From fitness to creativity, classes for seniors offer health, social and mental benefits. Learn how to choose the best one for your needs.
From learning a new language to joining a gardening club, classes for seniors can run the gamut of individual interests. Perhaps you are hoping to take a regular fitness class to improve your health or you are looking for community-oriented offerings to help your aging loved one make new connections. With so many options, you might wonder where to even start.
But there is so much value in seeking these classes out, in whatever capacity you can. “As we age, our social circles often become smaller,” says Sondra “Sam” Cradduck, gerontologist, psychologist and owner of The Living Room. This is largely due to largely unavoidable life events — like retirement, your children growing up and losing peers to death, moves and their own life changes, she adds.
...
Kylie Meyer, assistant professor at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University shares that her mother began a martial arts class she found through her community recreation newsletter when she was 55. “Now, at age 64, she also instructs students and will complete her third-degree black belt test in February,” she says. “She’s not only found an activity she enjoys but a wonderful community.”