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Daily Check-ins on Seniors Help

Improve Their Health


Adult children are balancing three main pillars of their life constantly, where each one by itself can consume the majority of a day.  Career, family and social life are the ever-shifting pillars that require attention each day. However, each of these pillars of our lives has subcategories within them that are difficult to manage routinely.  For example, raising a new family with children consumes a majority of the adult child's life now, often sacrificing social life to make up for the insufficient amount of time in a day to get kids to sports activities.  Within the family pillar also lies our parents or older adult family members that increasingly need our help with time.  We as adult children often let this portion slip from our priorities, forgetting to check-in on seniors, not because we are bad people but because often times with young children in our new family, we prioritize the young members over the older ones. 

 

This lack of check-ins for seniors can occur for long periods of time.  Regular check-ins on seniors are extremely important, not just for their mental health, but also their physical health.  Its importance has been recognized by states, like Maryland, that offers a check-in service for seniors by phone.

 

How it Helps Their Mental Health

The pandemic showed younger working adults what life has been like for many seniors, isolated and disconnected from others around us and the feeling of loneliness it brings.  Social isolation brings on depression and can decrease your lifespan in the long run.  That is why a simple short check-in on seniors can be very impactful.  An added benefit of a regular check-in on seniors is that it can lower the risk of dementia by 12%.  Dementia (Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia) is not a normal part of aging, but as we age, our risk for it increases.  I often work to highlight in my writing anything that can help reduce risks for older adults and this is an important one.

 

How it Helps Their Physical Health

Regular social interaction for seniors is important for their physical health as well.  These regular social interactions, even with those outside the family, can help fight off the negative self-image that can impact their desire to exercise.  The right type of social interaction is friendly and not pushy, seniors respond better to this and light encouragement goes along way.  I know this from personal experience but research does back it up as well.  We want our parents to stay active, frequent check-ins with seniors gives us the opportunity to promote that. 

 

Conclusion

Social isolation is hurtful for seniors and not being as connected as we (younger generations) are with technology often poses a challenge on how frequently they can be reached.  Combine that with the fact that we have a lot going on in our lives and you have an increased risk for seniors to have a shorter independence runway.  We want to extend that runway as much as possible, it benefits everyone in many ways and a short check-in today can go along way tomorrow for the senior, so give them a call today.

 

About us

We are passionate about keeping older adults independent at home and we recognize that families are busy. We offer a daily check-in service for seniors that leverages the very best of customer service with easy-to-use, private technology, designed for those older adults who do not know technology.  Our Virtual Concierge service focuses on keeping the older adult independent and keeping the family informed with a unique and powerful support system designed for seniors.  This check-in service is available for Arlington County seniors and Fairfax County seniors.

 

 

Links

https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-is-dementia 

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326064

https://www.axios.com/2022/07/19/check-in-text-email-call-friends# 

https://www.agrhodes.org/blog/notable-newsworthy/older-adults-and-the-importance-of-social-interaction/

https://aging.maryland.gov/pages/senior-call-check.aspx

 

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