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Your Social Life
A Healthy Trip Down Memory Lane Visit the Center for Healthy AgingThe Center for Healthy Aging is here to help YOU improve your health and lifestyle, feel better and have more energy, and connect with your family and your community. “Reflecting with others on the happy events of the past brings seniors to a very comfortable place in their mind,” Salerno says. “Like any social activity, it has a positive impact, and reminiscing has the added advantage for elderly people that they don’t have to process new information.” A new program offered by the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) is helping people turn their memories into memoirs. Volunteers work with older adults to stimulate their memories through music, photographs or poetry. Then they record them verbally or through writing. “A lot of people think their memories aren’t interesting, but it’s not true,” says Eleanor Loughery, Lehigh County coordinator of RSVP. “They have wonderful stories to tell that shouldn’t be lost for themselves or their children and grandchildren.” Advanced age or disability needn’t impede the process: Loughery’s memoir-writers include people in their 90s and people with cerebral palsy and Alzheimer’s disease. Reminiscing and writing memories not only eases depression and loneliness, but also can improve your physical health, Salerno says. “If you’re depressed and lonely, you’re probably inactive, and that’s not healthy for your heart or immune system,” he says. “Anything that activates your mind will activate your body, too. The end result is self-worth and integrity—both of which are key to healthy aging.” This page last updated 2/12/08 04:08 PM
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