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Growing old gleefully: The four keys to happier ageing

Home care is key to helping seniors live in their own homes for longer. But home care isn’t just about medical care, in fact it’s as much about helping seniors keep their independence for longer.
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Home care is key to helping seniors live in their own homes for longer. But home care isn’t just about medical care, in fact it’s as much about helping seniors keep their independence for longer.

“For us, senior home care is about caring, not just health care,” Susan and Wendy Scott from Nurse Next Door say. “In our experience, once a senior begins to lose their independence, their happiness starts to disappear too, so we do everything in our power to help keep them in their own home as long as they want to remain there and can so safely.”

Here the Scott’s draw on their experience with seniors to share the four keys to happier aging.

1.     Play: Seniors with a full dance card of hobbies and passions are much less likely to fall foul to the pitfalls of social isolation that we traditionally associate with old age. However for a variety of reasons seniors can find themselves drifting from passions that were once a key part of their lives. A good caregiver’s job involves helping seniors to continue the pursuit of their passions, helping them to maintain hobbies and interests that encourage them to remain active both socially and physically.

2.     Connections and relationships: No matter what age we are, personal connections with our friends and families remain crucial to living happy and healthy lives. Research has shown that those people who maintain their interpersonal connections live longer than people who are isolated as they get older. As well as making us happy, maintaining these relationships can also impact our health, boosting things like our immune systems, lowering blood pressure and alleviating depression.

3.     Learning: We’ve all heard the saying “It’s never too late to teach an old dog new tricks” but did you know the same applied to us humans too? Indeed ongoing learning, even in the later stages of our lives, has been widely proven to help boost health and longevity.

4.     Travel and adventure: Whether it’s soaking up some Vitamin D on a pristine beach or venturing off of the beaten track, everyone has dreams of travelling. And these don't just stop as we start to get older. Many seniors have had to shelve their dreams and aspirations due to family commitments, work, or financial constraints. But those dreams never fade and just because you are getting older doesn’t mean that they cannot become a reality.

If you would like advice on how to age happily, or to find out more about Nurse Next Door’s home care services, call 1.866.318.7932 to book your free caring consult.