There is a popular saying that to be a grandmother is to be a mother twice. In the case of Natercia Zerboni da Costa, 88, this is an absolute truth. Known as Dona Natercia, she found herself in the role of mother again in the elderly, when assuming the responsibility of creating her grandchildren, Caterine and Adelson, now 25 and 17, respectively.
Her daughter became a young mother and, having difficulty raising her children, Dona Nateria took care of the little ones in full time when she was over 60 years old. “It was not easy, but it was with a lot of love and affection and, thank God, I was handling and I was a mother again,” he says to CNN.
Years later, with the two grandchildren, Dona Nateria considers that she played a good role as a mother grandmother. And Adelson recognizes that. “I am very proud to have been created by her, I want nothing different from that,” he says to CNN. “My grandmother was a very independent woman who always sought to follow her life and did things on her own, and being raised by such a woman brought me many qualities,” he adds.
Today, as a form of gratitude, Adelson accompanies his grandmother in many of her daily tasks. “She is still a very independent woman. She is 88 years old and still drives, goes to the beach and exercises alone. But we are returning care with the company and some aid, especially with regard to technology,” he says.
Affective ties and family company are fundamental to the welfare of the elderly
Family and social life and affective bonds are extremely important for the health and mental well-being of the elderly. Studies have already shown that such as depression, anxiety and dementia.
Last year, a work published in the Journal Nature Mental Health showed that he feels lonely in old age and raises the likelihood of compromise of cognitive functions such as memory and concentration by 15%.
“The person alone gets sadder, starts to have memory failures because they are not talking much, starts to have depressive symptoms and ends up doing less activity, because it does not leave home,” says Roni Mukamal, Geriatrician doctor and superintendent of preventive medicine of the medesênior, CNN. “It’s a public health problem.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) already considers social isolation a true epidemic, affecting one in four adults. According to the entity, loneliness is able to increase the risk of death, by 50% that of dementia and 30% that of cardiovascular disease.
“The brain has a plasticity and acts as a muscle: the more we stimulate, the more he hypertrophy,” says Mukamal. “We need to stimulate the brain, and this is done not only studying, but having curiosity, talking to different people, living challenges. All this keeps the cognitive functions preserved,” he explains.
Emotions and affective ties are also important protective factors of cognition in the elderly, as they generate positive substances in the brain, according to the geriatrician. “When he lives with other people, he feels belonging to society,” he says.
This conviviality should also occur with other generations, as well as Dona Nateria and Adelson. “This exchange of generations is very beneficial to include the elderly in the current guidelines of society, in recent technologies and with the changes that occur,” says Mukamal. “The exchange of two generations is fantastic because it allows learning the elderly with the young man, and the young man with the elderly,” he adds.
It is necessary to offer support, without leaving the autonomy aside
Although care and physical and emotional support are important for the health and well-being of the elderly, it is also necessary to allow them to exercise their autonomy, especially if there are no limitations imposed by neurological diseases or conditions, such as or.
“The elderly is not a child. He has lived everything he had to live, so we need to respect his autonomy,” says Mukamal. For this, it is necessary to reach a balance: stay vigilant and close to the elderly, but not infer what he can (and wants) to do alone.
To maintain this balance, some steps are important. The first one is to be proactive: not expect the elderly to need help to offer this help. Another step is to remain present and remember to create a routine with it, such as combining weekly visits, and following up if medical treatments are being done correctly, guides the geriatrician.
This is what Adelson and Caterine do with Dona Nateria. “We do company where she has to go, because an 88 -year -old needs someone available for any need or unforeseen.
