Knowing how to reach old age with a more lucid mind can be a sign of a spirituality well lived. With this in mind, we explain how you can reach old age with a stronger mental health. Check out more details below!

The relationship between a lucid mind and spirituality in old age

According to research conducted by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) in the year 2019, Brazil has about 40 million elderly people. Although the third age is considered the best phase of life, where many are retired and have more time to rest, it is very important to know how the mental health of these people is.

For this reason, throughout this article we will discuss the relationship between having a lucid mind and the contribution of spirituality in old age. Currently, science has been conducting research in this area and has concluded that people who live a healthy spirituality have better cognitive health.

So read on and find out what spirituality is, what the psychological challenges are in old age, and much more. Enjoy your reading!

Psychological challenges in old age

First of all, we need to understand that just because a person has reached their 60s, in many cases is retired, and therefore no longer needs to work, does not mean that they are well. It is very common that after the age of 60 people in this age group begin to lose their lucidity.

Depression is one of the biggest causes of loss of lucidity in old age, because these people become more isolated. It is common that when people reach old age, they no longer have the social interaction of work, for example, and have little contact with their children, friends, and other family members.

In addition, a sedentary lifestyle, poor diet, and the onset of chronic diseases contribute to mental illness. Among the challenges for senior citizens not to have their cognition compromised, that is, their decision-making and logical reasoning capacity, is that because they live alone in most cases, they do not have someone who can notice the loss of lucidity and seek help.

So, faced with these challenges is that spirituality lived well enters as a way to modify the quality of life, that is, the health of these people and as a means of prevention. 

What is spirituality?

First of all, we need to understand that spirituality is not the same thing as religiosity, although one is linked to the other in some cases. Thus, spirituality is the ability to be able to give meaning to things in life, while religiosity refers to you following only one religion.

Lucid Mind and Spirituality

Thus, according to Viktor Frankl, creator of logotherapy in 1930, he believed that the human being is not only limited to his animal instincts and unconscious, because for him the human being transcends these fields, which makes the human being need to seek his spirituality in order to have better mental health.

So when a person seeks to live spirituality, he finds meaning to continue living in a way that gives him well-being. So a person can seek to live spirituality in a healthy way through meditation, such as the practice of mindfulness, for example.

But it is very common for the elderly to seek a religion to follow and practice their spirituality. In such cases, when this search begins in youth, the chances of it being well established in old age increase the likelihood of having greater clarity after the age of 60.

Still on the relationship between a lucid mind and a well-lived spirituality in old age, it helps to reduce stress levels. This is because stress is one of the causes of the neurons responsible for memory stopping working.

So, throughout this article you can understand how spirituality can help maintain the lucidity of the elderly, when it is lived in a healthy way, that is, without pressure and fear. So if you have not yet reached old age, start developing your spirituality today.