Anxiety and older adults

There are a number of changes with aging that can lead to anxiety:

• Retirement
• Moving from your home
• Changes in finances
• Change in your health or the health of someone you care about
• Death of a spouse, family member, or close friend
• Caring for a spouse, family member, or close friend

Anxiety symptoms in older adults fall into three categories:

1. Thoughts (such as worries or going over the same thoughts again and again without action).
2. Behaviours (such as avoiding situations that make you anxious)
3. Physical sensations (the feelings in your body that come with anxiety, such as your heart pounding, feeling tense, nauseous, or restless).

Anxiety can be something you have lived with all your life, or it can be a new problem that develops in older age. In older adults, anxiety can sometimes get worse because of medications or health issues.

Is anxiety a problem for you?

Anxiety becomes an issue when:

• the anxious thoughts and feelings last more than a few days each week.
• your usual ways of coping with stress don’t seem to work or you are trying to cope in ways that are unhealthy for you.
• you start to avoid people and activities that you previously enjoyed
• you have changes in your sleep or usual habits

Fortunately, there are people and treatments that can help. If you or someone you care about is having problems with anxiety, one place to start is to talk to a health professional, such as a doctor, nurse, psychologist, pharmacist, social worker, or physiotherapist.