DENVER, Colo. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — You’re never too old to feel young, according to a Pew research study that found 60 percent of Americans over 65 say they feel younger than their age. Thirty-two percent say they feel exactly their age, and that includes 92-year-old Martha Loats. But that’s not a bad thing because, to her, there is no age limit on adventure. Loats is part of a senior living community that is redefining what it means to get older without getting old.
It’s fitness time at the Clermont Park Retirement Community, and the brain is getting just as much of an exercise as the body.
Brittany Calvert, MS, Senior Partnership and Development Specialist at Clermont Park Retirement Community, told Ivanhoe, “We need to be doing new, novel and complex things because that’s where we actually create those new connections in our brain.”
Calvert supports the masterpiece living wellness initiative here. It is based on data by the MacArthur Foundation on how senior citizens can make the most out of life, and a big part of that is staying socially connected.
“Whether you have at least three people that you can call in the middle of the night at two in the morning who will answer the phone; those are the kind of social connections we’re talking about,” detailed Calvert.
Those social connections foster purpose and meaning in life. But for 92-year-old Martha Loats, meaning is found in adventures like hot air ballooning, scuba diving and skydiving.
“I don’t know, it just came to my mind one day and I wanted to do it on my 90th birthday,” said Loats.
“Martha Loats is a perfect example of what can happen and what does happen when people embrace the aging process,” said Calvert.
“No matter how old we are we still can learn, we want to keep busy, and we want to do fun and exciting things,” said Loats.
Doing it in a community that fosters those things leads to the attitude that aging is not about growing old, it is simply about growing, no matter how old.
There are currently 70 senior living communities who participate in the masterpiece living initiative. In addition to activities that emphasize exercise and social activities, they offer college courses so residents can continue to challenge their brains.
Contributors to this news report include: Jessica Sanchez, Supervising Producer and Field Producer; Tony D’Astoli, Editor; Rusty Reed, Videographer.
