As we age, we tend to shed family and friends—which can hurt our mental and physical health. How can we design communities for seniors that facilitate social connections?
“Vonda is an energetic 73-year-old woman with a friendly smile and a sharp wit. For the last two decades she’s been living in an intentional farming community called “Potluck Farm” with other individuals and families on 170 acres in rural North Carolina.
Vonda Frants (foreground, in pink shirt) putting the roof on the common house for Potluck Farm’s new Elderberry community.
But recently, she realised something: She’s getting older. Though she loves the farm, living far apart on separate six-acre parcels means that neighbours do not see each other that often and cannot easily help each other in a pinch. Caring for the large piece of property is getting tougher, too.
So, she and some friends have begun building a new community – smaller and adjacent to the old – where houses will be built closer together, more activities will be shared, and neighbours will grow food and maintain their lifestyle, while caring for one another.
“The most important thing in a community like this is having people around to support and engage you,” says Vonda. “Taking care of each other keeps you alive and healthy.”
It turns out that Vonda and her friends are on to something. Researchers have long known about the health benefits of “social capital”- the ties that build trust, connection, and participation. But this link may be particularly important for seniors, precisely because both our health and our social capital tend to decline as we age. We retire from jobs, lose friends and spouses to death and illness, and see family members move out of the area – all of which can sharply reduce daily social contacts and stimulation, which in turn has a direct impact on mental and physical health.
Fortunately, there are solutions: More and more studies are discovering how senior communities can be designed to maximise sharing, friendship, health, and happiness in our later years.
When you use your brain and body the way it was intended – as it evolved – you age better. We just are not meant to be disengaged from one another.
Social activity is related to motor function, just like physical exercise is related. We cannot determine which is most important – they each contribute a piece of the puzzle. Communities high in social capital offer a lot to seniors, because they can augment opportunities for seniors to have those kinds of social connections. If you are in a more cohesive neighbourhood, you will more likely engage with others in your neighbourhood, and that can bring great benefits socially and otherwise.
Image courtesy: VolunteeringIndia.com
What can one do to increase social capital? Creating a community like Vonda’s is ideal; but many elderly cannot afford to move, nor would they necessarily want to.
Seniors need to stay engaged with their community and to continue to make positive contributions…this is invaluable. Volunteering has tremendous health benefits including its impact on increasing longevity, but it’s even more powerful when your efforts give you a sense of purpose in life. People who have the strongest sense of purpose are much less likely to become depressed, have neuroticism, or get Alzheimer’s, studies show.
Seniors are generally seen as people who need services instead of people who have a lot to offer! You, for example, have a lot to offer. Get going!!
Vonda and her friends are adamant about doing all they can to age not just gracefully, but with vitality. “I kind of refuse to grow old,” she says!
