Quad Cities Seniors who Volenteer/Work Prolong Need for Elder Care ...

Betendorf, Moline and Quad Cities area Seniors are keeping busy continuing to work or volunteering within the community. These Seniors may have discovered that mythical fountain of youth, delaying the needs of elder care. Many benefits in seniors health come from both employment and volunteering.?

Am I a senior citizen trying to prolong my health and fight the affects frailty, therefor reducing my need for elder care in the years to come? Research has show that keeping active sustains a seniors health and purpose in life for much longer then a sedentary lifestyle would bring.

Do you plan plan to retire when it comes time or will you plan to work past the traditional retirement age?? You are not alone if you if you plan on working, one report stated that 70% of Americans planned on working past the traditional retirement age.

One man asks:

I?m a 66-year-old retiree who lives in Manhattan who had a successful 40-year career. I thought I?d really love retirement, but I find I miss working. Do you have any suggestions? Also, is there evidence that continuing to work harms seniors in any way?

Here are some ideas to for keeping busy and delaying the need for elder care:

• Your field of expertise may be missing your skills as much as you?re yearning to put them to good use. The retirement of today?s seniors, with the Baby Boomer generation soon to follow, will leave a void of experience and skills in the workplace. There?s no reason why you shouldn?t continue to work, if that?s what you enjoy.

• Be an adviser to small business within your field of expertise if you have business experience that you would like to share. Uncharted Spaces, LLC dba Shared Executive is a company providing this service to small businesses in Bettendorf, Moline and the Quad Cities area

• Find a part time job. www.quadhelpwanted.com is a great place to get started in finding businesses within the Quad Cities area who are currently hiring.

Will working past retirement age harm seniors in any way increasing the need for elder care in the future?

• Researchers have found continuing in the workforce or volunteering in areas of your expertise, or interests is valuable for people?s physical and mental health before retirement. The findings are reported in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association. The authors refer to this transition between career and complete retirement as ?bridge employment,? which can be a part-time job, self-employment or a temporary job.

• Over the course of the study, the researchers considered only physician-diagnosed health problems, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, lung disease, heart disease, stroke and psychiatric problems. They controlled not only for baseline physical and mental health but also for age, sex, education level and total financial wealth. The results showed the retirees who continued to work in a bridge job experienced fewer major diseases and fewer functional limitations than those who fully retired.

• UCLA researchers followed 1,072 healthy adults aged 70 to 79 between 1988 and 1991 to determine if productive activities ? specifically volunteering, paid work and child care ? prevent the onset of frailty. At the beginning of the study, 28 percent of participants volunteered, 25 percent performed child care duties and 19 percent worked for pay.

• After three years, participants in all three activities were found to be less likely to become frail. After accounting for levels of physical and cognitive function, however, only volunteering was associated with lower rates of frailty. Frailty is a geriatric condition marked by weight loss, low energy and strength, and low physical activity.

So ask yourselves these questions:

Am I reaching the age of retirement, where I must make the decision of what I will do in the future, retire or continue to work part time, or volunteer with a local organization in the Quad Cities area that is of interest to me and make make life more fulfilling, and increase my chances of staying healthy and active for as long as possible?

Or?

Am I a senior citizen trying to prolong my health and fight the affects frailty, therefor reducing my need for elder care in the years to come?

What will you do?

If you would like to know more about how to prevent frailty, visit www.getmommoving.com, the Home Instead Senior Care? network?s public education campaign that is geared toward keeping seniors active and healthy.

Please share with us the benefits you have experienced with staying active throughout your senior years. We would love to hear from you!

Source: http://quadcities.myhomecareblog.com/2011/08/seniors-in-bettendorf-moline-and-quad-cities-keep-busy-to-prolong-health-and-fight-frailty-to-delay-the-need-for-elder-care/

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