“It is time that India focused on healthy ageing and our people indulge in behaviours which improved their cognition as age advances,’’ Mathew Varghese, Professor of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, has said.
Dr. Varghese was delivering the 33rd Psychiatry Anniversary Lecture, co-sponsored by the World Association of Social Psychiatry, at Pushpagiri Medical College in Thiruvalla on Thursday.
According to him, healthy ageing is the development and maintenance of optimal mental, social and physical well-being and function in older adults. It can be achieved when communities are safe, promote health and well-being, and use health services and community programs to prevent or minimise diseases, he said.
Dr. Vargthese said healthy ageing was a growing concern because of the current nuclear family pattern.
He said dementia and depression were the most commonly seen psychiatric disorders in the elderly. Dr. Varghese emphasised the importance of lifestyle modifications through exercise, yoga, a well-balanced diet, coupled with daily intellectual activity.
Presiding over the meeting, Roy Abraham Kallivayalil, secretary general of the World Psychiatric Association, said the association has a comprehensive plan to address the problems of the elderly. Fr. Shaji Vazhayil, chairman and CEO of the Pushpagiri group of institutions, inaugurated the meeting.
