Why do you need to prevent loneliness in senior citizens? It may seem like your elderly loved one wants time alone, so why shouldn’t you give it to them all the time? Well, there are many reasons why senior citizens need to socialize often. Studies have shown that senior citizens who don’t socialize regularly are putting their health at risk.
Protecting Their Brain
One of the main reasons why senior citizens need to socialize is to protect their brains. Research shows that loneliness can increase the risk of:
- Falls (that could lead to a brain injury)
- Strokes
- Alzheimer’s disease
Now that you know how important socializing is for an elderly person’s brain, you can keep your elderly loved one more in touch with their friends and family members. If they don’t have many people to spend time with, you can hire elder care providers to hang out with your loved one.
Improving the Immune System
Some people would say that spending time with other people would make a person have a higher risk of illnesses. While that is true if your elderly loved one was spending time with people who are actively sick, it is still important that they are exposed to some germs or their body won’t know how to fight off those germs when it comes to getting sick. That can lead to an even worse illness.
Providing Mental Stimulation
Another reason that socialization is so important for the elderly is because it provides them with mental stimulation. Some of the activities that your elderly loved one, their friends, family members, and/or elder care providers can do together to stimulate their mental state and mind include:
- Sudoku puzzles
- Crossword puzzles
- Board puzzles
- Games
- Trivia websites
If your elderly loved one and the people they spend time with start doing these things regularly, it can help to prevent mental health issues and cognitive decline, too.
Encouraging Healthy Behaviors and Habits
If your elderly loved one is spending time around people who are positive and live a healthy life, they may start to pick up on some of those behaviors and habits. For example, if your elderly loved one is spending a lot of time with their elder care providers who focus on improving health, your elderly loved one may be more willing to focus on their health and not getting sick.
Decreasing Pain
Studies also show that senior citizens who socialize regularly have less pain. One of the main reasons for this is because the elderly person is up and moving around more often which helps to reduce inflammation and pain.
Conclusion
These are some of the top reasons to prevent loneliness in senior citizens. Now that you know more about these reasons, you can start helping to ensure that your elderly loved one is getting enough socialization in from now on.
Sources
https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/social-isolation-loneliness-older-people-pose-health-risks#:~:text=Health%20effects%20of%20social%20isolation,Alzheimer’s%20disease%2C%20and%20even%20death.
