How to care for the elderly

In order to look after senior citizens, you need to remember:

1. to be willing to help

2. to find within yourself an enormous amount of warmth, care, tolerance and patience

3. to confront daily difficulties that follow the disease

If the carer has all these qualities, looking after the elderly will be pleasurable, productive and less burdensome for both parties.

Forms of spending time actively

If you are willing to organize free time for an elderly person, you have to consider:

- their health

- their capabilities

- their desires

- their habits

There are a lot of different forms of spending time actively, but every carer, knowing his/her charge, should find a suitable form individually. In Germany there are active Senior Clubs, where a lot of senior citizens belong to, they organize their free time by doing exercise, learning languages, travelling, lectures etc. If your charge is in good health, you should encourage them (by involving their families for example) to take part in such activities. If your charge is bedridden or does not leave the house, then the activities may involve reading a book or favourite magazine, massaging, watching television, listening to the radio or organizing family dinner.

Sleep disorder in the elderly

Sleep is necessary for your body to work properly. Sleep disorder is always adverse and has a negative influence on your physical and mental efficiency during the day. The older you get the less sleep you need. Older people often sleep during the day because of sleepless nights. Typical behaviour among the elderly is: problems with falling asleep, waking up at nighttime, then problems with falling asleep again. Sleep disorder is influenced by bad health, different diseases, physical malfunction and taking sleeping pills (an elderly person should not take them without consulting a doctor first). Sleep disorder may be one of the symptoms of depression, often occurring among the elderly.

A few tips on how to deal with insomnia:

- you should always go to bed at the same time

- you should reduce coffee and tea intake

- you should reduce eating square meals before bedtime, but you should not go to bed hungry

- you should feel quiet when falling asleep

- you should relax by taking a hot bath, reading a book, taking a walk or listening to music

- you should calm down by drinking a glass of milk (it includes lactose – a natural sedative) or herbal infusions (chamomile, hop, passion fruit, melissa, valerian).

You must remember that a person suffering from prolonged insomnia should consult a doctor (a neurologist or psychiatrist).

How to unwind in stressful situations

Bottling anger, irritation and aggression has a negative influence on us and our environment. When we are stressed and the situation surpasses us, we should go for a walk (if we can). Breathing fresh air will calm us down and we will be able to look at the reasons of our anger and frustration. They usually have their roots in feeling helpless, bitter or insecure. In order to be more resistant to different unexpected situations and unavoidable episodes you should learn to look after your needs, protect yourself and your emotions, which means being assertive. It consists in standing up to the demands other people make on us that are prohibitive.

The most important thing is to sit down, relax, find a moment for yourself after a hard day. If we want to unwind our charge, we have to start with ourselves. Raised voice and irritability are emotions that can be easily sensed by another person, they might start acting the same way. Instead of reacting nervously, we should empathize with an elderly person (very often ailing, unaware of their behaviour, dependent and humiliated) we should listen to what they are trying to say in words, gestures or silence.

Home therapies

Book therapy consists in reading, listening to or watching suitable books or works. The basis is empathy with our charge and the right choice of the book. You should consider the age, gender and emotional state of your charge.

Classification of the books in therapy:

- in order to calm down – adventure books, fairy tales, fantasy books and humorous stories.

- in order to feel stimulated – picaresque novels, war stories, travel books and scientific books

- in order to be reflective – moral books, biographies, romantic novels, psychological, social and religious novels;

Aromatherapy consists in using different essential oils to massage, inhale or in a bath. Pleasant scents bring back memories, stimulate appetite, strike optimism and refresh.

Use of essential oils:

- tea tree oil stimulates your immune system

- myrrh oil cures throat infections

- chamomile, lavender and hawthorn oil cures chronic arthritis

- sage, tangerine and patchouli oil helps to relax

- cypress, jasmine and yang-yang oil is said to cope with jealousy

- lavender, mint and geranium oil helps to get rid of headaches

- anise, eucalyptus and rosemary oil helps to cure coughs and colds

- juniper, rose and neroli oil helps to calm down

- ginger, coriander and cypress oil helps to ease rheumatic pains

- juniper, lavender and mint oil eases muscle pains

- rose, geranium and lavender prevents insomnia

Massaging the body using essential oils – you need to use fragrance-free and skin-friendly oils. You should dissolve them in olive oil (2-3 drops of essential oil in 1 tablespoon of olive oil). This amount will be enough for one massage. You must not use undiluted essential oils directly onto skin or increase the dose.

Taking a bath using essential oils – it should last between 15-30 minutes. You should add 10 drops of oils to running, warm water. If soaking hands or feet only, you need to decrease the amount of oils. After the bath you should towel yourself (there is no need to rinse the whole body). During the bath you should not be using any bath soaks and creams. The bath should be purely relaxing.

Inhalation using essential oils – you should use a special dish, heated by a tea candle. The inhalation should be done in the morning and evening, using 10 drops of oils (no more than 5 different kinds) per treatment.

Aromatherapy is effective only when using natural essential oils, not synthetic scent substances.

Herbal medicine. Herbs in medical treatment are most often used as: infusions, drops, syrups, essential oils, pills and capsules. When using herbs competently you can cure a lot of minor illnesses. However, in case of serious diseases, using herbs should be consulted with a doctor. Effectiveness of herbal medicine depends on the right choice of herbs and the patient’s health.

These are the most popular herbs: