Healthy Aging Linked to Relationships in a Community Setting
Plenty of exercise, healthy food, positive attitude, plain old good luck. There’s lots of advice out there about how to keep our body and brain healthy as we age.
But another idea, emphasizes on the positive impact of human relationships. The experiences of relating to others are the most meaningful and important. Humans are best understood not in isolation, but in the context of their connections with others. Our brains are wired to connect with each other and to interact in groups. Aging brains need social interaction and human-to-human contact.
People who are more socially active have better mental health, cardiovascular health, immunological functioning, and cognitive Social relationships help calm our stress-response system. This keeps our system in check. Positive relationships help us learn better, stay healthier, and live longer.
Positive emotions are part of warm, loving social relationships, and living in a close-knit community, such as a Personal Care Home, Skilled Nursing Facility or Residential Living.
The brain across your lifespan
Brain development and the impact of human connection begins at the prenatal stage and infancy to adolescence and adulthood to the end of life. We learn that the way the brain processes information changes to meet the needs of each life stage.
As we grow older, neurological changes in the aging brain may contribute to emotional regulation and an increased ability to relate compassionately to other. This is due to the effects of fear and anxiety on the brain tend to lessen as people grow older, enabling them to see social situations with less defensiveness and more clarity.
People who lead extraordinarily longer lives, have maintained close ties to others. These aging adults tend to have higher morale, giving and receiving support, and maintaining attachments.
