Being Active Can Give Elders A Live Longer And Happier Life

When creating health-giving programs, the goals for elders often consist of encouraging social contact, mental stimulation, providing chances to pick up new skills and allowing opportunities for creativity. And, through taking part in various leisure activities as well as programs, the benefits are never-ending. With this, senior citizens might experience a decline in nervousness, anxiety, and depression, a lessened focus on discomfort, reduced hospital stays, an improvement in independence, self-confidence and self-respect.

As a person starts to age and approaches retirement , it is important to remember several activities that will keep them involved and social. One of the most popular activity followed everywhere, be it at home or in NGOs providing home support for the elderly is:

Card Games

Senior citizens can be seen spending all afternoon playing cards.  These games need skills like attentiveness, planning and working with a co-player to outscore the challenger.  By playing cards on a regular basis, it helps in improving the immune system by making T cells, which the body uses to fight infection.  Other benefits of playing card games consist of keeping the brain stimulated and attentive, and keeping the memory on the go. Also, it is a great way to come across new people.

According to a new study playing the popular card game ‘Bingo’ as well as having an active social life in old age is able to help stave off ill health and even loss of life.

Researchers have performed the study and found that playing Bingo and going to a temple on a regular basis and even joining social organizations in old age is able to considerably lessen one's possibilities of becoming disabled -- by nearly two-thirds.

Also, the study says that even just communicating on a regular basis with friends is able to slow down the rate of decline in motor function which comes as people grow older.

In the study, the researchers observed the deterioration in motor function of over 96 old patients over a period of nearly 5 years.

The discoveries, printed in the Archives of Internal Medicine journal, have shown that remaining active reduces the possibility of developing ill health by 65 % and of death by 40 %.

The study moreover found that the health benefits of an active social life remained the same, even if elderly people had other severe health disorders.

So, if you feel you should provide help for the elderly, then volunteer for an NGO for elders and sit with them, talk to them and play with them, enrich their lives.


Author Bio:

Author writes about Age Care India. Make you donations to help poor elderly.Donations are entitled for 100% tax exemption under section 35AC as well as 80GGA of Income Tax Act 1961. To get more details log on HelpAge India.


When creating health-giving programs, the goals for elders often consist of encouraging social contact, mental stimulation, providing chances to pick up new skills and allowing opportunities for creativity.

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