Mindfulness for Depression: Daily Wellness Support for Seniors

According to the World Health Organization, about 14% of adults over 65 live with mental health issues. Depression is among the most common.

Age is a huge risk factor for depression due to the loss of loved ones and living alone. Navigating daily life also becomes more challenging with mobility issues and a lack of regular, accessible transportation.

Luckily, transitioning to a senior community in Albuquerque, NM, and trying assisted living wellness tactics can help! Read on to learn about mindfulness for depression and what strategies can help you thrive.

What Is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness means being completely present within one's immediate physical surroundings. It can be done anywhere in your community, and with consistent mindfulness practices, you become more aware of your current sensory experiences and emotional wellness.

This enhances the mind-body connection and prevents you from getting lost in negative thought patterns.

Mindfulness has three principles, sometimes referred to as the "three C's." They are:

• Curiosity, which encourages an exploration of the present with an open mind and a willingness to observe without judgment
• Compassion, which recognizes our shared experiences with others so we can be kinder toward both ourselves and those around us
• Calm, which focuses on emotional stability and senior mental health regulation

All three of these tenets work to decrease instances of depression. If you're trying to be more mindful, you will judge yourself less and be kinder to yourself. This increases motivation and personal life satisfaction.

Remaining calm also stops rumination and negative thought spirals. This manages depression by keeping the mind clear of negative thoughts.

Therapy: Stress Relief in Aging

Therapy is a great way to promote individual wellness and stave off the impacts of depression.

In these sessions, you will meet with a licensed talk therapist. These professionals will be trained and accredited, so you know what they're doing. Plus, many therapists outline their experience on their website and will note whether they specialize in depression or not.

This will help you make a confident decision about where to seek mental health help!

Therapy has a wide range of benefits, as reported by the National Institute on Aging. Since old age is a risk factor for depression, therapy can help seniors reminisce on their past experiences and feel more in touch with themselves. They can also identify the best sensory experiences that they have enjoyed and emulate them in a professional setting.

It's a great way to get in touch with the present and be mindful of your current emotions.

Therapy also helps seniors understand the underlying causes of their depression and other mental health struggles. Therapists will work with you to combat these causes and create healthy aging plans for coping with depression. Wellness routines are a core part of this, so therapists will offer professional advice on how to construct one.

The Raisin Exercise

If you're looking to get stress relief in aging independently, the Raisin Exercise is a great beginner mindfulness activity to get you started.

During the Raisin Exercise, you take three to five raisins and put them in front of yourself. Pretend you've never seen a raisin before and examine them. Carefully assess their:

• Appearance
• Texture
• Malleability and responsiveness to touch-related manipulation
• Scent
• Taste

Focusing on a single object (the raisin) helps seniors to be more present with their sensory experience. If you're attempting the Raisin Exercise, you're forcing yourself to be mindful and notice something that you've never experienced to the fullest.

Note that the Raisin Exercise is just a name. You can try it with any food you like (and should do so if you're not a raisin fan!) Interestingly-textured fruits like strawberries or lychee are great choices, as are nuts.

Meditation

Meditation is a classic mindfulness exercise that never goes out of style. And with good reason! It decreases depression in a myriad of ways, including:

• Helping to clear the mind
• Making breathing easier
• Opening neural pathways in the brain

To meditate, you will need a comfortable area to sit. Cross your legs if possible, but if you can't do that without pain, find another comfortable position. Your back should be straight to facilitate easy breathing.

Meditation can be challenging for seniors with mobility issues. Even those who are completely flexible may struggle since meditating requires skill and practice.

Morada Senior Living offers guided meditation exercises specifically tailored to seniors. They're done within a vibrant senior living community, so you won't have to go far for specialized instruction.

Mental Mapping

Not everything is about clearing the mind when it comes to mindfulness for depression. Sometimes seniors need to get in touch with their thoughts and mental state, which is where mind mapping comes in.

To begin the mind mapping process, write a thought on a sheet of paper. Draw a large circle around it. This will be your central thought that you start making associations from.

Write three to five of the first words that you relate to that thought around that circle. Circle them and connect them to the central thought.

Then, repeat the process on each of the smaller circles. In the end, you'll have a chart of ideas that shows how your brain forms connections. This mindfulness activity gets you more in touch with your thought processes so you can be more present when thinking.

Body Scanning

Emotional wellness for seniors is important, but it's part of holistic wellness. Being aware of your body is an important part of remaining mindful, which is why body scanning is important for overall mindfulness.

This five-step process involves:

• Lying on your back with your palms facing up and feet slightly apart
• Lying very still for the entire exercise
• Bringing awareness to your breathing without changing it
• Paying attention to the physical sensations you experience
• Noting areas of the body with hypersensitivity or minimal sensation

Engage in Mindfulness for Depression at Morada Quintessence

Now that you know the ins and outs of mindfulness for depression management, it's time to begin thriving with senior mental health programs. Morada Quintessence offers a wide range of assisted living wellness programs to help residents get motivated and enjoy an active lifestyle.

Our team is committed to helping residents feel calm and compassionate toward themselves and their natural emotions. Schedule a community tour to see how our caregivers prioritize senior wellness in daily living.