by Carol Gioia

Created on: August 09, 2009

Keys to enriching and prolonging life for seniors are activities that keep the mind healthy and alert. Many of the pitfalls of aging can be combated with the simple exercise of daily writing.

Many seniors succumb to depression, loneliness and boredom due to the restrictions often present in their lives. They have less opportunities to be productive in society and mobility might be handicapped by physical infirmities. They may have outlived many of their social contacts and loved ones are often either located at a distance or busy pursuing careers and raising families.

Writing can counteract these negatives and fill the senior with positive reasons to feel enriched and blessed. A positive attitude is essential to maintaining health and well-being.

Benefits of daily writing exercises:

* Keeps a healthy mind

Dementia and Alzheimer's are realistic threats to aging seniors. Keeping the mind active and alert by writing can mitigate the possibility of incurring one of these dreaded conditions.

Writing has the potential to stimulate the memory, spark the imagination and keep cognitive thinking sharp.

Keeping a daily journal of thoughts and feelings and events is one effective writing exercise. Recording memoirs, or writing entertaining testimonies based on personal experience is another option. Sharing expertise derived from life and career experiences is another way to benefit others as well as yourself.

* Minimizes frustration

Life can become frustrating for a persons who have garnered wisdom and experience, and suddenly find themselves on the sidelines, more observers than participants. Sharing that wisdom and expertise in writing is a way to assuage the frustration.

One advantage of putting thoughts to paper is that no one can argue or discount your opinions. You can go on record with no debate.

There is also great satisfaction derived from knowing that future generations might possibly have the opportunity to get to know you and appreciate your life experience. They might even recognize their own similarities of attitude garnered through the gene pool. Even if you do not publish your writing, it will surface one day as your notebooks and journals are perused by progeny. Writing is a powerful bridge connecting generations.

* Wards off depression

Seniors can easily fall into depression with too much time and not enough stimulating activity. Writing can amuse, entertain and distract.

All lives are instilled with humorous moments. If you are recounting

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