7 Assisted Living Activities To Keep Seniors Healthy

Assisted living is ideal for older adults who need assistance performing daily tasks. Facilities often provide customized care to residents, who must pay depending on their needed aid.

While standards and levels of care vary by state, residents frequently benefit from personal care, housekeeping, and medical assistance, among other services provided by trained and qualified staff. The state also accredits these facilities to ensure they provide the best possible services to their clients.

Social and other activities are planned at facilities such as Bel Air Assisted Living to improve the residents’ well-being and give them a sense of purpose despite their age. These fun activities will depend on a resident’s lifestyle and preferences.

Find out why these forms of diversion are crucial to a senior’s overall well-being and which activities help improve their quality of life. (Additional Read: What To Know About Adult Day Care)

Why Are Leisure Activities Important For The Elderly

Leisure activities are crucial to maintaining a person’s approach to life. Timeoffs prevent burnout and restore workers’ motivation and productivity levels among working populations.

For assisted living residents who think they no longer have a purpose, recreational and social activities could help recover their zest for life. Fun activities can also prevent loneliness and isolation common among residents. Research has found that playing mahjong in the long term can help reduce depressive symptoms in persons with mild dementia.

Activities For Assisted Living Facilities

Assisted living managers work with the rest of the staff to create meaningful activities that benefit seniors. The latter’s physical and cognitive capacities and limitations are often the most significant considerations, as are their lifestyle, interests, and personalities.

The following are the most common activities that may help keep seniors in the pink of health.

1. Training And Workshops

Learning knows no age, especially when someone is eager to expand their knowledge at any stage of their lives. Helping seniors upskill may be excellent for residents ready to learn sewing, knitting, and carpentry. Facilities may organize a book club or arrange workshops on writing to help enhance their cognitive capacities.

2. Volunteer Works

Participating in various causes could help the elderly population find a renewed sense of purpose in life. Using their skills and abilities, for instance, in woodworking or sewing, seniors can create products, sell them, and donate the proceeds to charity.

No matter how small, providing them with an opportunity to ‘change the world’ can positively impact the residents’ lives.

3. Play Dates With Children

Some seniors in care facilities aren’t receiving any visitors, which may exacerbate their feelings of loneliness and isolation. Negative emotions can take a toll on a person’s mental and physical being, while positive feelings can do the opposite.

Some years ago, a television company in Australia released a series that documented the impact of bringing children to interact with retirement home residents for seven weeks. At the show’s end, it was discovered that forming a bond with toddlers can help enhance retirees’ health and well-being.

4. Light Exercises

Physical exercise can help prevent future mobility issues and facilitate the release of oxytocin, a feel-good hormone that promotes a greater sense of well-being. Light movements can also accelerate blood flow throughout the brain and entire body.

Assisted living centers can mix fun and exercise by arranging regular activities such as yoga, Zumba, and dancing. Breathing exercises, gardening, meditation, and tai-chi can help elderly patients stay healthy and fit.

5. Pet Therapy

Some care facilities arrange animal visits to allow retirees to benefit from pet therapy. Anecdotal evidence has shown that interacting with pets can help reduce stress-related hormones, cortisol, and is effective in lowering blood pressure and heart rates. Having animals around also has a calming effect, increasing seniors’ sense of well-being.

6. Entertainment Nights

Games and entertainment must be a staple in every care home, where residents’ family members can participate in some instances. Facilities can either hold annual events anchored on various themes. Fashion shows and talent competitions can also help seniors loosen up and feel good about themselves while socializing.

For music lovers, karaoke nights and singing competitions can be held. If residents are too shy to participate in a contest, the management can invite outsiders to sing as a choir or hire a local acoustic band where seniors can jam.

7. Games

Games can help keep the residents’ minds sharp and their bodies agile. Chess, word and board games, and jigsaw puzzles can enhance their thinking and reasoning abilities. Additionally, virtual and 3D games can help facilitate more movement to keep the residents’ hearts pumping.

Conclusion

Older adults must not feel that being in an assisted living facility is the end of the road.

By organizing fun and engaging activities discussed in this blog, residents can still feel helpful even if they need minimal assistance in their daily activities. A renewed sense of purpose can also elicit positive feelings contributing to a senior’s improved health and well-being.