In order to encourage the elderly to pay attention and prevent the psychological "virus", maintain a healthy mentality, and to improve their ability to cope with adversity, the Seniors Academy of Macao Polytechnic Institute recently held a health seminar for the elderly on "Happy Life" and invited Lam Suk Fan, the Director of the Longevity Home Care and Support Service of Caritas Macau as the guest speaker of this lecture.

Prior to the lecture, Director Lam first invited the participants to do "Finger Mambo Exercises" to stretch and relax their brains. Lam introduced various factors that commonly affect the mental health of the elderly, including personal health, social conditions and changes in family relationships. For example, health conditions such as cognitive decline, different physical diseases, etc., will be accompanied by fear and uneasy emotions that affect the mental health of the elderly. Lam encourages the elderly to participate actively in social activities, to expand their social circles, to cultivate good hobbies, to learn how to manage anger and enhance self-resistance to difficulties, to relieve emotions and reduce stress. Finally, the speaker shared the common psychological counseling channels in Macao and encouraged the elderly to be open-minded and to enjoy the moment.

Participants benefited a lot from this seminar; they will use the methods learned in the lecture, such as physical and mental relaxation exercises as well as the progressive muscle relaxation exercises, to face different levels of psychological stress, and to soothe and adjust themselves. Meanwhile, they have learned to have an accurate understanding of the psychological stress, and be able to resolve it through the right support channels.