Deciding When to Move to Senior Living

Moving to an assisted living or independent living community might sound intimidating or might produce some anxiety. Or you might be chomping at the bit to start your move and the next chapter of your life. But when is the right time to make that decision?

Here are a few points to consider when anticipating moving to senior living:

1. Do you have difficulty remembering whether you’ve taken medication?

This affects more than one area of your life. If you forget to take your medication or take too much of it, the side effects could be worse than the actual ailment the medication is meant to support. Overdosing on medication (or skipping days entirely) can send you off to the hospital due to adverse effects, and seniors are six times more likely than other demographics to forget to or not take their medications correctly.

Moving to a senior living community such as Solterra Senior Living will be helpful for this very important reason: you’ll have caregiver support so you can remember to take your medications at the correct dosage and even what the medication is for. Studies have shown that seniors are less likely to take their medications if they don’t know or remember what the medication is supposed to be helping them with. A caregiver who meets with you every day will benefit your physical health by helping with medications and give you peace of mind.

2. Are you tired of being a homeowner?

If you’re living alone, a whole house can be more of a liability than an apartment. Changing a light bulb, performing other small maintenance projects, keeping the home clean—these can get to be just too much over time. Climbing on stepladders could be dangerous if your balance is compromised, and if you have stairs, you might be worried about falling down them as well. If you have a yard, there’s an additional area you may struggle to keep looking nice, especially in areas with a homeowner’s association that might take issue with you for not mowing the lawn on time.

If it’s time to downsize, moving to senior living can relieve you of much of that burden. Let us take care of the maintenance, landscaping, cooking, and cleaning.

3. Has your social circle become smaller?

One thing you should be concerned about is whether loneliness is affecting your life. At this point in your life, you might have lost a partner, family members, and longtime friends, and those gaps might be difficult to fill. However, moving to a senior living community brings you closer to a new group of friends who have had similar experiences.

In a senior living community, your new best friend could live right next door, and with all the activities and common rooms available to you, you’ll have many opportunities to spend time with new friends. Loneliness will be a thing of the past. Of course, if you consider yourself more of an introvert, you are certainly welcome to retreat to your apartment or another quiet corner until you’re recharged and ready to hang out with your friends again.