How Seniors Can Stay Active During Social Isolation

Senior woman potting plant in her home garden

With the COVID-19 pandemic keeping people indoors, it is difficult for anyone these days to stay active. This difficulty may be much greater for seniors, particularly if they are homebound. However, the importance of staying active is greater for them in social isolation. Indeed, an active lifestyle helps seniors maintain positive mental health, improve social wellness, prevent falls, and overall have a higher quality of life. With better physical and mental health, seniors become free to enjoy the things that they love to do.

How Seniors Can Stay Active

Even though seniors are stuck at home, there are things they can do to stay physically and mentally active. Some ideas include:

• Find physical exercises that seniors can do at home, including stretching, chair yoga and strengthening exercises, and gentle aerobic exercise. These exercises do not need to be strenuous to be effective in building muscle and bone strength.
• Engage in a new hobby, like gardening. In fact, gardening or yard work is by far the most popular activity for seniors and comes with health benefits like improving flexibility, reducing stress levels, and providing mental stimulation. Any new hobby, even if it’s not gardening, can go a long way in helping seniors to stay active; some other ideas are baking, reading or listening to audiobooks, and playing card games.
• Stay connected socially, even during social isolation orders. This can mean setting up regular phone calls with friends and family, and for seniors who have more technological know-how, seeing loved ones face-to-face over video calls.

How Can Caregivers Help?

Caregivers play a big role in helping seniors stay active during this pandemic. They can engage in these activities with the senior; during social distancing, the caregiver may be the only person in their life who can do so, and having an exercise partner will serve as encouragement. Caregivers can also be consistent about reminding the senior when it’s time to engage in an activity; they might, for example, set up a weekly schedule with the senior’s planned activities to start working them into their daily routine. If a senior has trouble setting up technology, their caregiver can help them with it. Thus, they are more easily able to connect with loved ones who are forced to stay away during isolation.

Learn More About Staying Active During Social Isolation 

At Family Tree In-Home Care, we understand the importance of helping to keep seniors active in isolation. Thus, we are committed to providing your loved one with exceptional care during this pandemic and beyond. If you are considering in-home care for yourself or a loved one, please contact us today to learn more about how we provide Better Care. Better Health. Every Day®.