Have you ever read Reader’s Digest? If so, you know they feature a collection of amusing anecdotes under the title, “Laughter is the Best Medicine.” I have often enjoyed these quick quips and they always seem to bring a smile to my face and even a giggle or two.
In August, Home Helpers Home Care launched a corporate campaign called Send a Senior a Smile, and I began searching for ways my team of caregivers and I could make that happen! I ran across an article that caught my attention, and it offered a list of ways to make seniors laugh. Considering smiles precede laughter, and laughter does reduce stress, stimulate organs, and strengthen the immune system, I decided to share 10 ways to spark senior smiles and laughter for their health and well-being.
I just mentioned a few, but there are actually ten proven benefits of laughter, according to GoldenCarers:
- Reduces tension
- Promotes cooperation
- Builds trust
- Inspires positivity
- Removes barriers between people
- Increases motivation
- Improves memory
- Enhances the immune system
- Lowers blood pressure
- Improves alertness and creativity
So how can we lighten our senior loved ones’ moods to spark smiles and laughter? The following are 10 suggestions from GoldenCarers to make it happen:
- Create a Laughing Basket – Find a basket and fill it with humorous items like funny sayings, masks, silly toys, a clown nose, or noisemakers. Encourage your senior loved one to pick an item out of the basket several times a day to share, laugh at and enjoy.
- Tell Jokes – We all know a few jokes, but you can buy joke books or tongue twisters that can be a fun read for seniors, and they can share the ones they like most with friends and loved ones.
- Play Fun Games – Playing games with your senior loved one keeps them engaged in a fun activity and often this leads to lots of smiles and laughter.
- Dance – Unless your senior loved one has an ambulatory issue, play some of their favorite tunes and dance! It’s hard not to smile when you’re twisting and twirling on the dance floor or anywhere music is playing.
- Sing – Everyone has songs with lyrics they love, so make a playlist or find vinyl albums to play and sing along to several times a day.
- Follow Themes – For example, Halloween is around the corner, so you might plan a costume party or themed event with refreshments and music.
- Be Silly – Wear funny hats and plastic Groucho glasses, or if you can, juggle balls or oranges to get a smile and a laugh.
- DIY Horoscopes – You can be creative and put together simple DIY horoscopes that are positive and amusing.
- Make a Paper Fortune Teller – Make paper fortune tellers with hidden messages. Wikipedia explains, “Parts of the fortune teller are labeled with colors or numbers that serve as options for a player to choose from, and on the inside are eight flaps, each concealing a message.”
- Invite Children to Play – Children and babies have a sweet way of making us smile and laugh, so invite children to visit seniors and play, or take your senior loved one to a park with a playground to watch kiddos having fun!
You may have additional ideas on how to spark smiles and laughter from seniors you know, and I strongly encourage you to use them! Laughter is great medicine with big benefits for seniors, so we should all make every effort to Send a Senior a Smile and make them laugh out loud whenever we can!
If you are unable to visit a special senior in your life, I am happy to offer a FREE Assessment to discuss specific details about the in-home care services we provide at Home Helpers. After assessing your loved one’s needs, I will customize a care plan and choose the perfect caregiver to make life easier, happier, and healthier!
Home Helpers® Naperville & Wheaton is proudly Making Life Easier℠ for veterans and those with disabilities, illness, or recovering from injury or surgery in Aurora, Bartlett, Bloomingdale, Hanover Park, Hoffman Estate, Roselle, Itasca, Medinah, Naperville, Plainfield, Schaumburg, Warrenville, West Chicago, Wheaton, and Winfield. Our team is honored to have received the Home Care Pulse – Best of Home Care® Leader in Experience, Provider of Choice, and the Employer of Choice Awards 2022, as well as the 2022 Super Star Award from Caring.com. Contact our award-winning team today if we can help make life easier for you or a loved one: 630.800.3837
Source:
GoldenCarers
Wikipedia
