Most individuals will experience stress or anxiety at some point in their lives, but seniors can be more deeply affected by these emotions. According to the National Council on Aging, stress can lead to increased inflammation in the body, which may exacerbate certain age-related conditions. In fact, “more stress equals more inflammation, and more inflammation when we’re stressed equals more (or worse) health problems. These include atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), Type 2 diabetes, arthritis, dementia, and cancer, to name a few…chronic stress also can reduce the effectiveness of certain vaccines in older adults, including for the flu and pneumonia. And stress actually accelerates the aging process itself.”
Signs of stress in older adults can include trouble sleeping, difficulty concentrating and/or making decisions, feeling pressured or rushed when asked to complete tasks, irritability and/or moodiness and physical issues such as stomach problems or headaches. If you’re experiencing these symptoms, please speak to your family doctor! They may be able to help.
Living Assistance Services is here to support seniors and their families by contributing to their care, safety and well-being. In the first part of this blog series, we’re going to discuss ways that seniors can help manage difficult emotions and live healthier, happier lives. Please contact us if you have any questions or would like to know more about homecare services in Toronto.
Advice from our Director of Care
Our Director of Care, Bethel Lascano, is a Registered Nurse with a certification in dialectical behavioural therapy. Here’s what Bethel has to say about dealing with stressful times: “When life gives you lemons, it’s hard to make lemonade when you don’t know how. We go to school to learn skills in math, literacy, and science, yet we often have to go out of our way to learn the life skills to deal with life’s lemons.”
Bethel uses life skills derived from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) concepts to help seniors manage their emotions in a healthy way. This includes using mindfulness tools, regulating emotions, and learning to better tolerate stress. It also involves living with intention.
As Bethel notes, “When our minds are full, it’s hard to get a good picture of what’s actually happening. Our mind gets a bit crowded thinking about our past or future, our worries, other people, or anywhere else we could be. When we’re being mindful we are being present in the moment without judgement. It’s a way of living awake, with eyes wide open. Mindfulness practice is the intentional process of observing, describing, and participating in reality nonjudgmentally, in the moment, and with effectiveness.”
Here’s a tip from Bethel to help seniors stay calm while experiencing negative emotions—or as she sometimes simplifies it, “how not to freak out!” It’s called STOP skills and it uses these four elements:
- Stop (Take a pause from what is happening)
- Take a step back (Remove or distance yourself from the situation, take some time to breathe slowly and deeply)
- Observe the facts (What is actually happening? Sometimes anxiety is based on ‘what-ifs’ or what could happen rather than
- Proceed mindfully (Let your reaction be led by fact instead of emotion)
To remember these steps, look at the acronym again—STOP. Or, write it down and keep it in your wallet (or as a note on your smartphone) as a reference point!
“When our mind is stressed, it stimulates our sympathetic nervous system to prepare us for a “fight or flight” response,” Bethel explains. “It can cause our pupils to expand, our breathing will be fast and shallow, our heart pumps faster, and our gut becomes inactive. When our body is calm, the parasympathetic nervous system takes over as we ‘rest and digest.’ Our pupils shrink, our breathing is slow and deep, our heart slows, and our gut is active.”
Why the STOP strategy works
When we feel stress, it’s easy to fall into a pattern—often an unhealthy one. This may involve making assumptions, overreacting and making harsh judgements about yourself or other people involved in a situation. It could also look like doing nothing at all because you’re feeling overwhelmed. Neither of these scenarios is productive!
Instead of falling into this rut, it can be helpful to direct your focus elsewhere. Step back and focus on sensations that spark joy when you see, hear, taste, smell or touch them. Bring attention to this internal imagery and sensation, and create a moment of peace and ease that can be accessed at any time. You can also explore your negative thoughts with curiosity and kindness, being loving and gracious to yourself as you work through them and gently process each emotion.
Stay tuned for more
Drawing upon more of Bethel’s expertise, we’ll continue exploring these life skills in the upcoming weeks. Until then, we’ll leave with these words from Albert Einstein: “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”
Happy vibes, from our hearts to yours!