The biggest reason for loneliness in old age is that people make wrong investments in their psychological well-being. The greatest need of older people is social support. It has been observed that although some physiological characteristics weaken with age, wisdom and dignity increase. In this process, logical thinking and healthy decision-making increase. According to experts, one of the keys to healthy aging is the combination of knowledge and experience with a mature personality. It has been observed that such people are more consistent, tolerant and patient.
Noting that older people are happier if there ishealthy aging, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, "Older people are no longer in the race seat, not on the race track, but in the jury seat. However, if they still see themselves in the race seat, they cannot be happy, so in fact, if there is healthy aging, the person can achieve this. If there is no healthy aging, they try to be active in everything, they try to emulate young people. Every age has its beauties, difficulties, and things it brings to people. There are skills that the person loses over time. Whichever one he focuses on among all these, his mood is affected by this. This is how psychological resilience in old age is formed. Therefore, it is actually necessary to know psychological resilience. Psychological resilience is generally increasing in the elderly."
What is Psychological Resilience?
Stating that psychological resilience is the ability of a person to recover quickly when they experience difficulties, Tarhan said, "This situation normally increases in the elderly with a mature personality. Since old age is already an accumulation of experience in life, the elderly are generally wiser. The elderly maintain balance in events where young people are afraid and panic. This is actually similar in nature. Old wolves are wise. They stand at the back and watch from afar for dangers to the pack and inform the others. Young wolves lead the pack, old wolves follow behind. The pack benefits from their experience. This is also true for humans. If the young benefit from the foresight and rational intuition of the elderly in the face of life events, they can benefit from their experience. Psychological resilience is the ability to recover easily in times of difficulty."
What is the Difference Between Practical Experience and Mastery?
Stating that this situation is also important for the mental health of older people, Tarhan said, "Old age is an enjoyable old age when people are consulted, consulted, asked and surrounded by young people. Of course, this is more possible in large families. Young couples benefit from their experiences while raising children. They teach them parenting skills without breaking them. Today, because of the nuclear family, this transfer of knowledge and experience is not possible. Young people try to learn from social media, the internet and books, but theoretical knowledge is not the same as practical experience and mastery."
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that we have not completely lost the extended family structure as a society and that a foreign sociologist who visited our country made an examination on our family structure and said, "He examined how the nuclear family and extended family transformation is. 'It looks like a nuclear family, but you are not in a nuclear family or an extended family. You have become a confederation of nuclear family'. Some families live in the same apartment building but their houses are separate. Most of them are together, they meet frequently, children play together, grow up together. Some problems come along with it, but there is also great support. For example, when one of them is sick, the others support them. In the earthquake region, we saw the great benefit of the extended family. Immediately, all families came together, eliminated loneliness, eliminated the loneliness of the elderly, and started to stay in the same house."
What are the side effects of loneliness?
Noting that the problem of loneliness is seen among the most important problems all over the world, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, "In Davos, where the World Economic Forum was held in 2019, the three major dangers awaiting the world were loneliness, climate change and economic imbalance, that is, income inequality." Noting that many side effects of loneliness have been revealed in studies, Tarhan said, "Loneliness damages a person's physical health as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Living alone disrupts the immune system and impairs health."
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that the biggest reason for loneliness in old age is doing the wrong things for people's psychological health and said, "The biggest need of older people is social support. Whoever is self-centered at a young age is lonely at an advanced age. If the children they raise are self-centered, they say 'My comfort comes first, first can then canan'. In this way, the person becomes lonely in later years. Their old age is also unhappy. While many things brought by modernism have made our lives easier, unfortunately it has made us lose some of our human qualities..."
What is the Secret of Happy Old People?
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated that the criteria for old age in the world have also changed with the prolongation of life expectancy, and that after 65 is considered old age and after 75 is considered advanced old age, and that some physiological abilities weaken with old age. Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, "Vision weakens, memory weakens. There are some declining abilities, for example, it becomes difficult to learn new things. On the other hand, there are abilities that increase in advanced age. For example, wisdom and dignity increase. Logical thinking, sound decision-making and having more accurate value judgments increase. Knowledge and experience combined with a mature personality make for a happy old man. In other words, such people are more consistent, tolerant and patient."
What are the Harms of Living Wrong?
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan also noted that learning to become wise should be learned from an early age and said, "In mental abilities, a person can easily compensate for the decreasing mental abilities by becoming wiser. Here, one needs to create a life and lifestyle aimed at gaining these abilities at a young age. The thing that ages the human body the most is wrong living. It is said that Lokman Hekim said '1 in 3 is from frost, 1 in 3 is from throat and 1 in 3 is from grief'. If we plan our lifestyle correctly from a young age, the person can have a quality old age in the future."
What Improves the Brain the Most?
Noting that the brain has a feature that works with the use it or lose it rule, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, "The thing that improves the brain the most is that it is open to new experiences and learning new information. At the same time, it is thinking about what one thinks. These are brain exercises that develop the brain. If the brain is rote memorization, if it automatically goes on the same path, if it always does the same things, the areas where the brain works in certain ways remain alive and the others are destroyed. But if a person uses all parts of the brain, makes comments, analyzes events, increases social contact, has good communication with the environment, reads, his mind is open even if he is 100 years old."
What is the Importance of Healthy Aging?
Stating that there are prejudices in society from time to time that old age is seen as an incurable disease, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan said, "Old age is not a defect, so we do not call it old age psychology, we call it aging psychology. The use of the term anti-aging was objectionable because it saw old age as an enemy. Now the term healthy aging is used. Instead of seeing aging as a threat, it is important to do aging in a healthy way. For example, instead of seeing diseases as a threat, it is necessary to manage diseases, to accept and manage diseases instead of facing them. When people do this, they are happy."