Health Concerns of Senior Citizens
Recognizing the Signs of Depression
According to the National Institutes of Mental Health, major depression is characterized by a combination of symptoms that interfere with a person's ability to work, sleep, study, eat, and enjoy once-pleasurable activities. Major depression is disabling and prevents a person from functioning normally. An episode of major depression may occur only once in a person's lifetime, but more often, it recurs throughout a person's life.
Health Challenges Older people face
More older women than older men experience depression, but rates decrease among women after menopause. Evidence suggests that depression in post-menopausal women generally occurs in women with prior histories of depression. Depression is not a normal part of aging.
For older adults who experience depression for the first time later in life, other factors, such as changes in the brain or body, may be at play. Senior citizens may suffer from restricted blood flow, a condition called ischemia. Blood vessels become less flexible. They may harden and prevent blood from flowing normally to the body's organs, including the brain. If this occurs, an older adult with no family or personal history of depression may develop what some doctors call vascular depression. Those with vascular depression also may be at risk for a coexisting cardiovascular illness, such as heart disease or a stroke. Women can have physical changes in their body which may trigger depressive episodes.
Menopause
Hormonal changes increase during the transition between pre-menopause to menopause. While some women may transition into menopause without any problems with mood, others experience an increased risk for depression. This seems to occur even among women without a history of depression. However, depression becomes less common for women during the post-menopause period. Older people can stave off depression by enjoying social activities and activities that used to bring pleasure.
Life Changing Events
The death of a spouse or loved one, moving from work into retirement, or dealing with a chronic illness can leave women and men alike feeling sad or distressed. After a period of adjustment, many older women can regain their emotional balance, but others do not and may develop depression. When older women do suffer from depression, it may be overlooked because older adults may be less willing to discuss feelings of sadness or grief, or they may have less obvious symptoms of depression. As a result, their doctors may be less likely to suspect or spot it.
Stress
Stressful life events such as trauma, loss of a loved one, a difficult relationship or any stressful situation--good or bad--often occur before a depressive episode. Additional work and home responsibilities, caring for children and aging parents, abuse, and poverty also may trigger a depressive episode.
Evidence suggests that women respond differently than men to these events making them more prone to depression. In fact, research indicates that women respond in such a way that prolongs their feelings of stress more so than men, increasing the risk for depression.However, it is unclear why some women faced with enormous challenges develop depression while some with similar challenges do not.
Enjoying Familiar activities Helps Seniors.
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