Delightful Aging for Geriatric Patients

There is debate about how medical care should contribute to aging in the elderly [1,2]. First, responding to the patient's desire to treat all of the elderly as much as possible leads to over-treatment and polypharmacy. Second, the proportion of elderly people in medical expense is increasing year by year. Third, the psychological and mental impairment of the elderly is latent so that social problems such as isolation and lonely death of the elderly are taken up. 

Goethe [3] proposes in color theory that the scale of material has been built on the basis of Newtonian mechanics, whereas the interpretation after going through the human senses may not always match Newtonian mechanics. Organ dysfunction is interpreted as a problem because it is inferior in Newtonian mechanics, but one person appreciates that the disability created new encounters and was able to lead a new life that was unimaginable until now. Newtonian mechanics only looks at the shape of a part of the polyhedron, such as ugly things for some people and beautiful for others. Newtonian mechanics is based on the fact that it is more or less than that scale. It must be said that this is far from a society where many people, especially the elderly with disabilities, can be satisfied. 

Information processing that can be judged instantly between a huge number of brain cells is impossible by exchanging neurotransmitters, and it is speculated that there is a quantum function [4]. Quantum has infinite versatile possibilities in an instant. When a certain stimulus enters the brain through the sensory organs, it is multifaceted information, but if we apply it to Newtonian mechanics and observe it, the precious quantum becomes a particle and produces only a sense of value with a certain scale. It is thought that this is unavoidable unless the elderly has the possibility of falling into anguish emotions. On the other hand, if quantum versatile possibility is used, it will be possible to interpret the same information from the sensory organs as emotions of joy. At this time, since there is no scale of Newtonian mechanics, comparison with other people, comparison of organ such as disability, deterioration of cognitive function, etc. will be completely irrelevant. It is thought that it will be possible to have emotions of joy regardless of the quality of the organ. 

Nietzshe describes that joy has been considered to be much deeper than anguish [5]. Cognitive and organs declines are inevitable with aging, but emotional function leaves flexibility for treatment [6]. Both anguish and joyful emotions in patients with Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD) are suppressed using antipsychotics [7]. On the other hand, various non-drug therapies for BPSD can transform anguish emotions into delightful emotions [8]. No matter how much you forget in dementia patients, if you are obedient to long-term care and spend your time thinking that it is a delightful day, you will be out of the definition of dementia and will not be eligible for medical treatment. 

Appropriate medical care for the elderly is indispensable, but there are some cases in which specialized organ treatment does not lead to the QOL of the elderly even if only one organ is treated completely. Even if the most advanced high-priced therapeutic agents are successful, deterioration of many other organs is inevitable, and elderly people may feel happy when they move to other organ treatments with Newtonian mechanics to be healthier. I doubt if it can be done. Isn't that the endless effort to seek medical care for the intractable elderly with aging? It is natural that the treatment of organ is prioritized for young people, but for the elderly, as Goethe pointed out, he escaped from Newtonian mechanics and used a variety of quanta as suggested by quantum mechanics. It is thought that delightful aging should be the goal of medical care for the elderly in line with the emotion of joy and quantum emotion theory. It has been suggested that it is possible in the treatment of BPSD to have the emotion of joy despite the deterioration of cognitive impairment [9,10]. Delightful aging is the answer to the three issues of the elderly shown in the above of this letter as over-treatment, medical expense, and mental problems, and is considered to be the goal of geriatric medicine. 

The study was approved by the ethics committee of Yamagata Kousei Hospital (approval number 2019-3).

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

1. Rowe JM, Kahn RL (1997) Successful aging. Gerontologist 37: 433-440.
2. Butler JP, Fujii M, Sasaki H (2011) Balanced aging or successful aging? Geritr Gerontol Int 11: 1-2.
3. Von Goethe JW, Zur Farbenlehre, Kosakusha (1999) Tokyo, Japan.
4. Fujii M, ponsille N, Boot J, Butler JP, Sasaki H (2020) Hypothesis of quantum emotional therapy for behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. J Alzheimers Neurodegener Dis 6: 039.
5. Nietzshe F (1883) Also sprach Zarathustra. Ein Buch fürAlle und Keinen. Köln.
6. Fujii M, Butler JP, Hirazakura A, Sasaki H (2014) Mini-Emotional State Examination for dementia patients. Geriatr Gerontol Int 14: 508-513.
7. Fujii M, Butler JP, Sasaki H (2019) Antipsychotic drug use and favorable natures of emotional functions in patients with dementia. Psychogeriatrics 19: 320-324.
8. Fujii M, Butler JP, Sasaki H (2014) Emotional function in dementia patients. Psychogeriatrics 14: 202-209.
9. Maeda Y, Fukushima K, Kyoutani S, Butler JP, Fujii M, et al. (2020) Dramatic performance by a professional actor for the treatment of patients with behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. Tohoku J Exp Med 252: 263-267.
10. Fukushima K, Aita E, Butler JP, Fujii M, Sasaki H (2020) Emotional therapy using Internet of Things for behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. Geriatr Gerontol Int 20: 502-503.