Why Should Aging Adults Have Younger Friends?

Spending time with younger people offers many health benefits for people over 65, and maintaining these intergenerational relationships can enrich a senior’s overall quality of life. Here are a few reasons your aging loved one might want to start up a new friendship with someone from a younger generation. 

Boost Mobility & Lose Weight

Your loved one is likely to remain physically active if he or she becomes friends with younger people because they often enjoy walking, exercising, dancing, swimming, and other physical activities that help them maintain a healthy weight. By participating in these same activities, your loved one can boost his or her health by increasing balance and strengthening muscles to prevent falls and maintaining a healthy weight to prevent diabetes and heart disease. 

Strengthen the Immune System 

Socialization is one of the primary benefits your loved one can receive from a friendship with a younger person. If your loved one spends a lot of time with other seniors and medical professionals, he or she will likely enjoy getting to know someone new outside that circle. Socializing with younger people can reduce stress, which is good for the immune system. Once stress hormones are reduced, your loved one’s body can produce the natural defenses that fight off illnesses and diseases. For families living in Irving, respite care can be a wonderful solution when their aging loved ones need companionship and socialization a few hours a week or just need minor assistance with daily household tasks. At Home Care Assistance, we thrive on helping seniors maintain their independence while living in the comfort of home.

Increase Skills & Knowledge 

Though seniors provide the younger generation with wisdom and history, they can also learn various things from young people, especially when it comes to modern technology. Your loved one can learn about using email, social media, computers, tablets, smartphones, and video games from the younger generation. Learning about new technologies can keep your loved one’s brain active, which reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other memory-related conditions. Not every senior has the same care needs, which means they don’t all need the same type of home care. You can rely on Home Care Assistance to provide an individualized care plan to meet your elderly loved one’s unique care needs. Our holistic Balanced Care Method was designed to help seniors focus on healthy lifestyle habits, such as eating nutritious foods, exercising regularly, and maintaining strong social ties, and our Cognitive Therapeutics Method offers mentally stimulating activities that can stave off cognitive decline and delay the onset of dementia.

Renew Their Sense of Purpose 

As your loved one ages, he or she may begin to feel less valuable within the family or community. However, maintaining intergenerational relationships can help your loved one gain a sense of belonging. Interacting with youth can build your loved one’s confidence and motivate him or her to participate in programs and outings with younger family members, friends, and other members of the community.  Much like maintaining friendships with younger people is beneficial for a senior, so is building a trusted relationship with a professional caregiver. Seniors can face a variety of challenges as they age, many of which can be mitigated with the help of professional in-home caregivers who provide high-quality at-home care. Irving families trust Home Care Assistance to help their elderly loved ones age in place safely and comfortably. If you need professional care for your loved one, reach out to one of our Care Managers today at (817) 591-1580.