Surefire Ways to Combat Loneliness in Elders

Everybody must go through the course of life. From youth and virility, one eventually ages and may border on senility. Old age has rightly been called a second childhood. Elders become much like children – they need to be taken care of, both in terms of physical as well as mental health. While providing proper healthcare and keeping them active has become increasingly easy thanks to advances in modern medical sciences, the same cannot be said about their feelings of loneliness and sadness.

The mind and body are not separate but are connected and affect each other in unimaginable ways. While someone may be in the prime of their health relative to other people in their age group, if they are not happy and content their health can deteriorate and may lead to complicated conditions that one couldn’t see coming from a mile away.

However, this loneliness is not something that is not curable. With constant care and spending time with the elderly, you can ensure that they spend their time with positive thoughts, feelings, and memories in their minds. Some of the ways you can do that are:

• Keep in touch via calls: No matter how far away you live, something as simple as a call that lasts a few minutes can seem insignificant, but it can make their day. The otherwise lonely elderly will walk the whole day with a spring in their step, knowing that there is someone out there who cares about them and devotes time to them.
• Visit Whenever You Can: Even if you have to go out of your way, be sure to visit someone who is elderly and who you care about, whenever you can. Something that may cause a minor inconvenience to you may turn into a full-day festival for them. Brace yourself for attention, love and being fed like you have never been before!
• Take them to events with you: People in their later years become increasingly susceptible to feelings of loneliness and isolation. This can be also worsened if they stay at a place like their home or an old age home for months at a time. Taking them to parties, concerts etc. may help them combat these negative emotions, not to mention that it makes them feel valued.
• Bring Gifts for them: Find any silly occasion to surprise them with gifts. When life gets too monotonous, even simple gifts (apart from your visit, of course) can be the highlight of their day. Even after you leave, the gift acts as a souvenir of a great time you had together.

The people who raised us, fed us and educated us have now, unfortunately, become old and lonely. Doing a bit on your part to cheer them up can go a long way. Every effort of yours, no matter how small, can make a huge difference in their lives.

Kauvery Hospital is globally known for its multidisciplinary services at all its Centers of Excellence, and for its comprehensive, Avant-Grade technology, especially in diagnostics and remedial care in heart diseases, transplantation, vascular and neurosciences medicine. Located in the heart of Trichy (Tennur, Royal Road and Alexandria Road (Cantonment), Chennai, Hosur, Salem, Tirunelveli and Bengaluru, the hospital also renders adult and pediatric trauma care.

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