by Jake Betz

Created on: August 10, 2009   Last Updated: August 11, 2009

Many people retire much too soon. The idea of free time is appealing at first. So is the opportunity to throw out the alarm clock. After a few months of unwinding, spending more time with family and traveling to new and interesting places, they may find themselves becoming bored. Days seem longer and unrewarding, and instead of taking pride in past accomplishments, they find their lives lack purpose.

Seniors should consider writing. Many exercise regularly, at the advice of their physicians, to maintain their physical health. The daily intellectual exercise of writing not only fills time in a productive way, it exercises higher brain functions. Writing is excellent mental exercise for senior citizens, and like all mental exercises, it can help keep symptoms of Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia at bay.

What should seniors write about? The same things writers, of any age, might choose.

Seniors who enjoy reading fiction can try their hands at writing a novels or short stories. If the finished work is of high quality, it is not out of the question that it can be published. But even if publication is not successful or is not even the desired result, the mere act of writing is rewarding in itself.

Seniors who have enjoyed successful careers can write about their experiences. These recollections would certainly be of interest to young men and women who are beginning advancing in the same profession. Over a lifetime of work, each of us acquires great insight and, most importantly, a large institutional memory. Too often, such knowledge is lost once a valued co-worker decides to retire.

Those who enjoy traveling can write about some of the interesting places they have visited. These travelogues may be welcome submissions for newspapers and travel magazines.

Most importantly, senior citizens can write about themselves, their parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. They can put memories on paper. In that way, descendants will be able to do much more than wonder about the past, they can live it through the eyes of a loved one.

When a close relative passes, there is often regret that many questions went unasked. We feel badly that we didn't ask our father what it was like to land on a Normandy beach on D-Day or hear from our grandmother about the challenges involved in raising eight children during the Depression. When a senior citizen recounts these life-changing events, he or she is preparing a gift that will always keep on giving.

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