quality of sleep, whether you sleep poorly or often, and lose motivation. I get morning exercise when I wake up, but now I don’t want to get up when I sleep late, and there is a change in my life, which is also a sign.” If there are complaints in the words, such as “I’m so old, I don’t want to live so long.” etc., you have to be more careful.

She reminded that it is very important to spend time chatting with the elders and caring more, so that they feel that someone loves them. Urban people are busy, so they may not be able to accompany the elderly all the time, but caring is not measured by time. In fact, the elderly do not have many demands, and they are easy to satisfy. It’s enough.”

dance to relax

hug yourself feel love

In the process of aging, life is facing changes, the body is troubled by disease or even loses the other half, and the elderly are prone to emotional distress; coupled with years of plagued by the epidemic and the impact of the departure of relatives under the wave of immigration, negative emotions intensify.

Many studies in recent years have shown that the proportion of the elderly experiencing depression has increased.

The Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, together with the University of Hong Kong and registered dance therapists, developed a set of intervention techniques that combine “body movements” and the theory of spiritual improvement for the elderly – “Dancing for the Elderly × Blissful Heart”, which allows the elderly to express themselves through simple movements.

Childhood Games Find Your Inner Child

Wu Peiyin, Senior Art Development Director of Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, who led the activity group, pointed out that the benefits of using actions instead of words (expressing emotions) are that some elderly people have average language skills, such as stroke and dementia, but if their upper limbs move Abilities are not severely affected and can still be expressed through actions.

The research team of the University of Hong Kong recruited 146 elderly people with depressive symptoms to participate in the study to understand the effectiveness of this intervention and found that the depressive symptoms of the participants were significantly reduced.

There are 6 lessons in “Dancing for the Elderly”, and each lesson includes breathing exercises and themed dancing. Through rhythmic movements, group movements, impromptu movements, etc., help the elders express their emotions.

Ng Pui-yin pointed out that some of the links express childhood games through actions, so as to evoke the memories of the elders, find their inner children, remember the carefree times at that time, rethink life has a very happy time, and avoid focusing only on the negative side.

Before the end of each activity, she encourages the elders to hug themselves. The feeling of being hugged can make them feel love and care: “When the elders were young, they worked hard for their families and children, and dedicated their lives to others. They neglected to love and cherish themselves. We It will remind them and make them feel loved.”

I have tried some elders who would cry a lot when doing this action. “He remembered the last hug when his wife left, but when he went to the last class and did the same action again, he felt relieved.”

It is best to be accompanied by family members when practicing

Since the whole set of exercises mainly uses the upper limbs, Wu Peiyin suggested that the elderly participating in the exercise should have a certain ability to move the upper limbs;

She demonstrates two movements to help everyone relax. “In fact, not only the elderly, but ordinary people who are stressed, are suitable to relieve their emotions.”

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