When You Think About It, Active Aging Should Be the Whole Point of a Senior Living Community
September 18, 2024Are you familiar with the concept of “active aging”? It’s a term the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted in the late 1990s, and it centers on factors in addition to healthcare that affect how people age, individually and collectively.
If you take a look at how the WHO defines active aging, it’s easy to see how senior living communities such as The Variel offer an ideal living environment for older adults who want to be successful in active aging.
What Is Active Aging?
The overall objective of active aging is to extend healthy life expectancy and quality of life as people age, according to the WHO. Here’s how the organization defines active aging:
The process of optimizing opportunities for health, participation
and security in order to enhance quality of life as people age.
The WHO says active aging “allows people to realize their potential for physical, social and mental well-being throughout the life course and to participate in society according to their needs, desires and capacities, while providing them with adequate protection, security and care when they require assistance.”
“Active” doesn’t refer solely to the ability to be physically active, the WHO notes. It also encompasses ongoing participation “in social, economic, cultural, spiritual and civic affairs.”
What Does Active Aging Look Like in Practice?
To give you some examples of how residing in a senior living community encourages active aging, we talked with Sharon Goldstein, who’s been a resident at The Variel since December 2022. Our questions and her responses have been lightly edited for brevity.
What led you to your decision to move to The Variel?
Sharon: My husband of 60 years had recently passed away, and I didn’t want to stay in our house in Topanga — it was too isolated. I wanted to be in a place where there were activities and other people, and I didn’t want to just live in an apartment by myself. I wanted to be part of an active community.
I looked at several communities, and The Variel was certainly the most attractive. I met a few of the residents while I was touring The Variel who were very friendly — and they still are!
How has living at The Variel made a difference for you?
Sharon: I’ve always been active in terms of going to the gym and physical exercise, but I’d never done anything artistic before. Now, I paint and participate in a lot of the art activities, basically because they’re available to me and nobody is going to judge whether what I create is beautiful or not.
I was a computer programmer, so I was much more of a left-brain kind of person. But now I’ve found I have this whole other side of me that I never really explored!
I try to keep active both physically and mentally. I go to various lectures and participate in the games we play, like “Jeopardy!” I do a wide variety of things.
(Jeopardy is one of our most popular activities at The Variel. Participants choose categories and answer questions for points, just like on the TV show. Residents also enjoy playing an assortment of card games, mahjongg, Rummikub, Mexican Train dominoes and other games.)
What kind of physical activities do you enjoy participating in?
Sharon: I do water aerobics, and I swim laps. I also do boxing, balance classes, and sit-and-fit. When I first heard about boxing, I wasn’t interested. But then another resident mentioned it to me, and this wasn’t someone I’d expect to be into boxing — at least not the kind of boxing I had in mind. So, I checked into it. It’s a good workout, and not just physically. The boxing instructors give us a series of four to six moves we have to keep in mind, so it’s a mental workout, too.
How do you find the time to do all of that?
Sharon: I don’t spend very much time in my apartment. I generally play cards in the evening. A lot of residents go to bed early or watch TV in the evenings, but I’d rather be out doing social things.
And that’s the thing: Meals are social activities. Card games are social. None of us are serious card players. We do it for the social aspect. I wasn’t especially active socially before. My husband and I went to the gym, and we’d go out to dinner with family and other people. Occasionally there were other activities, but certainly not like here.
Did you foresee being this active before you moved?
Sharon: No, I did not. But this is why I moved to The Variel, so that these things would be available to me. I’m also a member-at-large on the Resident Council, and I’ve been on the Physical Wellness Committee.
What does the phrase “active aging” mean to you?
Sharon: People being active, doing exercise, going out and walking, participating in activities. Getting out of their apartments.
What benefits has active aging had for you?
Sharon: It’s kept me mentally alert and physically strong. Much more so than if I had stayed in my house in Topanga.
We have meet-and-greets to welcome new residents, and I always tell people to get out there and participate, and you’ll make friends. This is a very active, welcoming community. I encourage people to take advantage of the activities — it’s one of the main appeals of living here.
Steps for Being “an Active Ager”
An article published by Fortune Well offers the following steps to help you actively age:
-
- Stay positive. Having positive attitudes about aging is associated with better health, research shows, and can help lower your risk of cancer and chronic illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes.
- Stay connected. Maintaining an active social life can lower your risk of depression and may even help you live longer.
- Stay involved. Participating in different kinds of activities can promote wellness and healthier aging regardless of your physical or cognitive status, according to the WHO. It can also foster a sense of purpose.
- Stay healthy. It’s not too late to adopt healthier behaviors, such as quitting smoking and eating more healthfully. Even if you have a chronic disease or a disability, making healthier choices can make a difference.
- Stay curious. Engaging your brain in new ways — like learning new skills or taking lifelong learning classes — may help delay or prevent cognitive decline.
- Stay calm. Stress takes a toll no matter what age you are. Physical activity, meditation, breathing exercises, connecting with friends and getting adequate sleep are all useful in combatting stress.
Zenergy Was Created With Active Aging in Mind
Zenergy is more than the name of our upscale fitness facility and juice bar. It’s a holistic wellness concept designed to enhance residents’ physical, intellectual, social, emotional and spiritual well-being. It’s the keystone to all of our active aging programs.
Here at The Variel, you’ll discover an abundance of fresh opportunities to continue actively aging well into your 80s, 90s and beyond.
Schedule a visit and you’ll see what we mean. Contact us or call (818) 651-0168.