Getting Rid of Holiday Blues in Your Elderly Loved One

While the winter holiday season can be happy and go-lucky, there are some people who end up with the holiday blues. This actually happens to many senior citizens. If you are concerned that your loved one is experiencing the holiday blues, there are some signs that may tell you this is true.

Signs of the Holiday Blues

As previously mentioned, there are some signs of the holiday blues that everyone should know about. These signs consist of the following:

Sleeping issues
Feeling sad all the time
Less socialization
Losing interest in preferred activities
Worrying all the time
Being more irritable than usual
Feeling hopeless, helpless, or worthless
Appetite changes
Crying more than usual
Troubles with focusing, decision-making, or remembering things

If you recognize these signs in your elderly loved one, it is important that you try to do something about it.

Combatting Holiday Blues

Did you find out that your elderly loved one has the holiday blues? If you did, then there are some things you can do about this. These things include the following:

Get them to acknowledge they are having a rough time
Keep your elderly loved one busy during the holiday season (sometimes sitting around too much can cause depression or the holiday blues)
Put up Christmas lights to brighten their mood
Do something special with them at least a few times every week
Hire an elderly care provider to keep your loved one busy
Share stories and photos with your elderly loved one
Do video calls daily with your elderly loved one

These are just some of the ways that you can help your elderly loved one to combat holiday blues. The holiday blues should not be confused with depression. If your loved one is truly depressed, they should see a doctor right away. You don’t want them feeling alone or depressed for too long. This could cause even more issues that are even tougher to deal with.

If you find that your loved one has the holiday blues, start implementing even just one of the above-mentioned tips. See if that tip works to make them feel better. For instance, you may want to start by doing a video call with them every day. See how they are doing and just check up on them.

If that doesn’t work, find a way to get them out of their home to do something at least a couple of times each week. If all else fails, talk to their doctor about their depression. Be sure you are specific about what is going on with their lives and all the changes that could have led to the holiday blues in the first place.