What senior bodies need to thrive
It is generally accepted in medical circles that physical activity is the biggest contributor to living a longer life.
The great thing is that the benefits of exercise can be enjoyed even if seniors start exercising later on in life.
It is never too late for anyone. Studies show that physical exercise improves energy levels, maintains independence, strengthens the heart, and manages weight.
Improves Energy Levels
Maintains Independence
Strengthens Heart
Manages Weight
For older people, it is very important to be cognitively aware.
This helps with alertness and fosters independence. Other studies have also shown that engaging in mentally stimulating activities is linked to reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Why it’s easy to fall into a rut
It is only natural for us to slow down with age.
Which is why we know better when our grandchildren claim to be immortal-their time will come! As seniors we lose motivation to move around. Some of the reasons for this are failing health, chronic pain, or the loss of trust in our bodies.
Using your body is one of the best ways to keep healthy. The ‘use it or lose it’ principle applies here. You might find that many of the things you have always enjoyed, such as gardening or playing with your pets, become more difficult.
Falling is a real fear
Research shows that older people who exercise the brain regularly suffer less from cognitive decay.
Likewise, mental stimulation is very important. If a senior is not in a supportive environment with a regular mental stimulation program, then it can become easy to stop doing mentally challenging activities altogether. Keeping the brain active and healthy as we age is very important.
Strong evidence for
physical and mental exercise
There is strong evidence that people who are more active have a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, depression, and dementia. This even applies to certain types of cancer. Keeping active reduces your risk of mental illness, keeps away ill health, and fosters a feeling of independence. Regular exercise can even lower the risk of falling in older adults. Falling can be bad news for seniors.
People who are more active have a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, depression, and dementia.
Seniors should be sure to try to energize the mind by testing their recall abilities every day.
Similarly with mental exercise. Seniors should be sure to try to energize the mind by testing their recall abilities every day. Just something as simple as trying to remember a daily task list, a recipe, or a birthday, can help to stimulate memory recall. Other hints involve refining hand-eye movements to improve fine motors skills. Agile and dexterous hands improve muscular, skeletal and neurological functions.
Benefits of physical exercise
Helps you maintain or lose weight
Movement and exercise helps increase metabolism and builds muscle mass, helping to burn more calories.
Reduces the impact of illness and chronic disease
People who exercise tend to have a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis, and certain cancers.
Enhances mobility, flexibility, and balance:
Exercise improves strength, flexibility and posture. This helps with balance, coordination, and reducing the risk of falls.
Faster healing
Active bodies heal better. Also, a healthy, strong body can better fight off infection and makes recovery from illness or injury easier.
Improved quality of life
Exercise can help alleviate symptoms of depression and improve the mood in general.
Benefits of mental exercise
Improves sleep
Quality sleep is vital for your overall health. Tired minds fall asleep more quickly, sleep more deeply, and wake feeling more energetic and refreshed.
Boosts mood and self-confidence:
People who exercise tend to have a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis, and certain cancers.
Improves brain function
It can help brain functions as diverse as multitasking and creativity and can help prevent memory loss, cognitive decline, and dementia.
Improving your cognitive skills
These skills include reasoning, awareness, perception, and judgment. People who are alert and lucid have better mental health.
Ways to entertain yourself online
Modern technology has placed the whole world in the palm of our hands.
Many seniors have access to smart devices and are conversant with using them to access the power of the internet.
There is a world of opportunity for online entertainment to be found on devices. Even seniors who are not technologically savvy can request their caregivers to provide assistance with log-ins, passwords, and security settings.
Online games
One of the great benefits of aging is the ability to unapologetically play games for hours on end!
Find yourself a comfortable movie-style chair, get your favorite beverage in the cupholder, and lose yourself in the world of games.
Playing games online is more than just idle passing of time. Coloring games, number-crunching games, and word games all promote healthy memory and strengthen cognitive function.
There are a number of games available online and these fall into an endless number of categories. They go beyond the trusted favorites like solitaire, chess, and checkers. Here are just a few examples:
Visual games
These visually stunning games can take seniors into faraway worlds like aquatic wonderlands. Seniors can try to memorize and categorize sea life as a way to boost memory.
Coloring games
These work well on touchscreen devices, where it’s easy to tap and fill the white spaces. They are great for creativity and memory.
Memory games
These can be themed as nostalgic walks down memory lane where seniors can explore and categorize objects from times gone by.
Word games
This popular genre of games uses letters to help seniors guess words and word associations. Seniors can even challenge each other in collaborative game spaces. They are great for mental strength.
Social networks for seniors
One of the most difficult parts of aging is the gradual loss of community engagement and belonging. This happens because seniors become less mobile and cannot spend as much time on the move, or outside. This is where finding online communities becomes so helpful.
Many seniors feel comfortable in their own secured spaces but would still like to feel connected to the world.
Signing up with social networking apps like Facebook can be a good way to start alleviating feelings of disconnection. Once proper security settings and controls are put in place, it can be a great place to connect with family members and friends, be they near or far.
Facebook also offers access to many communities. These can be curated by areas of interest or geographical location. Seniors could find out about events in their area, just as easily as they can join groups of fellow knitters, readers, or board-gamers.
Even the stories in their feeds can be curated to form interesting and relevant topics such as best holiday spots for seniors, health tips, finance tips, and general personal interest stories. Seniors can recline in their comfortable chairs and still be connected to the world via a screen.
Virtual tours and museum visits
With the power of modern technology, seniors don’t have to travel very far to witness the magic of some of the best tourist attractions in the world.
You don’t have to be subjected to jetlag, long waiting lines, or bad weather. You can go on a virtual tour of some of the best museums in the world from the comfort of your home. Visit museums like The Louvre, The Metropolitan Art Museum, or London’s Tate Modern.
You can also visit some of the best-stocked zoos, such as San Diego zoo. Some other interesting options to name a few include the Georgia Aquarium, Monterey Aquarium and the New England Aquarium. These services stream interesting events such as animal feeding times and play times.
If you want to go further afield, visit places like the Great Wall of China to learn about this and other engineering marvels. You can visit a number of UNESCO World Heritage sites using 3D maps by using Google’s Heritage on the Edge.
If you want to leave this world entirely, Google & NASA’s Access Mars offers a tour of a 3D replica of the Martian surface, which has been recorded by the Curiosity rover.
Experience the health benefits of music
Music is an important part of human life. Listening to our favorite songs can enhance our mood and lighten our spirits.
Sometimes just listening to music from a time when lyric-writing and good melodies were cherished can be great! There are many psychological benefits of music.
Besides evoking positive emotions, music can help those with dementia and Alzheimer’s by bringing back a precious memory.
Health Benefits of Music
Studies show regular listeners to music have better sleep, less chronic pain, and faster recovery times. Actively enjoying music helps to bring back mobility, coordination, and improves overall cognitive abilities.
Bebifits of listening Music Regularly
- better sleep
- less chronic pain
- faster recovery times
Actively enjoying music helps…
- bring back mobility
- coordination
- improves overall cognitive abilities
Memory benefits
One of the most amazing things about music is how it can situate a listener in another time. It can easily bring to mind important life periods, places, and emotions.
Stress reduction
Music can also bring calm to listeners who are stressed and agitated. It can improve relaxation and reduce tension and feelings of anxiety.
Here are some ways for seniors to access the benefits of music:
Curated playlists
There are a number of applications and services that offer curated musical lists which have seniors in mind.
These are often arranged according to the decade they were produced in, or they can be arranged by the artist.
Playlists that are set in far-gone generations are able to evoke positive memories in seniors. With modern technology, it is very easy to curate playlists and make them as large and as wide-ranging as possible. They can also be set as far back as tastes go, with many applications having playlists from the beginning of the 20th century.
Listen to live
streamed concerts
A good way for music lovers to time together is by logging on to one of the many virtual concerts which is routinely live streamed. These can be accessed through social media applications such as Facebook, or through the home pages of specific genres, for example jazz association pages. Many classical music websites and stations also present live streamed concerts.
Live musical
programs for seniors
This is interactive and fun for older people.
Depending where you live, some places offer live music in the form of weekly concerts for seniors. This is interactive and fun for older people. Musicians travel to care centers and play their music in front of an engaged audience. They take requests and their music gets the elders excited and interested.
Some programs will encourage seniors to try their hand at basic music lessons.
This is another way of firing your mind and getting you to be engaged with musicians. If you or other seniors have been depressed, you can often return to your former self through the joy of music. It is not uncommon for usually reserved seniors to sing along, tap their feet, and shout along during live concerts.
Learning a
new skill
Learning a new skill is very important during our senior years.
It keeps the mind and body active, and it contributes to giving seniors a sense of accomplishment and engagement. With new technology there are so many types of lessons available. They can be in person or they can be online.
It gives an emotional boost
Learning a new skill and showing tangible progress is great for giving seniors a sense of confidence, pride, and independence. These all contribute to our happiness and health.
You can meet new people
Meeting like-minded people is a great way to make seniors feel like they are part of a community.
It can be a great way to meet new people. This applies whether you take online classes or whether you meet people in person.
You have all the time in the world
If, like many seniors, you have had to work all your life, the gift of retirement is to be able to pursue any interest you like.
This is a great way to finally tick off learning that long-delayed skill.
Computer lessons
In today’s information age, the methodology of certain lessons does not take into account that some seniors may have missed the computer revolution.
This is why computer lessons designed for seniors are handled in a supportive and respectful manner.
Certain basic skills that many in the modern generation take for granted, such as keyboard shortcuts, and general navigational advice, are respectfully covered. Many computer classes for seniors offer handy advice such as understanding which device to buy and why.
Foreign language classes
This is a popular bucket list item.
People have always been attracted to saying romantic words in French or expressive words in Italian. But often they have not had the time to learn these languages. Not only are there many apps which offer guided online language learning, but many centers offer in-person lessons. There are also online universities which offer lessons at low cost, which are taken by well-renowned teachers and professors.
Endless possibilities for learning
The truth is that seniors can learn almost anything they have been wanting to learn for the longest time.
The list is endless. Classes can be found on any of the following:
- Literature history and appreciation
- Science fundamentals
- Psychology and sociology
- Biology and chemistry
- Botany and horticulture
- Movie critiquing and appreciation
- Writing screenplays or poetry
- Photography classes
- Video editing
- Film-making
- Quilt-making or sewing
- Dress-making or designing
- Cooking
- Entrepreneurship
- Gardening
- Public speaking
- Dancing
- Pottery
- Painting
- Coding
- Blogging
- Acting
Traditional games nights
The classic entertainment for seniors has always been game nights. After all, seniors just want to have fun. With long-established games, there is no need to learn the rules, and no need to learn new technologies.
Game nights can be famously fun-filled and laughter-riddled.
Seniors can socialize while stimulating their brains and lifting their emotions.
Card Games
Card games have been around for a very long time. Most seniors will not need to learn the rules. They can be conducted in small groups or large groups.
Bridge
An old favorite that keeps the mind sharp.
Rummy
A fun-filled classic for two or four players.
Cribbage
This popular three hundred year old game can be played in small groups.
Solitaire
A perfect game of patience and skill for when you are alone.
Board Games
The great thing about board games is that they are as much fun for players as they are for spectators.
Backgammon
This classic two-player game requires strategy, arithmetic, and tactics. This helps with cognitive health.
Scrabble
A fun-filled word game which can be played by up to four players. The play on words is great for mental elasticity.
Bingo
This wildly popular board game is often used as an outing for seniors. It can be played by a room full of people who can socialize afterwards.
Other games for seniors
The list of possible games is large.
Besides being great at bringing seniors together in a social setting, many games also encourage mental exercise.
Games also have the added advantage of small and being portable, so they can be stored away and brought out at any time.
Puzzles
These can be started and left unfinished. But when they are completed they give a great sense of accomplishment.
Mahjong
A great tile matching game which tests memory and pattern recognition.
What’s That Saying?
This asks you to remember popular sayings from the past. It forces you to dig deep into your memory banks.
Cranium
This game asks you to illustrate or act out your trivia. Getting it wrong is half the fun.
Crossword puzzles
A great solitary game. Seniors can solve clues to fill out a grid pattern with words and phrases.
Word search
Discover and circle all of the hidden words in a grid of letters.
Sudoku
The challenge is to populate a partially filled-in grid of numbers. Each section needs to contain the numbers from one to nine.
Kakuro
Fill out each white square of the puzzle with a number from one to nine so that the sums of the entries in each row or column match the clues associated with them.
Balderdash
This game asks you to deceive other players by making them believe that your wrong answers are right. This is great for creativity and memory.
Outdoor play for seniors
Outdoor fitness parks, also known as senior playgrounds, are said to have originated in Asia some thirty years ago before spreading to Europe.
320 Senior Playgrounds
In Spain today, there are over 320 senior playgrounds which are well-frequented by seniors.
What is a senior playground?
Think of an outdoor gym
Think of an outdoor gym with fixtures such as stationary bicycles, low-impact striders, and body-weight shoulder presses. There are also other fixtures such as hand-eye dexterity games which come in the form of swinging ball and bat games. Some senior playgrounds are large enough to feature walking paths with ramps, and lots of steps.
There are shaded areas to relax and talk.
There are also shaded areas where seniors can relax and talk. They can also have light meals at benches and tables. The equipment and installations are designed to promote balance, flexibility, and range of motion.
The benefits of senior playgrounds
There is so much to do in a senior playground. Whether it is climbing, walking, lifting, pedaling, or swinging.
The obvious gains are related to fitness, but there are immeasurable gains in self-confidence and social comfort.
Many seniors meet other people in similar life stages. Friendships are formed, and these friendships last as people continue to return to the playground.
Build confidence in your body
As we get older, we lose confidence in our bodies. Falling is a real fear. We do not heal anywhere near as fast as we used to. Senior playgrounds offer a low-pressure environment for seniors to gain confidence in their own bodies. You can work at your own pace in a non-judgemental facility.
Many seniors eventually report tangible improvements in muscle strength, balance, and flexibility.
Falling is a real fear
Environmental volunteerism
The health of our planet has never been at the forefront of the news as it is today.
Many people wonder how they can help the planet. A common reason for doing nothing is for people to claim they don’t know how to help, and that they wouldn’t have the time to help even if they did. Seniors can help the cause while being engaged and motivated at the same time.
Earth day activities
It could start slowly by honoring Earth Day, which is only one day of the year – April 22.
Seniors could come up with fun ideas that promote recycling and green practices in their care facility.
If there is enough interest and if this goes well, seniors can become more active for the planet in different ways.
Birdwatching
This is a very popular activity for retirees. Many people wonder how they can help the planet. As you come to learn about the bird species in your area, your body and mind will be stimulated to look for more sightings and to go out more often.
Birdwatching combines nature hikes, picnics, and social events all at the same time.
There is so much to learn about different birds’ body structure, wing shapes, songs, beak types, and migration habits. Developing these skills not only gives you a physical and mental boost, but also sets you on your way toward being an environmental champion.
Birding holidays and expeditions are used by many conservation bodies to fund ongoing conservation efforts. Birding also helps create sensitive and sustainable wildlife-watching ecotourism.
Starting out in
environmental volunteerism
If you are bitten by the birding bug, you could even consider environmental volunteerism. As you understand ecosystems more, you will come to understand the growing concerns at all levels about issues such as climate change, water and air quality, and toxic waste.
Choosing to act on these concerns by volunteering for activities that promote environmental conservation can give seniors a great sense of meaning and fulfilment. Unlike many other groups, seniors actually have the time to dedicate to environmental volunteerism.
Studies show that volunteerism in seniors causes positive effects for outcomes like better self-reported health, better overall function, and improved psychological well-being
Lastly, there is a big emerging thought that seniors are driven by what is known as legacy motivation. With large numbers of baby-boomers now seniors, they want to know what kind of planet they are leaving behind, and this drives them to have meaning.
Volunteer programs
There are a great many excellent ways for seniors to volunteer, even abroad.
Some programs allow for a combined overseas holiday for environmental volunteerism. This is known as a volunteer vacation!
There are large global organizations which offer tailor-made speciality trips for travellers over 50. You can volunteer and at the same time discover a new culture. You can learn the history of the host country and you will get to meet its people.
Staycation – be a tourist in your own city
Seniors can be just as active at tourism as any other group.
Seniors have the advantage of having time, and frequently money, to be able to vacation. This can be combined with one another emerging tourist wave, which is the staycation – or being a tourist in your own city.
silver tourism Targets the older generation exclusively.
Top tips before you start
Visit the professionals
Have you ever visited your local tourist office? You may not have to visit them in person as everyone has a website these days, but it pays to consult the professionals before you start. Find out about what your city offers.
Book a guided tour
If you are not feeling that spontaneous, you can always book a guided tour. Find out what interests you, and go with a tour guide to gain a deep understanding of your local area.
Make a note of what you like
If you do eventually find that magical place you never knew existed, be it a beautiful old watchmaker’s rooms, or a disused military installation, make a date to come back every time.
Best things to do
Take a historic tour
If you do eventually find that magical place you never knew existed, be it a beautiful old watchmaker’s rooms, or a disused military installation, make a date to come back every time.
Stay overnight
Why not make it an overnight trip? If the lodgings are reasonably priced and comfortable, you can always stay over. After all, some destinations take multiple visits to truly appreciate.
Remember your bucket list
Think carefully about the bucket list items you have always wanted to check out. Have you long been interested in a particular section of town? If you are a history buff, perhaps some hidden museum has intrigued you for years. It helps to try to cast your mind back to what is of interest.
Bring out your inner tourist
Embrace the moment. Take your camera with you. Ask lots of questions. Don’t make assumptions about people or places, even if you have lived there your whole life. Taking pictures can carry you through the dark times as you go through your photo album and remember the places you have been to.
Important considerations
for senior travel
It’s important that destinations are set up for senior visitors.
It’s always good to have the following front of mind:
Access to amenities
Access to amenities like bathrooms and rest area
Senior friendly access
Senior friendly access points which cater for limited mobility
Access to medical facilities
Access to medical facilities if needed
Access to refreshment
Access to refreshment or food purchasing stalls if needed
Guides and information centers
Guides and information centers who speak prevailing local language
Many people live their entire lives in the same city without ever truly understanding or appreciating it.
