How would you feel if one day you’re told that you’ve got to move out of your home and live someplace new? Would you feel scared and anxious? Well, that’s how your beloved seniors feel when you tell them you’ve decided to move them to a senior living facility.
When an already scared and anxious individual is made to live in a new place where they aren’t familiar with anything, their anxiety will only worsen. And being away from their home and family will make things worse for them. They’ll feel lonely, and you can’t really blame them. You would feel the same.
However, if a senior feels lonely, it won’t only affect their mood but also their health, which you wouldn’t want. Managing a senior care facility comes with lots of challenges and risks, and preventing seniors from feeling lonely is one of them.
This blog post highlights the importance of why you should take the right measures to prevent seniors from feeling lonely at a senior care facility.
Direct Impact on Physical and Mental Health
One of the most important reasons you should prevent seniors from feeling lonely at a senior living facility is that loneliness will affect their physical and mental health. They’ll appear withdrawn, dull, and won’t participate in any activities willingly. They’ll feel sad, which might even exacerbate depression, which is the last thing you want.
Higher Risk of Mortality
A person spends most of their life providing for their family. When they get old and retire, all they want is to be around the family they’ve dedicated their whole life to. Their family is the reason for them to live, and when you take that away from them, they don’t see a point in life. The elderly who feel lonely are at a higher risk of mortality. Having to live alone without their family feels like an end to their life, and they lose the will to live. This is a sign of deteriorating mental health, increasing the risk of the m dying sooner.
Poor Cognitive Function
Loneliness directly impacts mental health, so if you don’t take the right measures to prevent seniors from feeling lonely, it may affect their mental health way too much, enough to result in cognitive decline. Cognitive ability is already on the decline as you age, but loneliness only makes the decline faster and puts seniors at risk of dementia.
Higher Risk of Long-Term Illnesses
Loneliness isn’t just a feeling of feeling alone. Its roots go far deeper than you can imagine. Loneliness can put a senior at risk of developing high blood pressure and mental health illnesses that will only worsen their health. Senior who feels lonely will detach themselves from worldly affairs because they won’t just feel like investing any of their energy in doing anything.
Considering the damage loneliness can do to an elderly’s health, you should try to take adequate measures to prevent seniors at your facility from feeling lonely. Take them out and teach them how to video call their families, so they feel like they’re still alive and a part of this very happening world!
