Five risks when senior citizens stay alone

Physical and mental risks senior face when living alone in India

In India, it is quite common for seniors to live alone. In fact, in 2014, there were nearly 15 million elderly living alone in India and a more recent survey with a sample size of 10,000 elders reported around 23.44% living alone. All this data indicate that there is good amount of our senior citizen population staying by themselves, and this can be challenging in myriad ways. To know why, read about the common risks seniors face when living alone.

Malnutrition

Eating well and eating right is an important part of healthy living, but this can be quite a challenge for anyone living alone. With an elderly living alone, problems like malnutrition are only worsened because maintaining a healthy diet requires effort. For senior citizens, the quickest and easiest choice is usually the go-to and when it comes to nutrition, this is a recipe for trouble.

With age, the body’s reliance on proper nutrition increases, and an elder living alone may not be able to take care of themselves as well as they could when they were younger. Low-effort meals such as sandwiches or bottled juices aren’t healthy alternatives to fresh vegetables and fruit as a part of a balanced diet. Moreover, seniors also need to consume the right heart and mind friendly foods to stay in the pink of health. For an elderly living alone in India without house help, going to the market to procure these may also pose a problem.

Social isolation and loneliness

Living alone is one among the causes of social isolation in elderly and it has very serious health issues linked to it, be it depression, anxiety, cognitive decline or more. Elders need to stay socially connected in order to maintain their mental wellbeing. Studies have found that isolation is about as bad as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and social isolated people have a 26% increased chance of an early death. However, social isolation is very different from loneliness, even though they are related.

Socially isolated elders are those that never visit anyone, have no telephone, don’t maintain contact with neighbours, have no close relatives and never leave the home. On the other hand, lonely elders are those that don’t meet enough people, want more friends, don’t see enough of their relatives of friends, and have no real confidant. Loneliness has dangerous side effects on mental health as a study suggest that lonely elders have a 64% higher chance of developing dementia.

Injuries

A particularly common risk elders face when living alone is that they’re more prone to injury. As the body ages, issues like muscle weakness, declining eyesight and loss of balance are quite common and these increase the chances of getting injured. While there are simple ways that seniors can prevent falls, an injury when they’re alone can be particularly challenging because there’s no one to offer assistance at once in case of emergencies.

Unhygienic living conditions

It is common knowledge that elders have reduced mobility and this continues to decrease with age. A side effect of reduced mobility is that everyday tasks become a lot more difficult to perform an elderly living alone in India may just stop doing them altogether. For instance, cleaning the house as a whole, or the kitchen and bathroom in specific, becomes a lot tougher. Without proper cleaning, harmful bacteria and dust start to settle and these cause more health problems. Further, a cluttered and unclean house is a pool of potential trip hazards, which can be a cause of bodily injury. Besides these, an unhygienic household also affects mental wellbeing. Unclean homes can be harder to relax in and can be a source of unhappiness.

Improper medical care

Elders living alone in India often overlook important symptoms of disease or disorders and dismiss them as ‘just another sign of old age’. This is very harmful and may leads to improper medical care. The is particularly relevant for elders at risk of developing some form of dementia as the early signs can be very easily overlooked or forgotten. Regular check-ups with medical professionals can be a lifesaver in this case.

All of these risks are very real and relevant even in a modern household with or without part-time help. Thankfully, families can avail the services of a senior citizen caretaker or a specialised attendant for elderly persons living alone. However, sometimes the expense of 24/7 care or lack of supervision by a family members comes in the way of proper care.

(Adapted from www. https://heritagehealthcareindia.com/blog/post/physical-and-mental-risks-senior-face-when-living-alone-india)

Sun therapy and Vit D

Sunlight is the best source of vitamin D. While it is true that the ultra violet rays of the Sun are harmful and have thus made us sun-phobic yet exposure to the Sun does not mean burning the skin, or getting tanned. The key lies in safe, limited, healthy and strategic exposure to sun.

By depriving ourselves from healthy exposure, we miss out on optimizing on the numerous benefits of vitamin D required to build bones, reduce inflammation, and build strong immune system. Vitamin D can also prevent many types of cancer. Chromo Therapy is just another name for Sun Therapy.

Usually the notion is that basking in the sun is the job of lazy ones. But in fact it is not so. It gives tremendous benefits to our health when we make it our habit to have sun bath every day. In the morning one should have sun bath with fewer clothes. The duration should be 10-15 minutes in the summer and 20-30 minutes in the winter.

It is said that where there is darkness there is death and decay. Indeed it is due to the sun light that life is possible in this earth. The houses where the sun rays do not reach easily host insects and germs.

Sun rays improve vitality and alleviates from nervous disability.

Empowers the digestion, stimulates the digestive fire and increases the force of excretion. Gives mobility to the blood, cures all the skin diseases and strengthens bones. It also increases the proportion of calcium, phosphorus, and iron in the blood.

Dr. Babette says, “Sun rays increases strength, intelligence and beauty.” By the use of sunrays we can make very effective medicines. Sun charged water, oil, sugar, glycerine etc. can be used to cure many more diseases.

Some of the essential benefits of the sun rays are:

• boost bone health and strengthens teeth

• boost the immune system. The white blood cells called lymphocytes are activated by exposure to the sun which play a major role in guarding the body against infections.

• unique healing power by way of disinfecting and healing wounds and also kill bad bacteria. Fungal infection of the skin is cured.

• protect against dementia and brain aging

• loss of excess fat

• decreasing symptoms of asthma

• beneficial effect on skin disorders such as psoriasis, acne and eczema by penetrating deep into the skin to cleanse the blood and the blood vessels.

• lower high cholesterol by converting high cholesterol in the blood into steroid hormones.

• also known to lower blood pressure in those suffering from high blood pressure.

• activate the cells and tissues by increasing the flow of oxygen in the blood. Sunlight has great impact on building stamina and fitness of individuals.

• positively increase growth and height of children, especially babies. The amount of sun exposure in new born babies till 4-5 months has an great impact on the growth of the child.

• Sunlight is a great mood uplifter. Infact people in cold countries celebrate sunny days because it is a rare feat for them and hugely cures depression.

• The mantra is right, moderate and slow exposure to the sun. Do not be vitamin D deficient by depriving your body of natural vitamin D direct from the sun.

(Adapted from ‘Healing benefits of sun bath’ from https://www.natural-cure.org/home-remedy/healing-benefits-of-sun-bath/

Porosh and International Women’s Day

On the occasion of International Women’s Day Porosh’s co-founder Paushali was invited to share her experience as a women entrepreneur with the employees of HDFC Life (East). Although it is not unusual for Porosh to get invited to such forums yet dovetailing it with International Women’s Day was quite unique.

The event was attended by almost a hundred employees, mostly women though. It offered Porosh an opportunity to share its journey since inception including the trials and tribulations. The presentation was brief and succinct. Naturally, it elicited a lot of queries. The most gratifying part was the generation of awareness among the participants that something like home care services for elders exist in Kolkata and that Porosh is one of the leading organizations.

It is indeed true that awareness concerning existence of organizations dedicated to offering medical and non-medical services in Kolkata is very low. Even those who seem to have a modicum of idea generally confuse it with centers providing attendants (aya)!