The Benefits of Close Relationships for Older Adults

You’ve probably read about the proven benefits of cardiovascular and strength training to potentially lengthen and improve your life. But did you know that close relationships with others are also extremely important in helping older adults secure long, healthy years?

According to Harvard Health, connecting with others relieves harmful levels of stress, which can damage coronary arteries, gut function, insulin regulation, and the immune system.

Other studies have revealed that people with more social relationships tend to live longer than those who were more isolated, regardless of the person’s socioeconomic status–whether they smoke or drank, were obese, or exercised or not.

Intergenerational Bonding

For seniors specifically, interaction with your adult children and grandchildren creates a healthy environment for you. It often causes you to engage in increased physical activity—running errands, taking walks, going on trips, enjoying celebrations and holiday festivities, and shopping excursions. All of this activity boosts heart and bone health, improves weight management and even lowers the risk of some cancers.

In addition, bonding with family necessitates the use of short- and long-term memory, and therefore helps maintain conversational and cognitive skills.

In families where close relationships between the generations exist, family members are taught from an early age that family means sharing obligations and caring for one another. This could include caregiving for children or seniors, and that spirit of caring flows in both directions between young and old.

Adult children

Many seniors have grown children and enjoy frequent contact with them. The special bond with adult children is demonstrated by the fact that 75 percent of seniors in senior living communities live within an hour’s drive of one of their children.

The balance in close relationships between aging parents and adult children can be rewarding if disagreements from years past can be exchanged for memories, laughter, recipes, and understanding. While it’s natural for adult children to be concerned for their senior loved ones, it’s good to keep in mind that seniors like to be cared about but may not prefer it in an overbearing manner.

Grandchildren

The majority of grandparents have warm and loving relationships with their grandchildren. Grandchildren help older adults avoid isolation and find meaning and purpose in life. One of the perks of being a grandparent is having the time to spend talking with and teaching grandchildren.

Plus, grandparents who develop early emotional bonds with grandchildren will find that those bonds usually survive the passage of time. Developing those connections can help them feel a greater sense of fulfillment.

Siblings

A senior’s brother or sister probably knows more about what makes their sibling happy than any other person. They share an upbringing, a family history and can enrich each other’s lives. There may be long-lingering conflicts, but mutual forgiveness can open up a relationship between siblings based on many years of shared experiences and memories.

Friendships

Friendships can relieve high levels of health-damaging stress. A study showed that women with strong friendships displayed a lower risk for cardiovascular disease than those without these relationships. In fact, it is believed that women, on average, live longer than men partly due to their larger circle of friends.

The link to this longevity is the improved mental and emotional health, and increased social activities of friendship, which motivate people to take better care of themselves. Immune systems are strengthened, recovering from an illness occurs more quickly, blood pressure is lower, memory is sharper, and life is just more fun when sharing it with friends.

Learn about healthy lifestyles for seniors in Bethesda’s Senior Living blog.