December 9, 2022
For many the holiday season is a joyful, happy time built around togetherness, family, and friends, but for some it can be very stressful and filled with overwhelming expectations, depression, and anxiety. The holiday season can be a reminder of those who are not with us anymore, financial limitations, sadness from being separated from loved ones, and the loss of treasured traditions. Celebrating this time of year doesn’t have to be a sad or overwhelming time. It can be a peaceful time of reminiscing, volunteering, spending time with friends, and creating new traditions!
The holiday season can leave many people feeling anxious, lonely, and isolated. These feelings can cause someone to have feelings of depression. The holidays are a time when people get together and family travel to see each other. If someone has lost a family member or does not have a large family to celebrate with, this can lead to depression.
Some signs of depression, anxiety, and stress to monitor would be excessive sleeping or insomnia, feelings of hopelessness, irritability, tearfulness, and loss of interest in things that once brought pleasure.
We can help eliminate the holiday blues for residents by spending time with them. Give them an opportunity to talk about their feelings and help residents to understand that it’s alright to have those feelings. We can offer different activities that are centered around Christmas cheer such as filling out Christmas cards or baking cookies.
Loneliness is one of the most common causes of depression in the elderly during the holiday season. To combat those feelings, we can invite the residents to spend time with each other and to participate in all of the wonderful events planned for the 45 Days of Holiday Cheer. We can also pull out some old photo albums the residents may have and encourage reminiscing. We can ask the residents what their favorite holiday traditions were, and we can try to recreate those, but in slightly new ways.
The holiday season means different things to each of us. The holidays are about family, friends, food, and tradition. For many, the smells, taste, and decorations bring memories flooding back. We at Vitalia Active Adult Community – North Royalton hope some of these ideas will be helpful as the holidays approach.
VITALIA® North Royalton in North Royalton, OH offers independent senior apartments, assisted living, and memory care with a variety of services and a range of floor plan options. Amenities include restaurant dining, 24-hour bistro, concierge service, housekeeping, events and entertainment, personal care, transportation services, and more. Centrally located near Parma Hospital and Southwest General Hospital with convenient access to major shopping centers and attractions, including Ridgewood Golf Course, Southpark Mall, Sleepy Hallow Golf Course, Cleveland Metro Parks, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and Heavily Hills Farm.
