Did you know that humor can provide numerous health benefits to elderly adults? Researchers have found that laughter and humor can have a positive effect on the body as well as the mind. Elderly adults are especially in need of the health benefits that laughter can provide, because they are often dealing with chronic illnesses, pain and stress.
If you want to provide your aging relative with an all-natural “medicine” that is easy to find and comes in an endless supply, think about all the ways that you, other family members, friends and senior care assistants can introduce a little laughter into their daily life.
How Does Humor Help the Body?
It may seem unbelievable, but researchers have studied the effects of laughter on the body and have discovered many significant connections. When seniors grow increasingly frail due to illness and the effects of aging, they become more dependent on family caregivers and senior care aides to help them manage their health. Elderly adults can certainly benefit from the health boost that laughter brings.
Laughter is an effective counter to the damage that stress can do to a person’s body. Studies show that increases in laughter and happy times can boost an elderly person’s immune system, reduce pain, flood the body with endorphins, and lower blood pressure. Many of the chronic illnesses and age-related conditions that elderly adults suffer from are connected to long-term stress and wear and tear on the body. Enjoying humor and participating in laughter regularly can trigger some of these healthy physical benefits.
Not only does humor and laughter help the body, but they also affect the mind. It’s easy to succumb to negative emotions like loneliness, sadness, despair and depression. However, laughter is a powerful remedy for pain, stress and struggle. A good sense of humor can do more to help regulate an aging person’s daily mood and emotional state than any medicine. Laughing with others also deepens emotional bonds and helps elderly people feel more connected to their family, friends, and community.
Ways to Introduce More Laughter to Elderly Adults
It’s one thing to recommend that elderly people simply laugh more. However, it can be a real challenge to accomplish this task. Family caregivers, friends, and senior care aides need to look for opportunities to inject humor into daily life. Sharing jokes, telling funny stories, watching lighthearted online videos and recalling humorous situations can bring light and laughter to an otherwise gloomy day.
The entertainment industry is full of funny productions that are sure to make an elderly person laugh. Family caregivers and senior care aides should stay away from crude or edgy comedies and explore more family-friendly options. Elderly adults will also love watching old classics from the stages and screens of past decades. Other ideas include local theater productions, gathering for games with family members, spending time with children and playing with animals.
When the challenges of growing old seem overwhelming, aging adults can certainly use some laughter in their lives. Not only will it help their emotional state and daily moods, but it can help their health as well.
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