Staying socially connected and feeling engaged with life becomes more important as we grow older, and not just for mental health reasons. Isolation is a serious health risk for older adults. We now know that people who don’t or can’t maintain connections with friends, family and neighborhood will experience greater numbers of chronic and life-limiting health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer.
Social Seniors Are Happier, Healthier Seniors
Disconnected: Why Older Adults Become Isolated
Benefits of Community Living for Seniors
The benefits of belonging to a community and spending leisure time productively are too important to ignore.
A study published in the
New England Journal of Medicine
in 2010 reveals how spending time enjoying the right leisure activities with friends and loved ones protects cognitive skills and keeps them intact longer.
Exploring new hobbies and pastimes … volunteering time with a charitable cause you believe in … embracing new challenges – all these help keep those neurons firing.
Consider these brain-boosting leisure activities:
- Cards and board games with peers and family members
- Dancing, biking and other physical activities that keep you laughing and moving
- Singing and playing musical instruments, especially as part of a group
- Discussing world news and current events with peers
A healthy brain is also key to maintaining a healthy body. Brain health is now tied to reducing severity and frequency of chronic health conditions, lowering rates of depression and increasing overall lifespan.
Seniors face a number of challenging issues as they try to stay connected to their community, including:
- Lack of transportation
- Health conditions that limit their mobility
- Friends and loved ones at a distance or moving away
- Surviving the mounting losses of friends and family
Each of these can be difficult to overcome for a senior who lives alone.
Living where you’re surrounded by peers feels great at any age. For older adults, it also makes a difference in both the quality and the length of life. Seniors who choose to move to a community benefit from:
- Life Enrichment Programs:
- Opportunities for Volunteerism:
- Peer-to-Peer Support:
- Well-balanced Meals:
- Planned Fitness Programs:
We invite you to learn more about community living for older adults by visiting
Know Your Senior Living Options. In this educational resource, we share the features, benefits and average cost of each type of senior housing.
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