As 2017 starts, the New Year brings with it new excitement for all of those working to make Arcadia at Limerick Pointe the area’s best senior living community! While many of us here at Arcadia and Vantage Point Retirement Living have professional goals for the upcoming year, most of us are also setting personal resolutions as well.
Although most New Year’s resolutions are made with good intentions, they are often unrealistic goals and soon broken by springtime. While the old-faithful standbys still exist, adults over the age of 65 can greatly benefit from making resolutions. They not only can improve your mental and physical health, but they’ll also provide social opportunities and benefit your life in multiple ways.
We at Vantage Point Retirement Living and Arcadia at Limerick Pointe are committed to helping seniors achieve personal successes – physically, emotionally and spiritually. That’s why our senior living communities offer many services and amenities that allow residents to live well.
Whether you live in a retirement community or not, here are some resolutions for seniors that will allow you to take small steps towards a better self in the New Year.
- Schedule regular checkups. Unfortunately, with age comes an increased risk of illness and other complications such as high blood pressure, osteoporosis and other medical conditions. Making sure that you schedule a regular annual checkup can help in early detection and prevention.
- Talk about the hard stuff. This resolution for seniors is not fun, but it is the most important. While you are still healthy and able, help set the standards of care you desire in the event that you become incapacitated later. Have a family meeting to discuss and decide which family member(s) will take on medical and financial Power of Attorney for you. Talking about estate planning and wills, along with other related issues, helps prepare EVERYONE for the inevitable. Discussing these things in advance ensures that your wishes are recorded and understood by all.
- Exercise or start a new physical activity. Exercise doesn’t have to exhausting, and it certainly doesn’t have to feel like work. Older adults are increasingly looking to classes such as yoga and tai chi to not only increase physical health, but to meet people and widen their social circles. Other activities like local walking clubs can be found at many senior organizations and community centers.
- Eat more fresh foods. Processed foods are easy to throw together for a meal, but they come with a host of health issues and concerns, and frankly, they’re not worth the hassle. Make a promise to eat more fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables and you’ll see a noticeable difference in the way you look and feel – and it takes very little work on your end.
- Participate in cognitive health activities. Mental health is an important aspect of health that we tend to overlook as we extol the benefits of staying physically fit. Keep your mind engaged and stimulated through a language class, book club or by playing brain games and trivia on the computer.
- Make your home safer. According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in three adults over the age of 65 falls each year. Many of these falls are preventable, especially if home safety tips are implemented. Tips like moving cords out of walkways, having good lighting near beds and taping down edges of carpet and rugs can help tremendously to decrease the number and severity of falls for seniors.
- Visit or write your grandchildren. The art of a handwritten letter isn’t lost just yet! If you can’t get out to visit your grandchildren due to locality or mobility reasons, try starting a pen pal system with them. Seniors who stay connected with family and friends are more likely to feel content.
- Rekindle or find a hobby. Whether it’s painting or coin collecting, many seniors forget about hobbies they once enjoyed for hours on end. Use the fresh start of the New Year as inspiration to get back to one of your favorite pastimes, which will conjure many good memories. Take it a step further and turn your hobby into community service, which may bring you great purpose. Do you love knitting? Try knitting newborn caps for babies at a local hospital, or gloves for children at a local family shelter.
The above list of 8 resolutions for seniors in 2017 are easier to keep if you lived in a community like any one of Vantage Point Retirement Living’s senior living communities. When you live in a community that caters to the needs of people in your age group, the burdens of daily tasks and chores are more managable with a team of people who take care of the things you don’t want to handle. When the hassles of daily life are removed, you’ll be left with more time to do the things you enjoy!
