Do you lunch regularly with friends? Meet weekly for poker, bowling, or bocci? Then chances are you are not going to become physically disabled any time soon. Research at the Rush University Medical Center has found a connection between higher levels of social activity — dining out, playing bingo, volunteering — with a lower risk of becoming disabled.
“Social activity has long been recognized as an essential component of healthy aging, but now we have strong evidence that it is also related to better everyday functioning and less disability in old age,” lead researcher Bryan James, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow in the epidemiology of aging and dementia at the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, said in a statement.
With this recent study in mind, here are some ways to be socially active and age in a healthy way.
Stay connected
The study, to be published in the April issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, looked at 954 older adults with a mean age of 82. People who were more socially active were about twice as likely to remain free of disability that involved daily living activities, such as eating, than those who were less active. And they were 1.5 times more likely to be free of disabilities involving mobility or household management, such as walking up and down stairs and using the phone.
“The findings are exciting because social activity is potentially a risk factor that can be modified to help older adults avoid the burdens of disability,” James said.
Some ways of staying connected are:
• Taking a part-time job
• Adopting a pet
• Providing child care for a neighbor or relative
• Volunteering at a local school
• Joining a chorus or theater production
