Socially active seniors are less likely to become disabled

Many seniors have a fear of disability. Imagine not being able to feed or dress yourself, or get around on your own. Fortunately there are things you can do to significantly reduce your risk of disability.

Social Activity can help prevent physical disability
Staying physically active can help , of course, but a new study conducted at a medical centre shows that seniors who take part in a high level of social activity are about twice as likely to remain disability-free! This means that they will be able to do daily activities like feeding, bathing, dressing and walking around.

Socially active seniors are also about 1.5 times as likely to remain free of disabilities that affect instrumental activities, such as using the telephones, preparing meals and walking up and down flights of stairs.

At Pinelands Grove Retirement Village, our community establishment can cater for many different social activities.

What socially active means
To assess the effect of social activity on the development of disabilities, researchers studied the lives of nearly a thousand seniors with an average age of 82. They evaluated how often they went to restaurants or sporting events, played bingo, went on day trips or overnight trips and visited friends or relatives.

Social activity and healthy aging
Social activity has long been recognised as an important part of healthy living, but now there is strong evidence that it is related to better every day functioning and less disability in old age.

These findings are exciting because socially activity is potentially a risk factor that can be modified to help older adults avoid the burden of disability. So, stay healthy and stay socially active!