[Updated: March 14, 2023 | Published: December 18, 2020]

Your internal thoughts and feelings have a big impact on your quality of life at any age. That’s why senior living communities like Friendship Village of Dublin provide emotional wellness programs for all residents.

“Our emotional wellness programs emphasize awareness and acceptance of feelings and encourage a positive outlook on life,” said Executive Director Rita Doherty. “We help residents stay independent, active, and engaged in living their best life through nine dimensions of wellness we call The Village Way.”

Promoting emotional health can help seniors stave off mental health issues and enhance physical health. In fact, a Yale study found that seniors with a positive view of their lives lived an average of 7.5 years longer than those with more negative views.

Consider three ways that senior living communities promote emotional wellness for residents.

1. Enhance Independence

Most people want to maintain an active, independent lifestyle at every age. They associate independence with positive feelings of pride and dignity, which support emotional wellness.

Yet, few people want to go it entirely alone. As they age, they may delegate some aspects of daily living to gain greater independence in others.

Senior living communities strengthen independence by offering maintenance-free homes and apartments in vibrant community settings.

Consider all the time you spend cooking meals, maintaining your home, cutting grass and shoveling snow. Then imagine having more time to learn new skills, get together with friends, travel, take fitness classes or relax over a chef-prepared meal. The result is greater control over how you spend your time.

At Friendship Village of Dublin, our residents relish the increased freedom to spend their time as they choose.

“I love all the people and all of our social activities, and I don’t have to clean or cook anymore,” says Resident Barbara B. “Yay!”

2. Support Physical Fitness

What does physical fitness have to do with emotional wellness? A lot, according to countless studies.

Regular physical activity causes your body to release feel-good neurotransmitters such as endorphins,  dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. According to WebMD, this impacts emotional wellness by:

• Reducing stress
• Improving self-esteem
• Staving off feelings of anxiety and depression
• Improving sleep

At Friendship Village of Dublin, residents can take part in a wide range of physical activities that support emotional and physical health:

• Beautifully landscaped gardens and walking trails on our scenic 29-acre campus.
• Two on-site fitness centers stocked with equipment.
• An Olympic-sized indoor pool for swimming laps and taking aqua aerobics classes.
• In-person and video fitness classes.
• Personal training.
• Games such as bocce, shuffleboard, miniature golf, pickle ball and billiards.
• Dancing to music at concerts and events.
• Resident-led meditation classes.

3. Enrich Life

Life enrichment includes programs and activities that support any or all of the 9 dimensions of wellness.

Activities that evoke positive feelings, hone skills, and nurture relationships contribute to emotional wellness.

Nothing lifts the spirits like music. Our residents love to sing along with local performers at on-site concerts and dance to their favorite tunes at events.

Arts, crafts, and woodworking classes allow residents to explore their creativity and practice fine motor skills.

A connection to nature can reduce blood pressure and evoke feelings of peace, calm and joy. Residents explore walking trails on our 29-acre campus and get their hands dirty in our Resident Gardens.

Lifelong learning programs enable residents to explore new interests and sharpen skills.  Former professors who became residents also share their knowledge through in-person and virtual presentations.

Residents stay entertained with a full schedule of on-site and virtual cultural excursions, visits from wildlife experts, festivals, farmers markets, our own cable and movie channels, and more.

Our holistic approach to emotional wellness and life enrichment helps residents thrive at any age.

If you’re looking to live your best life, you owe it to yourself to explore Friendship Village of Dublin.We invite you to schedule an in-person or video visit  to learn how you can live your best life surrounded by friends and activities.