Mood regulation is tough no matter how old someone is. Your elderly family member may be finding it more difficult to regulate her moods due to health issues, emotions she is experiencing, and circumstantial reasons. All of these are valid, but when she’s got her moods on a more even keel, it’s a lot easier to deal with most of those issues.
Consider a Plan for Moving Daily
Exercise does great things for the body, but it doesn’t have to be a “no pain no gain” situation for your senior. Just a little bit of movement on a regular basis helps the brain to release happy chemicals and enables your senior’s muscles to maintain their tone. Talk to your elderly family member’s doctor before she begins any exercise plan, of course.
Look at What She’s Eating Regularly
“Garbage in, garbage out” is another adage that might apply to your senior’s nutritional situation. Moods are a result of many different factors, but they’re heavily influenced by the chemicals your senior’s body produces. A healthy body produces more of those happy chemicals and nutrients allow the body to fire up those chemical factories in the brain and in your senior’s glands and organs. You want to focus on fruits and vegetables, healthy fats like omega-3 fatty acids, and lean proteins.
Check out Her Sleep
How’s your senior sleeping? If she’s not getting enough sleep or the sleep she is getting isn’t enough deep sleep, then her body isn’t getting the rest it needs to repair itself overnight. Troubleshooting sleep issues often feels more complicated than it really is. Start with your senior’s sleep hygiene. Is she getting to bed and getting up at regular times? Is she flipping her circadian rhythm so that her days and nights are mixed up? These can be simple enough to fix once you know it’s happening.
Try Some Relaxation Therapies
If your elderly family member is stressed and tense for whatever reason, relaxation activities might be something that she needs to incorporate into her daily life. Learning to meditate, even for just a few minutes, and practicing breathing exercises can help her to learn to relax. Journaling can help her to get to the roots of any emotional issues. Combining all of these can help her to release anything causing her to have more bad days than good ones.
A lot of these solutions might feel even more stressful for your senior, especially if she’s having a tough time maintaining everything right now. Working with home care providers can give her the extra layer of help that she needs in order to try some new things.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering home care in Cherry Hills, CO, please contact the caring staff at SYNERGY HomeCare today. Call us at (303) 756-9322.
