POSITIVITY AND HEALTH

“Optimism is the most important human trait, because it allows us to evolve our ideas, to improve our situation, and to hope for a better tomorrow.” – Seth Godin [American Author]

HEALTH

Our minds are powerful tools for creating health and wellness. While studies haven’t identified precisely why positive people are healthier, researchers suspect that it is because people who are more positive process stress better and move through hard situations more easily. Negative attitudes and feelings of helplessness can create chronic stress, which can, in turn, damage the immune system. Anger and hostility are related to health conditions such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, digestive disorders, and increased instances of infection. Surprisingly, the tendency toward a positive or negative outlook does have a genetic component. However, this doesn’t mean that people can’t improve their outlooks. Some tips to improve your outlook include:

• Smile more. Even fake smiling can reduce heart rate and blood pressure during stressful situations.
• Practice reframing. Instead of stressing about a current situation, try to find a positive aspect to it.
• Build resiliency. Having friends and family nearby to share the situation with, accepting that change is a part of life and finding new ways to adapt, and feeling like you have the control to change the current situation are all ways to embrace whatever life throws your way.
• Share your feelings. Often, we spend too much time in our heads. Sharing our feelings with a trusted other can help find a different way to look at a situation. If others are mired in their current negative situations, encourage them to share their fears.

Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine. University of Minnesota, and University of Wisconsin Health

While loved ones might resist the idea of optimistic thinking, there are health reasons to ask them to reconsider. Positive thinking can lead to:

• Better sleep
• Increased life span
• Lower levels of distress
• Lower rates of depression
• Greater resistance to the common cold
• Better cardiovascular health
• Better coping skills during extreme hardship

Tips for Creating a More Positive Outlook

• Get better sleep.
• Take a walk outside.
• Follow a healthy lifestyle.
• Practice positive self-talk.
• Surround yourself with positive people.
• Be open to humor or create a place for smiling and laughing every day.
• Consciously work on experiencing three positive emotions for every negative one.
• Actively evaluate your self-talk at various points during the day to see how you’re doing.

Source Mayo Clinic and University of Wisconsin Health

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POSITIVITY AND HEALTH

HEALTH

Are you a negative or positive thinker?

Listen to your own self-talk- that endless stream of unspoken thoughts that goes through your head. Some forms of negative self-talk to watch out for include:

• Filtering. This means magnifying the negative aspects of a situation and not acknowledging the positive. For example: Your loved one had a good night’s sleep, a fun phone call with their grandchild, and took a walk on a beautifully sunny day outside. But then they tripped and fell with minor injuries. At the end of the day, did they say it was a “bad” day because of the fall or a “good” day because of the rest?
• Personalizing. When something bad occurs, you or your loved one automatically takes the blame. Sometimes no one is to blame.
• Catastrophizing. You or your loved one uses language that makes things out to be much worse than they are, or assumes that because one bad thing happened, it’s all downhill from there. Single events in the day are rarely the “worst” or “most horrific.”
• Polarizing. You or your loved one sees things as either good or bad and not the huge gray area in the middle. This leads to feeling like one is only perfect or a failure; healthy or dying tomorrow, capable or completely incapacitated.

If you are seeing these tendencies in your loved one, you should take care to address the subject, as they are more likely to see it as an attack and apply all of the above thought processes to that interaction.

Source: Mayo Clinic

Positive Self-Talk

• Affirm daily what is good about you.
• Remove the words “never” and “always.”
• Express gratitude – either aloud or in your head.
• If you make a mistake, take a moment to forgive yourself.
• Don’t say anything to yourself that you wouldn’t say to someone else.

Source: Mayo Clinic

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NEW YEAR’S GOALS

ACTIVITIES

For older adults, making a New Year’s resolution can be a symbol of hope. [cite: 1, 2] Resolutions are a sign to their inner selves that they believe they will be around for the coming year to enact those changes. [cite: 2] The word “resolution” has gotten a stigma as something that people start on January 1st and break on January 2nd. [cite: 3] Calling a resolution a goal might help everyone get out of the mindset that these are things you say only New Year’s Day. [cite: 4, 5] Goals can be set any time. [cite: 5] You can help your loved one create some measurable goals for the coming year. [cite: 5, 6] In fact, helping them reach their goals might be a goal for yourself!

Make goals bite-sized and measurable. [cite: 7] For example, instead of saying “lose weight,” set smaller monthly goals to eliminate one poor eating choice from your diet or add one extra daily activity. [cite: 7, 8] Losing weight will be a product of those goals, but not the goal itself. [cite: 8]

Goals don’t have to be boring! [cite: 9] Especially as we age, there are legacies to be passed down. [cite: 9, 10] Consider asking your family members to sit down with you (even virtually) each week to pass down recipes, stories, and lessons they’ve learned throughout their lives. [cite: 10, 11] This can be a great family activity that feels less like a resolution and more like the right thing to do. [cite: 11, 12]

Source: Philips Lifeline and American Psychological Association

Personal Goals

• Cleaning and Sorting – As we move through life, it’s easy to amass items that just don’t serve us anymore. [cite: 13] As organizational expert Marie Kondo says, keep only those things that spark joy. [cite: 13] Our homes should be a haven. [cite: 13, 14] That old vase you picked up in a thrift store on a whim, which is out only to be dusted, can probably go to someone who might value it more. [cite: 14, 15]
• Technology – Video chats with family members can ease loneliness and allow us to keep an eye on them. [cite: 15, 16] Add a form of digital music, which has been proven to help with mental acuity and emotional happiness. [cite: 16, 17] Teaching your loved one how to email or text will allow them to connect with their peers more easily. [cite: 17, 18]

Source: Philips Lifeline

Inspiration

Hubert Jones was 69 when he founded the Boston Children’s Chorus, which includes young people of different ages, races, ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds. [cite: 19] Its mission combines artistic excellence and an agenda for social change. [cite: 19]

Source: US News and World Report

NEW YEAR’S GOALS

ACTIVITIES

Health Goals

• Exercise – Increasing exercise can be as simple as getting your loved one a pedometer and a goal for a certain number of steps each day. [cite: 20, 21] You can make it a competition, if that is something they’d enjoy, or a reward system where they earn something for achieving the daily goal. [cite: 21, 22]
• Medications – As we age, there are an increasing number of medications to keep track of. [cite: 22, 23] A worthwhile goal is to take an annual look at the medications in your loved one’s home. [cite: 23, 24] Check to see that none are expired and there aren’t duplicates or varied dosages. [cite: 24, 25]
• Vaccinations – If vaccinations are not on the annual schedule, it’s a good time to make sure that your loved one is up to date on the ones their doctor might recommend, such as flu, pneumonia, and shingles. [cite: 25, 26]

Source: Medical Alert Advice

Financial Goals

• Legal Documents – While it seems like setting up a will or trust or other legal decisions might be a “one and done,” it is useful to review these documents annually. [cite: 26, 27] The people designated in these documents may no longer be in our lives or in a position to take on any responsibilities mentioned. [cite: 27, 28]
• Bills – A great goal for a new year is to consolidate debt and to set up a plan for paying bills more efficiently. [cite: 28, 29] Scattered accounts can lead to financial mistakes and even fraud. If your loved one isn’t using autopay or bill pay systems, you can work with them to learn how to manage finances online. [cite: 29, 30] If they are uncomfortable with the prospect of taking their account management online, a first step can be to set up smaller accounts, like utilities, to get them used to the process. [cite: 30, 31]

Source: US News and World Report

Inspiration

Nola Ochs became the oldest college graduate at 95 and lived to 105. [cite: 31, 32] After graduation, Princess Cruises hired Ochs as a guest lecturer on a nine-day Caribbean cruise. [cite: 32] Ernestine Shepherd is an American bodybuilder best known for being, at one point, the oldest competitive female bodybuilder in the world. [cite: 32, 33] She will be 84 this year and is still an active bodybuilder. [cite: 33, 34]

Source: US News and World Report