Improving Senior Life: Importance of Social Interaction
It's estimated that more than a third of older adults say they feel like they lack companionship. As adults age, life changes can cause individuals who previously had support systems and communities to lose these things.
This can happen for a variety of reasons. They might lose friends, family members, or partners. Or family members might move away. One of the key ways to improve senior life is by prioritizing the importance of social interaction in elderly care.
But exactly why is social interaction important? And where should you look to find it for your loved ones? In this guide, we'll answer these questions so you can start improving your loved one's life today.
What Is the Importance of Social Interaction in Elderly Care?
All too often when we think about elderly care we tend to prioritize basic things like shelter, food, and medical care. There's no denying that these things are important.
However, in addition to prioritizing them, we also need to be putting the same importance on senior socialization. In this section, we'll be going over some of the reasons why, from improved health to better quality of life.
It Creates a Sense of Community
Community is vital for senior living. That's because it provides one of the most important things for the elderly: a sense of purpose. It's an unfortunate fact that aging individuals often feel that their lives don't have meaning.
This often comes with losing connection to family, friends, and partners. Being a part of a community shows the individual that they're part of something larger.
The senior relationships they make with other community residents and staff will give them a reason to get out of bed every morning.
It Reduces Stress
Lonely people suffer from higher stress levels. Stress can both cause and exacerbate a variety of health conditions. Some of the health risks of loneliness include things like:
- Poor senior mental health in the form of depression or anxiety
- Cardiovascular problems
- Gastrointestinal problems
- Higher chances of dementia
A good community is vital for reducing stress. These support groups allow people to vent about the challenges in their lives. Equally important, it allows them to share and savor the good things that happen to them.
It Can Promote Physical Activity
Making time to get physical activity can already be hard for certain individuals. However, it becomes even more challenging for older adults.
Elderly individuals often experience conditions that make exercise harder or painful. They might also lack transportation options to go to gyms. Social interaction can help with this.
When someone has a friend group who exercises they'll be more likely to do it regularly. It's important to note that senior living communities often give elderly people access to exercise facilities they might otherwise not have.
It Slows Cognitive Decline
As people get older they'll start to experience a natural decline in their cognitive function. When it comes to a cognitive function it's often a use-it-or-lose-it situation.
That means that if someone is socially isolated the cognitive decline will be much quicker and steeper. When someone experiences daily social interactions it helps improve memory.
This can also have the benefit of slowing the onset of memory conditions like dementia. Studies find that older adults who are socially isolated have a 27% greater chance of developing Alzheimer's.
Part of the reason for this is that they aren't exercising their episodic memory. This is the part of your memory that you use to recall specific memories that come when you maintain your relationships.
By starting new relationships, older individuals can keep their minds sharper for much longer.
It Improves Happiness
Friendships make people happier. They give people something to look forward to each day.
In addition to companionship, they can also offer people valuable new perspectives and insights. All of this leads to a greater sense of satisfaction with life.
Better Health Monitoring
When people live alone it's easy for early symptoms of certain conditions to be ignored. This is especially true for things like dementia which starts with subtle symptoms.
Being in a community with frequent social interaction it allows others to notice when things might not be right with the individual.
How Can Senior Living Communities Promote Social Interaction?
There can be a lot of ways that you can naturally promote social interaction with seniors. Visiting more as a family and taking them to social events can be a good start.
Unfortunately, often circumstances prevent families from providing the number of social interactions that a senior needs. For people in these situations, you should consider senior living communities as a solution.
These communities offer a variety of amenities that provide seniors with social and recreational assisted living activities to meet other people. In a lot of ways, it's similar to college.
College is a great time to meet people because you're with a lot of young people who have similar interests. Retirement communities offer a similar environment that elderly individuals might lack otherwise.
What to Look for In a Senior Living Community
There are a few basic things that you should look for in an assisted living community in Cedar Rapids. You want to make sure they can accommodate the level of care your loved one requires.
Location and finances will also be factors. However, if you're serious about improving their lives and social interactions, you should make sure they prioritize community. There are a variety of ways to do this.
Amenities and common areas are great options because they provide spaces to meet others. Daily activities are also nice because they can help shyer people come out of their shells.
Interested in Finding a Community? Check Out Prairie Hills at Cedar Rapids
We hope this guide helped you learn more about the importance of social interaction in elderly care. Here at Prairie Hills at Cedar Rapids, we believe our communities offer a valuable way for seniors to meet and connect with people their age.
To help facilitate this we offer a variety of amenities and events to provide our residents with opportunities to build a community of their own.
So if you're ready to improve your loved one's social life, get in touch with us today.