 Early Times Report
JAMMU, Sept 9: At a well-attended function organised by the Central Govt Pensioners' Welfare Association, Jammu (CGPWA) today to celebrate the 35th Senior Citizen's Day, Dr. Manu Arora, Head of the Psychiatry, Govt Medical College Jammu today unfolded a strategy to prevent mental health issues among elders.
The function was presided over by the President CGPWA and former DGP & CVC, Kuldeep Khoda while the former DGP, Dr Ashok Bhan was the Guest of Honour. Among others, B R Sharam and Ashok Angurana were present on the occasion. The gathering included pensioners, morning walkers and members of civil society.
Dr Manu Arora who delivered an illuminating Health Talk on Mental Health Issues among Senior Citizens said that the senior citizens must remain emotionally healthy by staying socially engaged, attend to cognitive health conditions by undertaking brain exercises reading, lifelong learning and technology adoption. He also emphasized the need for elders to undertake regular exercises, take a balanced diet and regular medical checkup. Ignoring changes, physical or emotional, must not be ignored if persisted for some time. Resilience, meditation, mindfulness, and a positive aging mindset are equally important to ward off these mental health issues by elders.
Dwelling on various mental health issues commonly encountered by elders and the growing magnitude of the problem, Dr Manu said that the elders get changes which he bracketed as physical, cognitive, emotional, behavioral. The common psychological issues are depression, loneliness, anxiety, sleep disturbances
Dr Manu said that India is witnessing a demographic shift with the population of elders crossing nearly 140 million which is likely to touch 300 million by 2050. Increasing isolation and elder abuse is causing major problems in India which will be a big challenge as India lacks infrastructure Dementia Homes which exist in western countries in plenty. He observed that "relationship doesn't shine by shaking hands at the best of times but they blossom firmly in critical situations." His lecture was followed by a question answer session in which senior citizens enquired about their concern with the Doctor.
The most impressive and rock-star session was of Dr Ashok Bhan who presented "The Magic of Music" which underlined the impact of music on the mental health and managing these issues of Senior Citizens. In his 20 minutes unique musical bonanza, nine most popular oldies of 1951 to 1965 and programmed in a package with one meaningful 'antra' of each one of these nine songs which he, along with his three companions- Nisar Ahmad, J L Sharma & Vijay Sambyal), made entire audience to collective sing with 'karaoke' (recorded background music of the songs). This created a fantastic atmosphere in the auditorium, erasing from the minds of senior citizens the concerns of mental health issues which they were seeking solutions from Dr Manu Arora, minutes earlier. The old songs picked up from films which included Albela ( of 1951) Baijiu Bawara ( 1952), Jis Desh mein Ganga Behti hai (1960 ), Mughle Azam ( 1960), Jab Pyar Kisi se hota hai ( 1961), Sasural ( 1961), Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam ( 1962 ), Taxi Driver ( 1964) and Waqt ( 1965 ). The patriotic song selected by Dr Bhan for the grand finale was "Aye Mere Watan Ke Logo" sung by late Lata Mangeshkar in 1963 to commemorate Indian soldiers killed in the Sino-Indian War in 1962.
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