Senior Living: The Importance of Trying New Things for a Rewarding Senior Lifestyle

With more time to choose how to spend your day, you finally have the opportunity to pursue interests in your retirement years. At CityView Senior Living, and upscale senior community in Los Angeles, we have the honor of watching our residents show off their talents and spend time doing what they love. The seniors we serve take part in engaging trips, events, and classes just steps from their apartment.

Making the Most of Retirement

Our favorite thing to witness, though, is when a senior tries a new skill or hobby and flourishes. We have seen firsthand the importance of trying new things for a rewarding senior lifestyle; seniors who attend new events and try new things benefit greatly. When older adults experience lifelong learning for themselves, they leave the activity with more than a new skill – they leave with a new outlook on their life!

 

Benefits of Lifelong Learning

Achieving an active and healthy senior lifestyle is the ultimate goal of older adults in their retirement years. Fortunately, the research and resources are readily available to seniors easier than even two decades ago. Scientists and geriatricians are finding direct links between lifestyle choices and chronic diseases such as dementia, which means seniors now can make decisions that will positively affect their health. Lifelong learning, trying new things, and making new friends, are three choices any senior can make to notice physical, psychological, and cognitive benefits.

According to the 2012 Rush Memory and Aging Project research, seniors who participated in cognitive activities were 2.6 times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease or other dementia. To harness the full benefit of this “use it or lose it” mentality, seniors must actively engage in cognitive activities at least daily. Working a crossword puzzle will simply not do; instead, seniors can improve cognition by learning new things. Audit a college course, listen in to a lecture about a new topic, or finally learn how to speak French; you will notice your memory and cognition responding.

Seniors also stay healthier through social connections. It’s true! Multiple studies done over the past five years have shown the tie between feelings of perceived loneliness and increased feelings of depression, decreased feelings of self-esteem, decreased cognitive abilities, and even decreased immunity or healing. Humans are social creatures by nature, and seniors who live at home are missing out on regular peer support, encouragement and friendship. Attending a new activity or class can not only give you new skills, but you just may leave with a new friend as well.

Getting Started

Active and socially connected seniors are healthy seniors. At CityView Senior Living, we give our residents every chance to try new things, learn something new, and make new friends. With an engaging event calendar packed full of fun and varied opportunities, we make connection and new learning easy for our residents to experience.

Your physical and cognitive health can be improved by simply trying something new often. Finally commit to taking that yoga class or take a deep breath and take a painting workshop. Your body, and your brain, will thank you, and you will find yourself feeling healthy, happy, and empowered.