5 reasons why a retirement home might be the best choice for you

You are in your 70s, have enough money to live comfortably, and other than the occasional aches and pains that come with advanced age, you are healthy for the most part.

You are active and regularly ride your bicycle and walk around the block, but you have recently noticed that you get more tired than before.

You are a clean freak, and you do your best to keep up with your household chores and yard work, but lately, you have been feeling lazy and leaving the dishes in the sink for days. 

The grass in the yard has also grown too tall and find it hard to cut, or you don’t care anymore.

“Maybe you should consider a retirement home,” your son suggests one day.

Since you feel in good shape, you can’t even imagine packing everything and going to “a home where old forks go to die,” as you call it.

Is a retirement home that bad?

Well, of course not. In fact, it can be one of the best things you can do for yourself. Wondering how? Here are reasons a retirement home might be the best choice for you:

You have easy access to healthcare

Let’s be honest. As much as you feel healthy and active, you are more prone to diseases than when you were younger, so you get sick more often.

Chances are also high that you have an underlying medical condition common with older people, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

Most retirement homes have a dedicated healthcare wing staffed with nurses and other healthcare practitioners, and you can get any level of medical care you need.

So whether you have a common cold or a long-term health condition, you can get the medication you want.

The beauty is that the health facility is within the same building, so all you need to do is walk down the hall and get the care you need.

Some facilities even have rehabilitation programs that you can use to get off an addiction.

Unless you need specialized care, healthcare is usually included in the retirement center’s price, so you don’t pay an extra amount.

You are much safer there.

As a senior, chances are all of your children are old enough, and they have left the nest, so you are the only one living in the house.

While this is great, as you have the entire house to yourself, it often puts you at substantial risk. For example, burglars target older people’s homes, making you more vulnerable to burglar attacks that can sometimes get out of hand

As you get older, it’s common to have memory loss, so it’s not a wonder to forget that you left the stove on, and this puts you at the risk of setting your house on fire and injuring yourself, or even worse.

You can also slip and fall as you are doing your regular chores, and since you live alone, you are at more risk of not receiving medical care soon enough, which can sometimes turn lethal.

In a retirement home, you don’t live alone, and this works to your advantage as you aren’t at the risk of burglars and other people that might try to harm you.

You also receive medical care within time in an accident or medical attack.

You get to socialize with other retirees.

Research shows that socializing and remaining social has both physical and mental benefits, and a retirement home provides you with this, which significantly gives you a longer life.

Most retirees live alone, which makes them feel lonely, hastening their leaving the earth.

In the retirement centers, open and ready-to-talk people surround you, which works to your advantage.

Many people have the impression that they have to build strong relationships to take advantage of the benefits of socializing, but this isn’t the case.

A simple act, such as having a cup of coffee with someone while having a candid conversation, can improve your brain health and lower your risk of dementia and other brain disorders.

If you are having a problem establishing connections, most retirement homes have counseling centers where you can get help. 

The counselors are there to listen to you and provide you with a platform to let your heart out and talk about everything you want.

You have less to worry about

This should be the first point. When you go to a retirement center, you don’t have to worry about mowing your lawn or clearing snow from the driveway.

You also have less on your plate as everything is catered for in the center, which significantly increases your chances of having a long life.

You get to exercise your brain.

Retirement centers are designed to give you an enriching life, and part of this is offering a wide range of activities meant to keep you active and engaged.

Most retirement centers partner with local colleges for classes, projects, and seminars. 

They also bring in outside organizations to provide educational opportunities, so if you love learning, retirement homes are an excellent place to gain knowledge and keep your brain active.

These homes also highly encourage their residents to take up a skill or hobby that keeps them engaged and comes in handy at promoting an active social life.

You don’t have to be “old” to go to a retirement home

We associate old people with a lack of hygiene, the inability to handle daily tasks, and memory loss, but you don’t need to have these attributes to join a retirement home.

As you have seen, retirement homes come with plenty of perks that you get to enjoy, even if you are independent and can do most of the tasks by yourself.

And no, retirement homes aren’t centers where old people go to die. As mentioned, these homes are geared towards ensuring that you have a lively, long life, so you often end up having a longer life than you could have had, had you stayed in your lonely house.