Take care of your mental health. Mental health, or mental well-being, is essential to your overall health and quality of life. It affects the way we think, feel, act, make decisions and relate to others. Managing social isolation, loneliness, stress, depression and mood through medical and personal care is key to healthy aging.
According to the Center for Better Ageing, people between 50 and 60 years old today face worse circumstances than those of the previous generation, and 1 in 5 people in this age group is likely to face multiple long-term problems related to physical and mental health, lifestyle and material circumstances. A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center revealed that only 19% of adults over 75 believed their lives would improve over the next year. Among the older adults surveyed, the main factors attributed to quality of life were the ability to communicate, the ability to dress and the absence of severe pain. So what can be done to address this issue? Whether you're worried about a family member, friend, or someone you work with, keep reading to discover our top 12 ways to improve the quality of life for older people. This makes it vital to provide support networks for the well-being of older people, both through organizations and within communities or families, to ensure that they have access to mental health support (or simply a listening ear), regardless of whether or not they choose to access medical advice.
According to data from Age UK, 1.4 million people over 50 in the UK regularly feel alone. Good general health and social care is important to promote the health of older people, prevent diseases and control chronic diseases. Therefore, it is important to train all health care providers to work with aging-related problems and disorders. Effective community-level primary mental health care for older people is crucial. It is equally important to focus on long-term care for older adults who suffer from mental disorders, as well as to provide caregivers with education, training and support.
The identified areas can serve as guidance for care and support services, and when developing personal care plans, consequences must be taken into account in all areas. Creating a comfortable environment in the home ensures that it is the safe space it should be, so that the elderly resident can simply relax and enjoy their leisure time. This review highlighted that many older adults living with chronic diseases had difficulty performing tasks related to mobility, personal care and domestic life and, in many cases, they relied on family caregivers and home care services for support. In addition, although it can be analyzed to what extent care and support services are responsible for all the quality of life domains identified in this synthesis, the domains should be considered as important outcomes or side effects in the improvement processes, evaluation, monitoring or comparative evaluation of care services and support for older adults living in the home.
