Author: Diana HC Tan

It is widely touted that a healthy lifestyle contributes to better quality of life in the senior years. Maintaining a nutritious diet, regular exercise regime, and having a positive mindset help seniors to feel alive, energetic and generally, happier. These are traits to cultivate if seniors want to age well. This paper sets out to suggest some activities that seniors can engage in.

1. Exercises of a gentle nature and at a slower pace
Seniors can look to do qigong, taichi, chair yoga and even yoga stretch as well. Going for long walks on gentle paths is another option. While walking, they could simply feast their eyes on the natural surroundings, be alert to the natural sounds around them and not worry too much.

Practising yoga can provide mental and physical benefits to a senior. The deep breathing exercises in a yoga class alert you to how shallow sometimes we breathe. So having a teacher to remind you about taking deep breaths and allowing the breath from inside to come out slowly and even longer than the in-breath is worth your visit to a yoga centre.

Aches and pains may be present in the initial weeks of starting an exercise, for example, doing yoga stretch. However, one should not let the aches and pains to be deterrents towards healthy ageing. If concerned, check with your family doctor. Ordinarily, aches and pains in the body are present especially for those who have not been exercising regularly in the past. So instead of letting the inner critique tell you that you should give up on the exercise, I suggest pressing on with it (but do heed your doctor’s advice) until the love to exercise becomes a habit.

2. Swimming
Swimming has been said to be a good exercise for the whole body, and that it is easy on the joints. Choose a time when the water in the pool is not extremely cold, and enjoy a few non-competitive laps each week.

There are teachers who teach aqua-aerobics. Join a group class if you prefer to exercise with others. If you want to know more about exercises in the water, google “water exercises for seniors”.

3. Golf
Golfing is a sport that is likely to be enjoyed by those who had been golfing previously. Walking the beautifully landscaped golf grounds is also a form of exercise.

4. Dancing
For the young-old who is still energetic, dancing is one exercise to let your hair down. Tap your feet, swing your arms and shake your head. All for fun, but watch what you cannot do now, for example, too much turning on the dance floor may cause dizziness, so stop turning. Instead, move your body, snap your fingers to the beat of the music, raise your arms, sing and just be merry.

5. Art and crafts
The first thought about this suggestion is that it is for women. But not so. Men could take up art and crafts too. Art – water colour, oils, pastels, drawing, etc. – is therapeutic if you do not compare your amateur artwork with the great Masters or someone in your beginner art class. The process of enjoyment is in letting your creativity run loose; never mind if the trees you draw stick up like sore thumbs on the art paper. If you practise more, you will soon get better.

Pottery may be something that men would like to try their hands on. The joy and pride of seeing the end product that you create with your hands will bring in the endorphins, the happy hormones. This raises self-esteem and general well-being.

Crafts are as varied. For the women, sewing, cross-stitch, and knitting come to mind. For the men, how about trying out diamond painting. This is not painting per se. It is described as a mix of cross stitch and painting by numbers. It is really a fun exercise for both women and men. Here is a link to show you what diamond painting is about but you can google for more sites.

Another thing to bring out the boyhood in you is building Lego bricks. Give away what you make to your grandchildren or to children’s homes.

6. Playing card games
Research has shown that adults who enjoy mentally stimulating games are sharper in their thinking skills than their peers. So gather your friends and play. In the Asian context, mahjong is enjoyable and keeps you awake for hours. Other games that a senior could consider would be Scrabble or Chess. Or play card games with your grandchildren. That would be a great way to bond with the younger generation. Games that you could play and compete against yourself include crossword or number puzzles.

7. Gardening
Gardening has many health benefits for seniors. It increases level of physical activity and helps to increase mobility. It promotes relaxation and thereby reduces stress.

Gardening outdoors is great since a little sunlight is good for the body. These days with much talk about ecological wellness, seniors could begin to plant for food, for example, chillies, garlic, spring onions, sprouts, bluepea flower, pandan (screwpine), potatoes, and more.

8. Catch up with family, relatives and friends
In the rat race to provide for the family, perhaps you have neglected some family members (siblings?), or relatives (cousins?), or friends (from school days or you ex-colleagues). Take the time in your senior years to play catch up. Visit each other, reminisce through old times, laugh, and if there are hurts and pains in the memories, perhaps it is time now to forgive. Perhaps the senior years are a phase in life where we learned from past lessons and not let the pains and hurts of yesteryears cause us despair. It is best if we could leave the earthly realm in peace.

9. Volunteering
Assuming the senior person is still active and mentally alert, volunteering is one way to give back to society. It has been said that when seniors retire and lose purpose, physical and social decline can happen. Therefore, staying engaged in society and in the community is important. One would feel empowered and useful if they feel they have done a service to help another who is in need.

10. Write and leave a legacy
Collect your stories and share your wisdom with the younger generation. In decades to come, your wise sayings could still ring through, or that generation may find that things have come full circle.

To start writing, it is not necessary to write events chronologically. Start writing whatever you remember. To produce a fair amount of writing to make a book (after all, it’s a legacy, right?), make it a habit to write consistently, for example, narrating an event each day, or to write 2-3 pages a day, etc. Make it your project, so set your own time own target. The final product may not be an officially printed book. It could just be printed pages spiral-bound. Alternatively, cut and paste your stories, along with photographs and make it a scrapbook project. The end product will be a special book curated by yourself. Give yourself a pat on the back.