New Perspectives – The Benefits of Promoting Creativity in Aged Care
Aged care can often be something that is feared or avoided wherever possible by older people, especially for people in countries with less than strict standards for the care of the elderly. This is usually due to the media’s poor betrayal of life in aged care, of because of extreme examples of neglect in specific aged care facilities.
Very rarely do you hear stories of positive ageing or creative ageing in aged care facilities, or novel or new ways to enrich the lives of the elderly, but these things do happen and there are ways of boosting the quality of life for older people. Whether it be through promoting creativity or nurturing talent, new ways are emerging in the field of aged care to better treat the residents of these facilities.
Brain Plasticity
Creativity is a wonderful thing that the human brain is capable of, and the act of creation itself can be very therapeutic to some people. The human brain is capable of being “plastic” in it’s makeup, in that when one area of the brain begins to deteriorate, such as in older age for instance, it can adapt and create new neural pathways to compensate for this loss of functionality. This is much more present in young and developing minds, but encouraging creativity in the older generations can help improve their brain plasticity and increase the speed at which they process things.
New Ways of Thinking
Another thing that creativity promotes is a new outlook, and new ways of looking at problems. Being able to think abstractly is an ability we only develop as teenagers, and the more we think abstractly the more we’re capable of solving theoretical problems.
Creativity makes ample use of abstract thinking, and thickens the parts of the cerebral cortex associated with problem solving, which means that it can help the elderly to develop better ways to tackle problems that might have endlessly plagued them prior. Painting pictures, making music, and sculpting and shaping material into form can improve the quality of life by virtue of its very nature.
Quality of Life
Speaking of “quality of life”, creative thinking also improves quality of life for members of an aged care facility by breaking down routine and predictability. For sufferers of degenerative brain diseases, this can often be a way to help their brain fight back against the slow progression of their particular illness, and has a slight chance to restore some functionality to damaged areas of the brain. This by itself is incredible enough, but creating in a supportive environment can also fight off the less-talked-about affliction of depression in the elderly, making it even more valuable as a pastime than previously thought.
Entertainment
Getting the residents of an aged care facility away from their televisions and out of their rooms can be great for mental health, but also helps by creating new activities to entertain themselves with. Oil painting on the lawn, sculpting in an activities hall, or playing music on the old piano in the common area can be exciting and fun for people who don’t spend much time doing anything more than milling about a building and occasionally going outdoors, and it doesn’t cost much to start an arts and creativity program in any aged care facility.
Socialising
Finally, creativity promotes social interaction between residents and guests, and can help older people make friends and even build relationships with people they otherwise wouldn’t have had common ground with. Holding a painting class and then an exhibition night to show off the facility’s artists is an interesting and fun event to plan and put together, and it provides something that the residents can be excited about, and get dressed up for.
Creativity is more useful in aged care facilities than many people realise, and only by promoting the idea of creativity and positivity can we hope to enrich the lives of these older people.