The Benefits of Older Adults Volunteering
All ages volunteer for several reasons, whether it is for selfish reasons or to help their community. For smaller children, the reason may be impressing their friends or their parents. For teenagers, the reason is more than likely to be able to attend college or to receive scholarships. For, older adults the reason may be to help others. Since older adults desire to volunteer to help others, their benefits are better than different age groups. However, what the older individuals may not realize is while the senior citizens are helping others they are also receiving benefits themselves. These benefits can help the older adults physically, emotionally, and mentally. Older adults volunteer because they
…show more content…
However, older individuals have more benefits than other age groups because of their reasoning behind volunteering. These benefits include helping with depression, increasing social skills, and developing an increase in physical and mental health. Older adults have less depression because they have a sense of self- worth and can see their work impacting the people they helped. Senior citizens’ social skills improve because of the interaction they encounter as they volunteer. Older adults also make friends due to interaction with others when they volunteered. The physical ability of an older volunteer is better than a senior citizen who does not volunteer. Since older adults who volunteer move around instead of doing nothing all day, they are in better shape than nonvolunteers. Older adults express how they feel through their actions and volunteering can make an individual feel loved, thus creating a healthier mind set. Yet, some factors affect the outcomes of older individuals such as the environment and the hours a person volunteers. While volunteering is beneficial for older individuals, over working can be hazardous. A positive environment with people who provide emotional guidance and support creates a homey atmosphere where older volunteers can reach their full potential. Older adults volunteer when they want to help, and their reasoning benefits them by lowing depression, helping increase social skills and by establishing better mental and physical