"The groundwork of all happiness is health." - Leigh Hunt

How stress affects the elderly, and find out how to manage it.

Exercise, respiration techniques, and medications may help manage stress as you age.


Photo: Moldboard/Thinkstock

We all experience a little bit stress occasionally. It just isn’t so difficult to handle once we are young. But as we age, coping with stress is not any longer really easy. “We are less resilient to stress, and older adults often find that stress affects them differently,” says Dr. Michelle Doucet, MD, an internal and integrative medicine specialist on the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine. effect.”

Changes in response

Changes in motivation

When you were younger, your stress might have been a busy day at the office or a crying baby. “Mental stressors that affect the elderly are the lack of a loved one; an excessive amount of unstructured time in your hands; changes in relationships with children; or lack of physical abilities, corresponding to vision, hearing, balance or mobility. ” says. Dr. Doucet.

Symptoms of stress may include headaches, indigestion, heart palpitations, poor concentration, difficulty sleeping, anxiety, irritability, crying, or overeating. If any of those symptoms are interfering together with your quality of life, Dr. Doucet recommends that you simply seek help.

What must you do?