Mental Health Awareness Week. Key Stages.

                                                      Looking after your mental health

Key Stages

Middle Age

Challenges facing people in their forties and fifties might include:

Awareness of unfilled dreams.

Job insecurity or stress. Work becoming intermittent.

Concerns over children or ageing parents or both.

Family or relationship breakdown or job loss.

Realisation that time is finite.

Health issues or poor physical health.

Try and maintain an optimistic attitude. Eat healthily, sleep well, exercise and socialise.

Remember:

' Forty is the old age of youth and fifty is the youth of old age.'

Not that old age is necessarily a terrible thing. In fact, some people report to being happier than ever in their senior years.


RETIREMENT.

Challenges facing retirees and the elderly may include:

Unfulfilled needs for status, meaning and purpose.

Loss of sense of belonging to a community.

Lack of self-esteem and self-advancement.

Increased frailty, illness, and waning physical and sometimes mental health, both personal and that of a partner and friends.

Loneliness from friends dying or moving away.

Feelings of isolation due to negative attitudes towards the elderly.

Worry about 'becoming a burden.'

Conflict with a partner from suddenly spending so much time together.

Going from a context that easily meets many emotional needs to one that won't cause a person to ruminate, stress and, unless they find ways to meet those needs outside of the work context, become depressed. Less human contact can be a major problem and keeping connections going may be as vital for health as regular exercise, healthy food and sleep.