When thinking of places to visit in your golden years, the zoo may not be the first place that comes to mind. However, visiting a zoo can lead to various perks for the elderly to age healthily. These benefits of visiting a zoo in your golden years may surprise you!
Physical Health Benefits
Medical professionals always recommend older adults engage in light exercise to maintain the longevity of their health, especially walking. Walking provides countless health benefits despite its simplicity: improved cardiovascular health, stronger muscles, higher energy levels, and the list goes on! Zoo layouts naturally encourage visitors to walk tons without realizing it, prompting them to walk from one exhibit to the next. This makes zoos the perfect environment to encourage older adults to reach their daily steps goals, while still being a fun time overall. Furthermore, visiting the zoo and interacting with zoo animals has proven to be a healthy activity that lowers blood pressure, relaxes the body, and improves mood.
Warding Off Cognitive Disorders
Animal-assisted therapy is largely popular among the elderly, and for good reason! Interacting with adorable, fascinating creatures makes one unable to hold back the smile on their face. Activities involving animals has shown to be a healthy activity for aged individuals, helping them to cope with mental and cognitive health issues. Interaction with animals during a regular trip to the zoo can lower your chances of suffering from common conditions in the elderly that hinder independent living, such as depression and anxiety. Such conditions are linked to age-associated cognitive disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, the most commonly diagnosed type of dementia.
Providing Social Support
Loneliness is an unfortunately frequent problem that the elderly grapple with during their retirement years. The human-animal interaction facilitated by zoos can provide older adults with a sense of social support. Human-animal interaction that improves social function in older adults allows them to improve their abilities to communicate with the people around them, thanks to a simple trip to the zoo. Furthermore, zoos are a great recreational destination for older adults to visit with friends. Hence, a visit to the zoo with friends and family would also make for a suitable social opportunity for an elderly person to exercise their social skills and connect with other people in their life.
Raising Overall Quality of Life
In your golden years, devoting time to visiting zoos, aquariums, and other area attractions improves an older adult’s quality of life exponentially. Engaging in such activities in one’s mature years can spark one’s sense of curiosity and exploration despite their age, due to such nostalgic experiences. Hence, visiting a zoo can help to keep an elderly person young and happy.
Live Close to the Zoo and Many More at Discovery Village At Boynton Beach
Discovery Village At Boynton Beach is the retirement community for older adults with a love for adventure. By joining our retirement community, you and a loved one are entitled to transportation services that allow for zoo trips and more at great convenience. Furthermore, the nearby area attractions make for an exciting environment to live in. To learn more, read about the senior living options we offer
