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Winter Wellness for the Young at Heart
In northwestern Pennsylvania, the winter months often bring national record-setting snowfalls along with crisp, beautiful days. The chilly temperatures also bring some special concerns for seniors, as well as some opportunities to embrace the season.
Take Time to Enjoy The Region
Like many other snowy communities around the country, the Erie area certainly has reason to be proud of our hardiness and enjoyment of year-round activities. Staying active by exploring your neighborhood, Asbury Woods, or Presque Isle State Park offers a chance to see your community in a whole new way, while going at your own pace. These same locations are also ideal for spotting animal footprints in the snow, or looking for winter birds, such as cardinals, finches, jays, and woodpeckers. Having a pair of binoculars can help out in keeping you from having to go too far in the cold.
Open all yearlong, wintertime is also a great time to visit our region’ s museums and theaters. Whether it is to catch a play, a movie, listen to a musical performance, or explore our history and art, there are several thought-provoking and enjoyable opportunities all year long. Making the trek to our cultural gems might mean a little extra travel time and warmer clothing, but these activities are a few reasons that we can look forward to wintertime.
Connect With Others at a Senior Center
As winter approaches and you are thinking of things to do, consider going to your local Senior Center. Evidence based research shows that an active lifestyle has many important benefits. It reduces both the risk of depression and the decline of global cognitive functions. Other findings have shown that older adults who participate in senior center programs learn to manage and / or delay the onset of chronic disease and experience measurable improvements in their physical, social, spiritual, emotional, mental and economic well-being.
Involving yourself with other people gives a sense of purpose and confidence. It has also been proven that senior center participants have a higher level of health, and overall life satisfaction. Most importantly a senior center is a place where seniors can gather and meet other people their own age.
For a small fee most centers offer a variety of activities from which to choose, including board and card games, discussion groups, art classes, presentations, BINGO, dance and fitness classes, quilting, crocheting, knitting and parties. For example, Mercy Hilltop Center has all of this and more for the 60 plus age group. You can take in a movie and get a drink and a snack every Tuesday for just a dollar. Being engaged and staying active is important for all ages no matter what time of year. There are over 11,000 senior centers in the nation and right in our
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Millcreek | Winter 2016 | icmags. com 67