Staying Social Helps Mitigate Cognitive Decline
There are many physical and mental health benefits of staying social, particularly later in life. According to various studies, socializing with others is essential for both your wellbeing and your cognitive functions.
Luckily, dedicated home caregivers in Studio City, CA are committed to serving your family compassion supporting you in maintaining the quality of life you deserve every single day. They’ll help you keep up with your social activities and maintain both your physical and mental wellbeing. Keep reading to find out how staying social helps your cognition.
How do you mitigate cognitive decline?
Senior social engagement is essential as it can reduce the risk of depression and delay the onset of dementia. It’s as important as engaging in regular physical activity. There are many ways to remain socially active and support your mental health.
Make it a part of your routine
Make it a priority to include socializing activities in your everyday life. Make an effort to dedicate at least a small portion of your day to interacting with others and improving your cognitive skills.
Find a cause to volunteer
Apart from providing you with a sense of purpose, volunteering is an excellent way to meet and communicate with new people who share your interests. According to a recent study, the sense of belonging and purpose can extend life by two years. If you’re looking for ideas, you can visit the official website that offers current volunteering opportunities.
Become a part of a support group
Support groups are another way to spend time with persons who share common challenges and interests. Today, you can join these groups online or live, whatever suits you best. Whichever way you opt for, you’ll be in for new friendships and emotional support.
Grow the list of your social media friends
You don’t necessarily need to make new friends, but making the best of social media to maintain, support, or reinforce your existing relationships can have an amazing impact on your brain. A recent study has shown that there’s a direct link between the size of certain areas of the brain and the number of friends on social media.
Users with larger social networks had more gray matter in quite a few brain regions, including left temporal gyrus that’s responsible for face recognition and understanding of word meanings, amygdala, which is responsible for the processing of emotions, memory, and information, and right entorhinal cortex, responsible for declarative or autobiographical and episodic memory.
Start a hobby
Just like reaching out to a support group, getting a new hobby can connect you with a lot of people. It opens up a lot of opportunities to socialize. Moreover, it also challenges your brain. According to a recent study, learning a new skill such as quilting or photography could be even more effective at keeping your mind sharp than doing crosswords or playing a puzzle.
During the study, two hundred seniors were randomly assigned to dedicate 15 hours per week to quilting, digital photography, or another similar activity for three months. The results showed a significant improvement in memory, and when they tested them a year later, it was maintained.
Where can I find reliable home caregivers in Studio City, CA?
A Better Way in Home care is your strongest ally in supporting your elderly loved ones in their everyday life, providing them with devoted social and emotional support. We carefully check the background of every single caretaker we recommend. Whether you need us on Laurel Canyon Boulevard or anywhere else across the area, feel free to rely on our team. Give us a call today!