“If you don’t use it, you will lose it!” is a phrase that comes to mind when thinking about overall wellness and how it relates to the aging process. Physical, mental, and social well-being are extremely important at any age, but they are particularly crucial when we begin to age and the brain loses its natural healing abilities. When this happens, problems can occur if a senior citizen does not make an effort to remain active and engaged in meaningful ways.
The more active a senior is, the better they will feel and the healthier they will be. Not only do active seniors avert more health problems than inactive ones, they also experience all the benefits that come with active engagement in activities. Some benefits include; improved physical health, increased energy, improvements in mood, better concentration, and the ability to continue to learn and challenge themselves.
Physical Activities for Seniors
An inactive and sedentary lifestyle can lead to injuries, obesity, cardiovascular problems, and a variety of serious diseases. People who continue to stay active into their senior years decrease their risk of developing one of these conditions. Senior physical activity can improve heart health, decrease the risk of strokes, cancers, type 2 diabetes, depression, and dementia. Activities such as dancing, walking, low impact aerobics, and swimming are extremely beneficial.
Social Activities for Seniors
Social activities are a huge part of maintaining a meaningful and fulfilling life. Without consistent social interaction, seniors can experience confusion, disorientation, depression, hopelessness, and helplessness. When seniors are consistently engaged in social activities they are able to maintain healthy relationships with those around them, as well as, form new relationships. Volunteering is an extremely beneficial way for seniors to stay engaged within the community. It can also increase their meaning of life and provides much needed stimulation that they lose when retiring and leaving the workforce.
Mental Activities for Seniors
Seniors must continue to engage in cognitively stimulating activities in order to maintain a sharp mind. Mental activities, such as trivia, Jeopardy, board games, memory match, and Bingo, help to improve the quality of all life areas. Mental activities improve reasoning abilities, memory, and the ability to continue to learn. Activities that engage mental functions are helpful to overall wellness, especially in preventing or slowing the progression of dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Activities at Oak Hill
As you can see, participation in activities is extremely important to overall senior health and wellness. Here is a brief summary of how we put these areas of wellness into action on a daily basis at Oak Hill:
Our residents live in apartments that are designed with convenience and safety in mind. We offer a variety of apartment options including companion suites and several sizes of private rooms.
Our activities program engages all aspects of senior wellness, with an emphasis on keeping our residents meaningfully engaged with daily activities that are designed and facilitated by our Certified Activities Director.
Our large table-service dining room promotes resident interaction and socializing.
We have meeting rooms to promote social interaction with residents and are available for families to reserve for private gatherings.