Today is World Mental Health Day; we have talked about mental wellness for older adults before. Today, we are going to quickly talk about some of the ways people, especially older adults, can take care of their mental health.
Therapy and Medications
One of the best ways that we can take care of our mental health is to start therapy. Your psychiatrist may prescribe you medication, but also your medications for other conditions may impact your mental health as well. Keep an eye out for those side effects, and discuss them with your doctor.
Make Time for What Makes You Happy
This could be anything. It could be walking your dog or gardening. It could be volunteering with your favorite local charity. Whatever it is, make time semi-regularly to do it. We feel better when we are doing something that we love.
Tune Out the Noise
I know this week, I had to limit how much I monitored Hurricane Milton, because it was causing me too much anxiety. Being aware of the world around us is important, but not when it comes at the price of our mental health. Older adults are especially prone to this messaging because a lot of older people spend a lot of time watching television or on the internet. Just like how you monitor the side effects of your medication, you should monitor the effects of your media consumption. By the way, this is not only advice for older adults. Younger people can get very harmful messages, especially from social media.
These are some of the ways that you can look after your mental health every day. Leave a comment down below about your favorite way to take care of your mental health.
Written by Brigid Stakelum
