Ageing Gracefully - Raffles Medical Group

Raffles HealthNews Feature
Anger can ruin your day and relationships
of the personality traits of the desired
communicator. For instance, if the person
is highly introverted and shy, it would
be more difficult for this person to share
his/her feelings and thoughts. Hence,
external viability, content vulnerability
and personality traits interact together in
the successful transmission of personal
sharing of our intimate feelings.
Depression
The worst thing that can happen to you
is getting more depressed over your
current depressed state thereby spiralling
yourself into a state of helplessness.
Try to think happy or positive thoughts.
Avoid withdrawing from the community
and learn to interact and reach out to
others even though you may not feel like
it. If there is a specific issue or problem
that may have triggered this depression,
get help to deal with this problem. Finally,
if you find it too difficult to “pull” yourself
out of this depressed state, you should
seek professional help and assessment
by a psychologist or psychiatrist.
Depression is a widely used term with a great
degree of understanding and interpretation.
The degree and prevalence of depression
is more important and we need to be able
to differentiate the “type” of depression one
is expressing. Firstly, we need to be able
to manage the severity of the depression.
Secondly, we need to be able to identify if
there are natural triggers for the depression.
Thirdly, we also need to ascertain the length
of time one has felt depressed. Finally, we
will need to measure how incapacitating the
state of depression is to one’s normal daily
function and routine.
Anger
Anger is another area that can ruin your
day and relationships. However, you can
have better control over it. According to
Mr Ng, you can play back the incident(s)
which caused you to lose your cool. Try to
identify “themes’ that caused you to feel
tense and angry. If you can identify these
trigger points, you may be able to get to
the root of your own internal struggles
that may need to be resolved.
This statement acknowledges two
components. One that the person did lose
control of emotions and had negatively
expressed it in the form of anger. The
second more important indication here
is the acknowledgement and insights
that is expressed by his/her regret. This
sense of remorse is good and necessary
for change in behaviour.
Diet & Self Care
Dietary Intake
Healthy eating is important throughout
our life not only when we become older or
have any medical condition that warrants
dietary modification! However, many of us
do not pay attention to our health until we
reach middle age and beyond.
As we grow older, your body becomes less
forgiving, and we may need to make more of
an effort to eat well and stay fit. Vegetables
are important sources of vitamins and
minerals. Vegetables also provide fibre,
an important nutrient for a good digestive
system. “One must include at least two
to three servings of vegetables per day.
Meat is an important source of protein in
the diet, however, including fatty meat on a
regular basis may lead to weight gain and
increased blood lipids. One needs to include
two to three serves of protein per day,” said
Nehal Kamdor, a dietician at Raffles Internal
Medicine Centre.
It is also important to include at least one
serving of vegetable protein like tahu/tofu/
tempeh/beans/lentils per day to reduce
the fat content of the diet. Fish, especially
oily fish like tuna, mackeral, salmon etc is