Retirement Communities: The Web, Living Longer, and New Questions
Retirement Communities: The Web, Living Longer, and New Questions
Eighty is the new 60 and 60 is the new 40–we feel younger and live longer. Retirement communities have changed. They are no longer just old persons homes. They are mini-factories of activities that seem designed to increase the longevity of seniors. In fact, so many people are still working in retirement communities that we are calling them active adult communities instead.
There are medical advancements saving lives but it seems there is more to it than that. Maybe it’s because we study longer and harder–now we are getting somewhere. Knowledge is increasing in every area of our lives. Today’s active lifestyle and increased accessibility to computers may be more stimulating to our brain cells which has been proven to increase longevity.
Other things we do more than ever before: we travel easily to anywhere in the world. We want to walk more and have pools, fitness centers and golf courses everywhere to enjoy. We have endless variety of foods to sample from around the world and we eat healthier because of better knowledge about nutrition.
We have free information to access from many sources available on “the web.” We go online and we can spend hours there reading and researching anything and everything. Many active adult communities now offer computer training right along with arts and crafts. While at first, many seniors did not feel interested in or were drawn to computers, they are now learning to embrace the adventures available to them online.
It is an amazing world a younger generation has used its talents to create. Today’s baby boomers are the first senior generation to have all of this.
We think man’s lifespan is 120 years. If 80 is the new 60 then 120 may be the new 100 and seniors are reaching that age today more than ever. With all the medical advances, the brain stimulating effects of the web, the nutrition information, the physical fitness advice and future discoveries on internet usage, I can begin to envision man reaching 120.
What are you going to do with all those extra years. Along with 4 or 5 careers in a lifetime you may have more free time to just enjoy the wonders and beauty of this world, more time to help preserve them, time to help make a better world utilizing your experience, volunteering, mentoring, giving back and time to improve your health. There is much on the horizon.
With longer life also comes new worries. Debilitating diseases of the aged are showing up more than before–Alzheimers and Parkinsons. Considering long-term life insurance has become important. We have to rethink what children will do about caring for their aging parents. How do we stave off osteoporosis. Is longer life an opportunity to grow your wealth or will it dwindle? New questions begging for answers. Are women living longer than men and how do they cope with loss. Loss of husbands (or wives), loss of property, loss of friends and maybe even loss of wealth. Should we stretch our lives or feel limited in time. No one knows how long they will live but it could be longer than we anticipated. What are our roles as grandparents–do you stay home and help out with the grandchildren or go on a vacation for the rest of your lives. These are questions seniors of all ages have and there are many others as well.
So many of these life extenders are incorporated at today’s retirement communities that active adult retirement communities are becoming like little anti-aging laboratories. Scientists may gather information there to help the next generation to live longer still.
Of course, you don’t have to live at a retirement community to enjoy these benefits, but with all of the longevity-increasing activities available to boomers there, it seems like a good place to be. You can begin to live at one at usually age 55–the new 35. Wondering where you can find these new communities and what they are all about–you can go to my website http://www.bestguide-retirementcommunities.com
Carol Fena, with years of real estate and property management experience, enjoys writing for her website http://www.bestguide-retirementcommunities.com