For some, winter is a season of beauty. It certainly is. But for many seniors, this beauty comes at a cost, as the realities of life pose stress and hazard for their health and well-being.
Once you look past the beautiful snow, there are icy roads, slippery sidewalks, gloomy and dark days, and chilly winds of winter. For seniors, these can be extremely challenging to deal with.
The United States has an aging population. As the number of seniors grow, a bigger part of the population will be facing hardship imposed by the colder months.
The struggles start every fall when people are forced to switch from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time. The time change adversely impacts a senior’s routine. People have to adjust the schedule of sleep, meals, and medicines. This is not easy to accomplish when a person is elderly. In fact, adapting to the change in time is difficult for children and working-age adults as well.
The elderly members of the population have many challenges with regard to mobility and transportation. When the sidewalks, streets, and roads are slippery, both walking in the neighborhood and operating a vehicle become hard for senior citizens. Winter, therefore, forces many seniors to spend more time indoors.
Furthermore, the harsher the winter, the more likelihood of inconvenience. For example, extreme weather conditions often lead to equipment failure and power outage. In that case, seniors may have to spend time without heat or electricity, and addressing such problems could lead to hundreds or thousands of dollars in repair costs.
For the elderly members of our society, it is essential to be in company of friends and well-wishers, to avoid loneliness. Sadly, in the winter, as more and more people, of all ages, are forced to deal with the woes of winter, the seniors may be compelled to spend more time alone.
We must accept the various faces of nature. Mother Nature provides us with abundant bounties in the form of flowers, fruits, crops, rivers, lakes, mountains, breeze, dewdrops, rains, snowflakes, and much more. Winter is also an essential part of our life.
It is our duty, as a society, to make sure that the senior members of our community are safe and healthy. Let us help them overcome the challenges posed by winter, by taking care of them and ensuring that the thorns of loneliness cannot hurt them.