An article by Patricia Calleja Ruiz
Technician in auxiliary nursing care
Specialized in social accompaniment-care for the elderly and labor therapy
From the age of 65 retirement appears bringing more free time that our elders do not know how to use it, in what type of activities already where to goin addition to benefits these activities have for health, which can be:
Sedentary
Activities related to the media: reading, magazines, the newspaper, listening to the radio or reading a book.
Domestic
This type continues to be more common in women than in men, although equally, it can occur equally in both sexes: sewing, crafting or gardening.
Social
Socializing with friends, family or colleagues reinforces the emotional sphere of the elderly: going to mass, going to the retirees club, doing family activities contribute to this, as well as excursions or trips.
healthy
The most important, for personal self-care. They must be functionally agile and take care of their diet from a healthy perspective. They should do everything possible to reserve time for walking, dancing or practicing a sport according to their physical condition.
Learning
‘It is never too late to learn’. In addition to being the object of personal development, continuous learning is essential for the elderly to develop normally in the modern world. From learning to use to send a message on the mobile to using the computer or more complex activities. Also depending on the educational level, you can take university studies, and there are university modules aimed at this group in the experience classrooms.
Trips
The elderly have become a very attractive market niche for the tourism sector. There are more and more tourist programs for the elderly, from public institutions, NGOs, retirement clubs and leisure companies: cultural visits to Spanish cities (Toledo, Segovia, Granada, Seville, Córdoba…); summer holidays on the coast (the Valencia coast and the Costa del Sol in Malaga are the favorite destinations); ethnological routes; concerts and theaters; trips that involve sports activities of low or medium intensity, such as hiking, etc.
Board games, like cards, stimulate mental agility and favor social participation
Table games
Like dominoes, cards, bingo or ludo, stimulate mental agility and promote social participationA fundamental aspect for the psychological well-being of the elderly and a fundamental pillar of active aging.
hobbies
Logic puzzles and exercises are cognitive exercises that help keep your mind active and empower it. For example, word soup allows you to work on attention and concentration, mazes are useful for working on planning or problem-solving skills, and Sudoku puzzles exercise calculation, logic, memory, planning, patience, etc.
The CrosswordsFor their part, they develop linguistic skills, semantic memory, vocabulary and mental flexibility. Other examples of useful pastimes can be the exercises to find the differences between illustrations or the similarities between pairs of images, which work on observation and memory. To exercise different mental abilities, it is important to perform the widest possible range of cognitive stimulation exercises.
In this way, we managed to enhance different aspects. The more active seniors keep their cognitive abilities and learning ability, the longer they will enjoy an agile mind.
practice sport
Performing daily physical exercise promotes a healthy lifestyle whose importance is accentuated in old age. Sport helps the elderly to stay active, in good physical and psychological health, raises their self-esteem, allows them to be self-sufficient for much longer, gives them autonomy in their daily lives, helps them release tension and sleep better. There are many sports that older people can do starting by simply going out for a walk down the street. Riding a bike, hiking, signing up for swimming, taking dance classes or practicing Pilates are gentle activities that allow them to keep fit and interact with others in their day to day.
Games and creative work
It has been shown that through them we stimulate our social, cognitive and motor skills. Therefore, they are the best option for the elderly, especially if there is any cognitive deterioration. They therefore help to keep the mind and body active. Here we leave you a selection of games, of the best activities for the elderly that can be carried out:
- Creative and craft games. Anything that involves the development of “creative work” and other “beads” will activate the creative part of the brain. It also helps control coordination and encourage creativity.
- Paint. If what you want is to develop creativity, painting is undoubtedly one of the best activities for older people. If for whatever reason you want to do it but you think you don’t have the necessary skills, you can sign up for painting classes. You will learn a new hobby while meeting a new group of people.
- Puzzles and board games. Puzzles help concentration and develop logic, like many board games. The positive thing about board games is that they are tremendously fun when played in groups.
- Games for memory. These types of games are highly necessary, even at any age. Games that help us remember or respond logically will keep our brains fit.
These above activities can be performed in different contexts and places: with the family, civic centers, houses of culture, NGOs, associations for the elderly, social action areas for the elderly in savings banks or public institutions… They also provide the following benefits:
- It is a means of distension. It frees them from stressful situations and makes it easier for us to deal with certain situations.
- Helps maintain the ability to enjoy your free time.
- promotes the stake of all members without distinction.
- encourages social relationships and the friendship.
- encourages communication and personal exchange.
- They contribute to the maintenance of usefulness and personal self-esteem. It can cope with physical limitations and promotes psychomotor skills, even in deficiencies.
- power the creativity and artistic ability.
In addition to all these aspects, through leisure we can get our elderly to carry out activities to enhance their health and quality of life.
The World Health Organization defines the Education for health as “the educational process aimed at providing people and the community with the capacity to increase their control over the factors that influence their health”. Can do health education through leisure, something that is considered playful or entertaining, but as we have seen it has multiple benefits for the person. However, in order to achieve our goal, leisure activities must be properly scheduled, establish some steps and define what we want to achieve. It is the only way to make it both enriching and flattering for the person and their health.
Patricia Ruiz Calleja