If your elderly family member is interested in finding new ways to improve her quality of life, mindfulness might be just the technique to try. Mindfulness combined with other tools, like bringing in-home care professionals in to offer assistance, can do a lot for your senior’s mental and physical well-being with very little actual effort on her part. All she needs to do is give it a try and see if it works for her.
What Is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness sounds a lot more complicated than it really is. Mindfulness is a practice of remaining present in each moment of what’s happening. The practice invites anyone who wants to try it to pause, breathe, and to pay attention to each activity as it is occurring. Multitasking does not work well with mindfulness, because it contributes to scattered thinking. If your elderly family member wants to practice mindfulness, she may find that it offers her some serious benefits.
Better Mental Health
One of the results that people who practice mindfulness report is improved mental health, better coping with feelings of anxiety, and reduced stress. Simply spending some time engaging in mindfulness can also help your elderly family member’s memory and concentration, which she might be more worried about as she grows older.
Better Physical Health
Mindfulness, like other relaxation techniques, can help the physical body as well. People who are dealing with chronic illnesses like high blood pressure and diabetes may find that mindfulness helps them to be more aware of how they feel, which can help them to improve overall health. Combining mindfulness with activities like tai chi or yoga can help in other ways, too, like improving flexibility and balance.
Incorporating Mindfulness Into Daily Life
Building mindfulness practices into her daily life might be easier than your senior thinks. Mindful breathing is something that she can do at any time, simply concentrating on her breathing for a few minutes each day. Mindful eating is another important activity. If your elderly family member doesn’t sit down at a table and eat right now, she might want to consider making that change and include a mindfulness practice with her meals. In-home care professionals can help her to have healthy meals to enjoy, too.
Challenges with Mindfulness
Your elderly family member might feel as if her life is too complicated to practice mindfulness. If she’s having trouble with daily activities, they may take a lot more time and energy than they used to. That can leave her less desire and time to feel as if she can spend time focusing on her breathing. This is another area where elder care professionals are a huge help, because they can free up her time and energy so that she can pay attention to self-care tasks like mindfulness.
Mindfulness alone can’t completely reverse health issues, of course, but it can help your elderly family member to have greater peace of mind. Spending a little bit of time each day in mindfulness practices can give your senior huge results if she sticks with them.
Reference
https://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/meditation-natural-remedy-for-insomnia
If you or an aging loved one is considering in-home care in Broadview, MT, call the caring staff at SYNERGY Home Care of Billings today. 406-839-2390
