iSavta | 30.10.2020

Is your senior patient feeling down lately? Haven’t you heard echoes of laughter around the house for some time now? Then, maybe you have to look into their well-being more than meets the eye. 

 

Why do we need them to laugh? Why is laughter important in senior care? It doesn’t mean that as we age we just can let the pressures and worries pull us down. Laughter and humor can help senior patients’ good health. So, let us discuss the many benefits of laughter.

 

1. Provides a Workout

Literally, laughing is a form of exercise! The act of laughing is a good workout for your body especially your diaphragm and abdominal muscles. There are even special yoga classes that use laughter. Laughter is also known to improve respiratory health. 

 

2. Reduce Tension, Stress, Anxiety, and Depression

This is one of the first reasons that we want our seniors to laugh at our jokes and our stories. Tension, stress, anxiety, and depression can be the first symptoms that one can notice. It is also known that the feeling of happiness and releasing of tension stays on for almost an hour after we have a series of laughing, as one may say. Our bodies also release dopamine which naturally helps to reduce anxiety, stress, tension, and depression. 

 

3. Positivity and Motivation

Positivity and motivation are heightened thus giving the senior patients the feeling of hope and lightness. Laughter is surely a pick-me-up for our elderly loved ones who have gone through so much with their anxiety and depression or their medical condition. 

 

4. Improve Memory, Alertness, and Creativity

Laughter reduces stress and it makes the brain ready for remembering old experiences, relating to happy feelings, and making new memories. The brain is ready to take on new information storage and access. 

 

5. Boosts Immune System

Certain immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies called T-cells and salivary immunoglobulin A are increased in number when laughing. This is an added boost to aged and failing immune systems. There are studies that say that there is a significant increase in survival rate for those who engage in humor-filled activities. 

 

6. Pain and Inflammation Management

Endorphins are known to us as the famous “happy hormones”. Endorphins are natural feel-good substances and that is said to lessen the feeling of pain for up to 2 hours. Cortisol, the stress hormone, is also reduced when laughing thus minimizing pain and inflammation through the body. 

 

7. Lower Blood Pressure

Seniors are prone to high blood pressure and heart problems. Laughter can help prevent these by improving blood circulation and oxygenation. 

 

More Reasons that May Have Caused Unhappiness in Seniors

 

1. Lesser Physical Mobility and Exercise 

  For our elderly loved ones, lesser physical activity is quite natural since most of them have already gone through injury or have vertigo. This results in not being able to go to places. And that freedom of mobility that was lost because of aging usually results in pervasive unhappiness. 

 

2. Stress and Depression

There are many different reasons that also cause stress and depression. Along with aging, other physical ailments, and feelings of detachment and isolation may also add to this. 

 

3. The decline of Cognitive Faculties

Because of aging, our brain cells may degenerate thus making it for seniors to process certain thought processes and much more, humor.  

 

4. Isolation or Feeling of Detachment

If the seniors are in hospice care or not living with their families, the feeling of detachment and isolation may heighten. 

 

5. Physical Ailment and Diseases

Senior patients may also have memory issues like Dementia and Alzheimer’s. Some can have other ailments like Parkinson’s, some kinds of cancer, diabetes, or physical injury that may be plunging them into frustration and desperation. 

So, now is the best time to tell a joke or put on that silly costume to make Granny laugh. LOL with them.