Relax

One of the more alarming things I run into with older adults who are aging in place and living alone is the prevalence of anti-anxiety medication in their medicine boxes. About 6% of older adults have a bona fide anxiety disorder, many more than that use these powerful medications to keep from crawling out of their skin from fear, nerves and worry.
Is there some way to be more comfortable without taking more medicine? Can I learn to lower my blood pressure with practice? It may not be covered by your HMO, but the answer is probably “yes!” Most of us have read about chemicals that occur in the brain called endorphins. We may know that they can reduce pain and relieve tension naturally. It may be difficult for some older people to engage in the activities that are often connected with these chemical events like aerobic exercise and meditation. You may believe that deep states of concentration are needed to trigger a relaxation response but it really isn’t that hard.

One thing we all learned to try to control our feelings was counting to ten. We usually counted the wrong direction. Instead of counting up to ten, try counting down to zero. If you close your eyes, try to visualize the numerals in your head and lower the tone of your voice as you count “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.” If you can see the numbers, next try to shift the color form red to orange, then to yellow, green blue, indigo and then violet and black. Let the energy of your tension and pain dissipate in the darkness of the zero. Then count upwards to come back to alertness without the discomfort. It may take a few tries to get comfortable with this, go slow, but do go!

Dr Herbert Benson at Harvard Medical School has taught many of his patients to use techniques like this to get control of their own bodies and reduce their dependence on medication. If you are in chronic, severe pain, special training and equipment might be necessary but for most of us with normal aches and nerves, it just takes a little trial and error to use your mind to help and heal your body. Dr. Benson has written a number of General Interest books on the topic, starting with The Relaxation Response.