Old people may share their feelings with others through meditation exercise, so as to maintain emotional stability and stay away from loneliness. (Photo/Huang Zhiwen) Dr. Liu Jiayi, Director of Psychiatry Department of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Linkou, said that many elderly people spend their last days alone. The death of their partners and the independence of their children forced them to live alone. However, loneliness means more than just a quiet house and no company. Over time, loneliness not only causes psychological harm, but also affects physical health.
A study at UCLA found that a meditation program lasting only eight weeks can reduce the loneliness of the elderly. In addition, loneliness is related to the increase of cancer-related gene activity, which can stimulate a series of different diseases.
The researchers took 40 adults aged between 55 and 85 as subjects. It was found that participants in the meditation group attended 1 two-hour meeting every week to learn meditation skills, including consciousness and breathing skills. In addition, I meditate at home for half an hour every day and attend the 1 day retreat. Although this study is a small sample, it confirms that different meditation techniques, including Tai Chi and yoga, can bring health benefits to the elderly.
Dr Liu Jiayi emphasized that meditation and meditation can really make people feel calm and emotionally stable. It can also be seen from the study that meditation also helps to change the immune function in the body.
From the outpatient experience, meditation can obviously help to improve this feeling besides encouraging patients to take medicine on time, but meditation should require methods and exercises to get familiar with it, because familiarity can be a helpful force.
In addition to meditation, if you want to have the same effect, I suggest that you can actively find a partner to do things together, whether it is cooking, going for a walk in the community park, playing chess, growing plants, watching movies, or even remembering happy things together, which will help reduce loneliness and stay away from depression.