Chronic neurological diseases and holidays: how to best live them

For who suffer from neurological disorders motor or cognitive, the upcoming Christmas holidays can represent moments of uncertainty and difficulty. The Italian Society of Neurology suggests to those living with chronic neurological diseases, their families and caregivers, some precautions and attentions to experience the upcoming Christmas holidays with greater serenity.

“This year, with the necessary precautions, we will be able to return to celebrate Christmas with the family and experience the holidays more fully – says Prof. Alfredo Berardelli, President of the Italian Society of Neurology, Full Professor of Neurology, Department of Human Neuroscience, Policlinico Umberto I, Sapienza University of Rome – but we must not forget who will have to face this period living with the difficulties caused by a chronic neurological disease. The Italian Society of Neurology wants to suggest some simple but important measures that can allow patients and their families to spend pleasantly these days of celebration”.

Here are the recommendations of the SIN:

1. Secure the vaccination coverage for COVID, even with the booster dose and observe the precautions suggested by the Government (use of masks, respect for safety distances, avoid crowds, wash hands often).
2. Don’t isolate yourself and, for people living alone, use the time available to meet family or friends.
3. Practice moderate motor activity. Even a simple walk can help keep you fit, get distracted and reduce anxiety.
4. Organize your time well. In the many hours spent at home during the Christmas holidays, it is important to carry out activities together such as listening to music, seeing a movie, leafing through a family photo album, sharing family traditions. It is also possible to organize preparations together, such as wrapping gifts, decorating, setting the table, even cooking. In addition to all this, moments of pause and rest are needed.
5. Prepare the house with decorations and decorations that can help the most vulnerable people to gradually enter the festive atmosphere.
6. Choosing the right gift. Even gifts must be chosen and adapted to the wishes of the person (not family members) and must be suitable for the stage of the disease.
7. Favor the celebrations at lunchtime compared to dinner. Toasts with alcoholic beverages are possible, but alcohol consumption must be contained, as alcoholic excesses can affect behavior, amplifying neurological disorders and interfering with therapies.
8. Don’t leave them alone. Family members and caregivers can be busy organizing the various moments of celebration but they should not leave people with neurological diseases alone on these particular days, trying, instead, to involve them in those activities that are suitable for them.

   “Being close to those suffering from neurological disorders is certainly a challenge but it can become a very important experience, concludes Prof. Berardelli. “These are people who need to be stimulated and helped. The holidays therefore represent an opportunity and a moment of family serenity which we must not give up “.