Tips for Maintaining and Improving Mental Health

What Causes Mental Health Issues?

Mental health concerns can happen at any point in life, but as we get older, we may need more support in dealing with:

• The loss of friends and family members
• Chronic health problems
• Loneliness and isolation
• Financial concerns

All of these things can cause emotional distress.

Many older adults are also dealing with lifelong mental health conditions, including:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Other mood disorders
• Other conditions that need to be managed daily with medicine

During the move from employer-funded health care to Medicare, treatment may be disrupted. Co-pays and out-of-pocket costs may change. All of these may hurt your mental health, too.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has found that:

• More than 20% of adults over age 60 have a mental or neurological disorder (not including headache disorders)
• These disorders in older people account for 17.4% of Years Lived with Disability (YLDs), meaning years of healthy life that are lost
• The most common mental and neurological disorders in this age group are dementia and depression, which affect about 5% and 7% of the world’s older population, respectively
• Anxiety disorders affect 3.8% of the older population
• Substance use problems affect almost 1%
• Around a quarter of deaths from self-harm are people age 60 or above

Behavioral Health in Older Adults Needs More Attention

Substance use problems in older people are often overlooked or misdiagnosed and may be compounded by the use of both alcohol and prescription medicines. Mental health problems are under-identified by health-care professionals and older people themselves. And the stigma surrounding mental health conditions prevents people from seeking help.

Watch for Warning Signs

Some of the warning signs of a mental health disorder might be:

• Changes in your mood or energy level
• A change in your eating or sleeping habits
• Withdrawing from the people and activities you like
• Feeling confused, forgetful or upset
• Feeling like nothing matters
• Having unexplained aches and pains
• Feeling sad or hopeless
• Smoking, drinking or using drugs more than usual
• Getting angry quickly
• Having thoughts and memories you can't let go of
• Hearing voices or believing things that aren’t true
• Thinking of hurting yourself or other people

If you think that you may have a mental health problem, get help. Ask your doctor about:

• Talk therapy
• Medicines that can treat mental disorders

Improve Your Mental Health – Tips for Older Adults

Maintain a daily routine. Get up at the same time. Get out of bed, get dressed and face the day. Try this:

• Start your day with a few stretches, yoga or meditation.
• Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet that suits your individual needs.
• Find a time to exercise 15 – 20 minutes a day at least.
  • Exercise releases endorphins and serotonin which help improve mood.
  • Aerobic exercise improves blood flow and cell growth in the brain, which also improves mood.
  • If you’ve had physical therapy for an injury or other medical condition, you can use the exercises the therapist prescribed.
  • If you’re trying to prevent dementia and keep your mind healthy, exercise can help.
  • There’s no proven way to prevent Alzheimer’s disease, but you could slow its onset by exercising regularly. People who exercise have been shown to have fewer brain tangles and less Alzheimer’s plaque in their brains.

Stay connected. Volunteer, join a club or community group or do things you enjoy with friends. If you can get together in-person with people nearby, it can be a huge boost. Using video chat tools (or a phone call), set aside a regular time to check in with your family or friends who might live farther away.

Start a new project that inspires you.

Stay active intellectually.

• Read
• Play chess, Go or Sudoku
• Do crossword puzzles
• Learn a new language

For people with past mental health issues, if you feel the symptoms coming back, call your doctor. Many doctors’ offices may offer video visits if you can’t get there in person.

You may also be able to prevent the return of anxiety or depression through one of two things (or both) every day:

• Do something pleasurable. Call a friend or family member, for instance.
• Learn something new. Like how to do video conferences or memorizing 10 new words in a foreign language each day. And take a moment to celebrate that you did it.

Get enough sleep. Setting and keeping good sleep habits is maybe the most important thing for good mental health. Here are some tips. Go to bed at the same time every night and try to get seven to eight hours.