Active Aging Presented by Public Health Seattle-King County
Keeping your mind and body active year-round is essential to maintaining good health, especially as you age. However, when the temperature drops and winter winds blow, getting out is challenging and even poses certain risks.
Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to beat boredom, give your brain and body a workout, and boost your mood when Jack Frost arrives. Try any of these fun and rewarding indoor activities this winter.
Knitting
Knitting a scarf or blanket to keep yourself or a loved one cozy in winter weather has multiple health benefits. Using your hands will exercise your joints and help maintain fine motor functions. It can also elevate your mood, so you feel calm and happy, according to a Royal College of Occupational Therapists study.
Scrapbooking
Filling a scrapbook with photos, news clippings, ticket stubs, and other memorabilia allows you to recall important people, places, and events in your life. Organizing these items on the page and recording thoughts or captions around them invokes memories, requires focus and encourages creativity. These cognitive functions use brain power. Crafting can decrease anxiety and reduce your risk of mild cognitive impairment, according to a Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences study.
Listening to Music
As snow drifts outside, listening to your favorite songs can warm your heart and transport you back to your college days, your wedding dance, or a lullaby a parent sang. Additionally, research shows that listening to music “can reduce anxiety, blood pressure, and pain as well as improve sleep quality, mood, mental alertness, and memory,” according to Johns Hopkins. So, kick back, relax, and enjoy some tunes.
Dancing
Dancing with others or by yourself is a fun way to pass the time and relieve stress. Dancing works your bones, muscles, and joints and is good cardio. You can dance anywhere, in a chair or up on your feet—so start boogying.
Drawing, Painting, and Coloring
Engaging in creative arts has many mental, emotional, and physical healing benefits, according to Mayo Clinic. The sight and smell of paints and crayons during painting, drawing, and coloring can conjure fond childhood memories. These art forms also stimulate your imagination and enable you to convey your thoughts and feelings visually.
Doing Jigsaw Puzzles
Doing puzzles reduces stress, flexes your problem-solving muscles, and can improve cognition and short-term memory, according to Baylor College of Medicine. Putting together a jigsaw puzzle with family and friends is also a fantastic way to catch up, bond, and create memories.
Cooking
There’s nothing like enjoying some hot, delicious comfort food on a blustery day. Whether you bake a mouthwatering batch of cookies or a bubbly pot of homemade soup, cooking engages your senses of smell and taste. Following a recipe and preparing various dishes also keeps you mentally and physically active.
Writing Cards and Letters
Writing cards and letters to loved ones is a wonderful way to stay connected. In today’s busy digital world, receiving a handwritten note is often more meaningful, and the note can be a special keepsake. As a bonus, the physical act of recounting activities or sharing stories in letters is similar to journaling, which can boost mental health, according to the University of Rochester Medical Center.
Playing Card and Board Games
Gathering with others to play card and board games can help cure loneliness and beat the winter blues. Playing games also requires logical thinking, problem-solving, strategizing, and using memory skills. These skills boost brain power and may lower Alzheimer’s risks, according to Cleveland Clinic.
Exercising with Resistance Bands
Doing any form of doctor-approved exercise has multiple physical and mental benefits. You can use resistance bands in a low-impact workout at home, standing up or sitting down. They’re lightweight, portable, and offer a full body workout to improve muscles, dexterity, and balance.
These simple and engaging activities will help drag you out of the chilly weather doldrums and keep you physically and mentally fit.
Active Aging is presented by Public Health- Seattle & King County. Public Health- Seattle & King County recognizes the important and untold stories of innovation, service, and sacrifice by the Black community and supports efforts to improve equity and achieve social justice. We want everyone to get health insurance and access health care. Visitwww.kingcounty.gov/health for health insurance, flu and COVID-19 testing locations.
