Bingo has become a much more widely popular game today, but it was at one and still is heavily associated with the elderly. It was one of the favourite activities of the senior community to head to their bingo hall whenever they could, of course for the chance to play the game and potentially win a great prize.
But bingo is actually much more than that to the elderly. It’s incredibly beneficial in many, many ways that we are only beginning to understand. Let’s look at how bingo is beneficial to the elderly.
- Increased social participation
This is one of the clearer advantages of bingo, but bingo is more than just an activity, a night out, something to alleviate the boredom. Many elderly people struggle with isolation and loneliness, and find it hard to take opportunities to get out and meet people. Online bingo sites allow people to socially interact from the comfort of their own homes.
Having an active social life has been shown to vastly slow the decline of a person’s memory. This has been demonstrated by a study from the Harvard School of Public Health. Bingo is great for this, since it is a very buzzing social occasion with lots of people around. Giving elderly people an opportunity to socialise like this, in an environment they feel comfortable in, has great effects on health and wellbeing.
When other social avenues fade away, bingo is waiting.
- Cognitive boosting
Another study, from the University of Southampton, has shown that regularly playing bingo has a number of fantastic cognitive benefits which are especially helpful in those in old age. Cognitive decline can be one of the most frightening and hard to fight aspects of growing old, but bingo has a lot to offer in this area.
The study showed that playing bingo will improve your brain’s processing speed, your memory capability—in addition to the social element! —and your overall alertness.
Battling cognitive decline can be one of the most difficult aspects of old age, from a medical standpoint. There are really no medications you can use to stop it. Another study even showed that patients with Alzheimer’s could play bingo if the cards were large and high contrast, and they showed a degree of improvement in their cognitive function.
Ultimately, those who play bingo can demonstrate higher concentration and alertness over those who do not—especially in the elderly.
- Supports physical health
But bingo isn’t just a mental activity. It’s not a form of exercise by any means, but you are more than physically active while you are playing bingo. The socialising, the way your body is active for talking, laughing, shouting out numbers and even standing up when they do so.
A study showed that those elderly people who were more socially active demonstrated much higher physical health and strength, and had a much lower chance of having a disability of any kind.
Bingo is a really fantastic way to do this. Exercise can get very difficult as one gets older, but the added motivation of the social element of bingo can get them exercise even without realising it.
Bingo is packed full of countless benefits for the elderly, even if it wasn’t so much fun in its own right. It keeps you mentally strong, physically healthy, and prevents the decline of all sorts of cognitive capacities. Without bingo, it’s hard to have the same kind of exercise and social activity when you are getting older.
