College degrees, courses, and training programs are often targeted towards young adults and career-minded individuals. Yet, the benefits aren’t limited to these groups.
Older students can gain much by spending time in the classroom, regardless of their stage of life or career prospects. As you’ll see, education offers many specific benefits for seniors, regardless of what they do with the things they learn.
The experience can also be a pleasurable one, something that brings the senior out of their shell and helps them engage with life a little more.
Benefits of Education for Seniors
Cognitive Stimulation and Brain Health
We’re often presented with the idea – if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. Sure, the claim has its limits, but it’s still very relevant for physical health and cognition.
Notably, continuing to test and challenge the brain may help with memory, cognition, and critical thinking, while being less engaged may have the opposite effect. This is why activity books and memory game apps can be so helpful.
Besides, not challenging your brain regularly can make life feel pretty boring.
Education may be much more effective than such apps, as seniors will be learning about many different things, then trying to integrate the different pieces of knowledge. There’s often a focus on critical thinking too, so the process is much more involved than just remembering and repeating information.
The goal here is to find things that take effort to learn but aren’t so difficult that the student becomes disheartened. For some, learning a new language might be the perfect fit, while another senior might consider a psychology course or something similar.
The Social Aspect
As many students will attest, learning is only one aspect of the educational process. It often isn’t even the most important part.
Studies also provide the chance to connect with other students. Students get to meet new people, share experiences, and hopefully make some friends – all of which are powerful ways to combat loneliness.
The approach can even be better than meeting friends for coffee because the senior has a shared goal with other students. Shared interests and goals help to bond people, making social connections much more meaningful.
Improved Physical Health
Here’s the deal: a lot of learning activities also involve some level of physical activity. Maybe you’re learning to paint and move around the studio, or you’re taking a gardening class and digging in the dirt, or maybe you’re learning salsa dancing. All these activities get you moving, which is a big thumbs up for physical health.
Even if the education itself doesn’t have a big physical component, students are likely still getting some physical activity – even if that’s just walking around campus or getting to college each day. They’ll certainly be more active than if they just stayed at home.
This kind of learning promotes what we call ‘active aging’. It’s all about staying physically active and maintaining a healthy lifestyle as you age. It’s not just about adding years to your life but adding life to your years.
It isn’t just physical movement that helps with health either. The mental and social aspects of studying can have ripple effects for your physical health.
And, don’t forget about courses that directly teach you how to be healthier, like a course that teaches you how to cook healthy meals. Such education offers even more benefits for your health.
Provides Direction and Purpose
Humans need some sense of direction or meaning in our lives. We simply don’t function well without it.
This need isn’t always obvious, as many parts of our lives naturally have meaning. Many people might find this through raising children, through their jobs, or through meaningful activities.
Yet, some of this natural sense of meaning can change with age. Seniors are often no longer working and their children have long flown the nest. It’s easy to feel empty and directionless, especially for people who are struggling to fill their free time.
Education helps because students are working towards a particular goal. And, more than that, learning can feel like a fulfilling task all on its own.
Learning may also provide new insights and open the door to different passions.
It May Be Less Expensive Than You Think
Many institutions offer forms of financial aid or scholarships, designed to make education easier for seniors. Because of this, even seniors with limited income may be able to afford college education.
Can Improve Mental Health
Some people thrive in education, partly because their studies pull them out of themselves and give them something new to focus on.
The effect is particularly relevant to seniors who overthink things and get stuck in negative loops. Sometimes a new environment and something interesting to focus on is enough to help the seniors move forward and enjoy their life again.
The sense of purpose and direction we talked about is relevant here too, as people tend to do better mentally when they are passionate and purposeful.
Can Be Empowering
Studying can provide a much needed sense of accomplishment, plus a reminder that the senior is still capable of learning, living life, and doing new things.
This can be very helpful, as it’s easy to feel disempowered or left behind as life moves on and seniors age.
Seniors as Mentors
There’s another angle to consider too – mentorship.
Notably, seniors who participate in education may start to mentor younger students. That experience may lead to more social connection and a greater sense of purpose.
The type of mentorship here will depend on the senior and their knowledge level.
For example, if the senior is working on a degree for a field they’ve been in their whole life, they’ll already have a decent amount of knowledge and experience, some of which they can pass on. Much of this may be in the form of real life experience, rather than what is learned from books, making the information incredibly valuable to younger students.
If the senior has limited experience in the field, their mentorship might be more in the form of life experience. After all, the senior will be older than most of their fellow students and their life experience provides them plenty of wisdom to pass on.
How Can You Make Education Less Overwhelming?
Many of the benefits of education come from the fact that it’s challenging. Yet, this can sometimes be too much, creating an environment that’s stressful instead of beneficial.
To make education work, you need to balance the level of challenge with the senior’s ability. Crucially, this means you’re thinking about what the senior can do now, not what was possible when they were younger.
Here are some other approaches to think about:
- Consider online study. If the senior is tech-savvy, studying online is a useful option. The power here is that online courses are often self-directed, so the senior can take things at a slower pace.
- Try smaller courses. While some seniors may enjoy a full degree program, many others will only need individual courses.
- Look for less formal programs. Education isn’t just something you complete at a college. There are plenty of other opportunities to learn as well, including just one-shot seminars.
- Part-time learning. Part-time courses are naturally less intense than full-time ones. Some may even have flexible schedules, making them even more straightforward for the senior.
- Get peers involved. Peer support makes life easier and increases social engagement for seniors as well. This could involve two seniors taking the same classes together or perhaps just a family member offering assistance whenever needed.
- Use online tools. There are now a ton of online tools that can help students. That includes the straightforward options like summaries and flash cards and more modern options. For example, students can find examples of history essays at Samplius and on other online platforms. There are plenty of topics to choose from, including writing an essay about guilt, one about current politics, or an essay on history. Such essays help seniors to see the structure and style of successful essays, so they can learn to create such essays themselves.
What About Education for Caregivers?
While we’ve been talking about education for seniors, many of the same benefits are relevant for caregivers too.
There’s another aspect too – caregivers can easily get swallowed up by their role, to the extent that other aspects of their life and identity fade into the background. This type of identity loss can be harmful, as your passions and interest help with resilience and may even make you a better caregiver.
Education may help, as it gives you an external project to focus on, something that takes time and attention.
However, it’s important to plan and choose carefully here, to ensure you leave yourself with enough time for everything. Sometimes this might mean doing just a course or two, rather than an entire degree. Or, you might look for low pressure online learning.
As well as the time commitment, think about the type of education that would help you the most. This could involve choosing a course that’s relevant to your job, so you can stay on top of industry trends while caregiving.
Alternatively, you might start studying for a job you’ve always wanted, with the hope of pivoting into that field in the future.
Final Thoughts
Education doesn’t need to stop when you leave school and enter the workforce. It’s something that can continue throughout a person’s life, offering many benefits along the way.
For seniors, the chance to study again mightn’t provide career opportunities, but does open up the door for growth, new social connections, and new experiences. It may even be the perfect antidote for seniors who feel like their life is winding down.
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