You might consider “living dangerously” to mean doing something adventurous like parachuting or mountain climbing. However…
LIVING ALONE is potentially dangerous, AT ANY AGE!
Let me explain why this may even prevent you from aging gracefully.
- Social isolation
You must be an active part of a community of people or you’ll increase your risk of heart disease, infectious illness, and cognitive decline.
- Anxious feelings and sadness
Anxious feelings and sadness are often worsened without someone to talk to on a regular basis. These issues can compound, worsening toward clinical anxiety and depression.
- Financial difficulties
Not everyone has sufficient savings set aside for unforeseen hard times. Struggling to eat well or pay bills is reduced when you don’t live alone.
- Who’s gonna know?
If you fall, choke, get injured, have a stroke, or some other emergency, who would even know? How long would you stuck be in your helpless situation – hours? OR MAYBE DAYS?
- Poor nourishment
You’re less likely to cook or eat healthy meals if you live alone. You might just skip meals or go to the other extreme and eat too much – but the food probably won’t be of high quality!
This may surprise you, but…
I connect with my phone buddy Laura EVERY MORNING!
If I don’t reach out to her by 8 a.m., she’ll reach out to me. If I don’t get back to her by noon, she’ll call my son who lives nearby so he can check on me.
People ask why someone as active and healthy as me would have a daily morning buddy. My son even asked, “Aren’t you going a little overboard, Mom? You’re so healthy!”
But, I’ve known more than a handful of people who were NOT found until too late after suffering a medical emergency. Lacking immediate medical attention, the situation was either exacerbated, or they died.
I am comforted in knowing that someone is waiting for me to text or call every morning by a specific time.
Check-in services are highly valuable and are often provided in the best senior living apartments.
If you live alone, you can make your own arrangements with a friend or loved one.
- Make an agreement with your “buddy” to call, email or text by a certain time of day.
- Give emergency contact information to your buddy.
- Give your buddy permission to either gain entry to your home or reach out to your emergency contact if you haven’t responded by the predetermined amount of time.
Take care of yourself with a buddy system!
Living alone AT ANY AGE can mean living dangerously!
Questions for you…
Do YOU get enough socialization?
What is YOUR buddy system?