{"id":30776,"date":"2024-01-11T14:35:56","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T21:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/?p=30776"},"modified":"2024-01-11T14:35:56","modified_gmt":"2024-01-11T21:35:56","slug":"older-loved-ones-compassion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/older-loved-ones-compassion\/","title":{"rendered":"OLDER LOVED ONES: COMPASSION"},"content":{"rendered":"-Provide reassurance and support<br \/>-Encourage exercise, support group<br \/>-Maintain a normal routine and avoid unnecessary changes<br \/>-Older adults may be triggered by a previous traumatic event, especially after feeling helpless because of a new disability<br \/>-Recognize and acknowledge that older loved one&#8217;s fears and worries are normal AND real; ACCEPT, don&#8217;t minimize<br \/><br \/>*SLOW down, SLOW the pace, PAUSE, take a DEEP breath until heart rate decelerates, work towards maintaining and returning to baseline (helps with brain training, recovery &amp; restoration, and mitigation of effects of declining heart health, which promotes and amplifies stress and dysregulation (impulse control&#8230;certain functions outpace others))<br \/>*LISTEN<br \/><br \/>Always go back to basics&#8230;air, hydration, food (nutrition), rest, some exercise (light &amp; easy), environment<br \/>Reduce stress <br \/>Short tasks, small steps, shorter durations of time with more pauses and reflection (time to think)<br \/>*Avoid long tasks, long conversations, longer series of steps<br \/><br \/>Breathe.  Focus on your breath and let other thoughts fade away.  Don\u2019t judge yourself for having them, but don\u2019t pursue them; try to let them go.  <br \/><br \/>Practice self-compassion and encourage self-compassion<br \/><br \/>Give yourself credit for trying and encourage that <br \/><br \/>Practice positive self-talk (even for a minute or two) until you reach a point where you notice it\u2019s starting to help you and you feel less stressed<br \/><br \/>Keep at it.  It isn&#8217;t like riding a bike.  You must do it regularly for it to help you.  <br \/><br \/>Practice mindfulness. It helps you not only recognize your emotions and stay attuned to it, but with also what&#8217;s going on with your body without judging any of it as good or bad.<br \/><br \/>Notice if your body is tense or if your mind keeps trying to go back to a particular unpleasant topic, but don\u2019t get down on yourself \u2014 just recognize what\u2019s going on as a way of gathering information about yourself.  <br \/><br \/>Friends are important.  Choose friends carefully, who can be rea friends of support.<br \/><br \/>Consider joining a meditation group.  <br \/><br \/>Light and easy exercise that doesn&#8217;t stress you is helpful.  Maybe it is light yoga, using the back of a chair as support, lifting the leg and flexing the foot while practicing balance and shifting posture.  (chair yoga)<br \/>Small walks<br \/>Swimming and water aerobics<br \/>Music and dancing, light movement with music<br \/>Bodyweight exercises<br \/><br \/>Avoid sugar and salt, but hydrate well<br \/>Proper nutrition is critical for your mental and physical health. Your food fuels your brain, so getting the right balance of protein, healthy fats, and carbohydrates will help you<br \/>Remember moderation and balance your diet with variety in place of overindulging on one thing<br \/><br \/><br \/>Pros &amp; Cons of:<br \/>Being goal oriented, mission oriented, focused on accomplishing the task and completing it (also amplifies tendency for &#8220;tunnel vision&#8221; and forgetting to breath, pause, which is important to de-stressing, managing stress as we go&#8230;)<br \/>*What is great about being focused and goal oriented can also be an Achilles heel as we age&#8230;which is why &#8220;moderation&#8221; and &#8220;good habit&#8221; and continuing to encourage and develop the skill of checking in with one&#8217;s self and reflecting as we go is useful and helpful, something we must all WORK at as we age and cope with health issues and what continues with life<br \/><br \/>Technology is inherently stressful, since it always comes with demanding time and many series of steps with troubleshooting and doesn&#8217;t work reliably&#8230;coupled with the fact that our society and lives are more dependent than ever on it, a stress for older adults and those with health problems to interface with the services and continue to engage in community and their needs utilizing it as they need to<br \/><br \/>Common sources of stress for our older loved ones:<br \/>-Stress from being dependent on others<br \/>-Cost of living expenses or medical expenses<br \/>-Bereavement<br \/>-Social isolation and loneliness<br \/>-Fear of falling or other medical emergencies<br \/><br \/>Personal autonomy and maintaining that, with independence, is important to each older person<br \/><br \/>Social interaction is important to our older loved ones.  <br \/>Worry can compete with positive interactions.  Remember that we are seeking positive relations from each other, so remember to &#8220;stop and smell the roses&#8221; and let the worry fall to th wayside.  Let that positivity grow.  Worry is like a weed that eats at our garden.  Cultivate and nurture.  Worry comes with stress and feeds the same.  Give worry its due, but let the flowers bloom, too.  ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>-Provide reassurance and support-Encourage exercise, support group-Maintain a normal routine and avoid unnecessary changes-Older adults may be triggered by a previous traumatic event, especially after feeling helpless because of a new disability-Recognize and acknowledge that older loved one&#8217;s fears and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/older-loved-ones-compassion\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":154,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/154"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30777,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30776\/revisions\/30777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}