Coping with Problems during Old Age

You must be wondering whether the process of ageing can be stopped or can anyone remain young throughout? Ageing is a biological process. This process gets affected by many other things such as stress, tension, habit, undisciplined life, ill health work habits, etc. Leading a disciplined life means giving the body enough time to rest, proper work habits, less tension, proper nutrition and spirituality.

It seems that aging can be delayed but no one can escape it. One must not deny and accept one’s age and act in a realistic but optimistic manner. Different people adopt different coping strategies to meet their life challenges. Some of the effective coping strategies are:

  1. Develop an attitude of flexibility so that one may adapt to the pressures and problems of old age.

  2. Recognize that one has to explore new ways of coping with life events.

  3. Greater use of information seeking and problem solving strategies rather than withdrawing or isolating.

  4. Increasing self-confidence, self-reliance, developing healthy attitudes about one’s strengths and weaknesses.

  5. Learning and maintaining effective coping skills and adopting an active approach towards the environment.

Aging and Social Support

Enlarging social network is another means of coping with life problems. Participating in various group activities such as joining clubs. Certain organizations for informal social interaction are found very helpful for the aged. Building a social network of people of their own age group in neighbourhood or elsewhere provides them with greater opportunity to share their life circumstances and find emotional expressions for their existing problems.

Through such social networks, one can get an unconditional expression of approval, share secrets, provide new experiences to each other, and develop trusting relationships.

Involvement in grand parenting helps elderly satisfy many of their personal and emotional needs. Grand parents can serve as important role models. Older people find these roles emotionally self-fulfilling and tend to derive self-satisfaction through achievement of their grand children.