Moving to assisted living offers many advantages for older adults who need a helping hand. Maintenance-free living liberates you from household responsibilities that have become burdensome or difficult. Round-the-clock staff can help with any daily self-care tasks that have become challenging. What’s more, the ideal senior living community embraces a culture of wellness, creating a lifestyle that supports mind, body and spirit. This emphasis on senior wellness fosters successful aging in a variety of ways, offering seniors who need a helping hand an enriching, rewarding, healthy lifestyle that may be out of reach if they stay in their homes.
The Benefits of Senior Wellness Programs
One of the beauties of life in an assisted living community is that the programs you need to support successful aging are readily accessible on the campus where you live, making it easy for you to participate in the activities that appeal to you. Taking part in these senior wellness activities offers a host of perks, including:
- Improved quality of life. Wellness programs aim to support whole-person health, so you’ll benefit from greater overall well-being. What’s more, by actively engaging in meaningful activities, you’ll feel a greater sense of purpose, which research links to a lowered risk of chronic conditions and premature death.
- Social engagement. Often, the physical challenges that have led an older adult to choose assisted living also made it difficult for them to be socially active when they were living at home. In assisted living, senior wellness activities provide the chance to engage with other people, creating opportunities for connection and friendship.
- Cognitive support. Senior wellness programs incorporate a variety of approaches, from fitness to nutrition, that support brain health and slow cognitive decline.
- Emotional well-being. The social connections, physical activity, and cognitive health cultivated through wellness programs tend to lower stress and reduce the risk of depression and anxiety.
- Greater independence. By supporting overall health, senior wellness activities help older adults remain as independent as possible for as long as they can.
Fostering a Wellness Mindset
Senior wellness programs for assisted living residents offer a variety of activities and services that support health and well-being, such as:
- Yoga. This ancient practice can improve balance and flexibility, relieve stress, and help you manage anxiety. What’s more, it can be modified to suit different ability levels and can even be practiced in a chair or wheelchair for those who can’t get down on the floor easily.
- Aquatic fitness. Swimming and water aerobics are particularly beneficial for older adults, since water’s buoyancy reduces stress on your bones, joints and muscles. Water workouts can boost aerobic fitness, strength, balance and flexibility.
- Massage. Deeply relaxing, therapeutic massage offers many benefits to older adults, including better sleep, improved mental health and reduced pain.
- Lifelong learning. Cognitively stimulating activities, such as taking a class or learning a new skill, challenge your ability to think, helping you maintain your cognitive abilities as you get older. Plus, participation in community-based lifelong learning programs has been shown to support psychological well-being.
- Social interaction. From wellness classes to organized social events, assisted living communities foster interaction and connection, which is linked to a host of benefits from higher levels of physical activity (if all your friends are going to yoga class, you’ll be more inclined to join in) to better mood and fewer negative feelings.
- Nutrition. As people get older, their nutrition needs can change, leaving some older adults susceptible to malnutrition. A wellness-oriented approach to dining ensures that residents are enjoying nourishing, delicious meals.
Senior Wellness at Legacy Pointe at UCF
At Legacy Pointe at UCF, we take a leading-edge approach to senior wellness, with programs in our health center that are enriched through our affiliation with UCF. We coordinate educational and screening programs promoting wellness and preventative maintenance, that are shaped in part by UCF College of Health Professions and Sciences. Therapeutic massage and other aging intervention programs are offered at our on-site spa. Legacy Pointe’s trained chef creates healthy meal plans, while UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management influences the development of top-tier dining services and social events you will experience. In addition, at Legacy Pointe you’ll be given your own UCF student ID card, so you can enjoy all the rewards of lifelong learning. Contact us to find out more about assisted living at Legacy Pointe at UCF or to schedule a visit.
