Outdoor Senior Wellness Playground

The health benefits of getting outdoors and adding physical play lifts senior minds and bodies to a higher sense of well-being.

“Humans are designed by biology to play throughout their entire life cycle,” states Stuart Brown, MD, founder of the National Institute for Play and author of the book “Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul.”

“For older age groups, play has a role in fertilizing the brain and in producing increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (a protein that encourages growth and new connections between nerve cells), particularly when there is social play that’s physically active,” says Brown in the Journal of Active Aging.

Senior playgrounds may be a bourgeoning new trend in the United States, but Japan might have been the first initiator of “nursing care prevention playgrounds.” In 2004, the city of Tokyo built an outdoor exercise facility to boost senior wellness.

Since then, new playgrounds have sprung up on four continents. The U.K. made news in the spring of 2010 by opening the first senior playground in London’s Hyde Park.

The emerging movement to develop playgrounds also took root with China’s anticipation of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. To boost the nation’s fitness quotient, they installed nearly 50,000 senior playgrounds.

“Older-adult playgrounds are a concept whose time has come—and not only in North America,” says International Council of Active & Aging (ICAA) CEO Colin Milner in the Journal of Active Aging. “I’ve seen these playgrounds in countries from China to Chile, as governments and organizations at all levels seek ways to help older adults stay healthy and active in their communities.”

Geoff Fraser of Clear Choice Health Care Comments

“The research is significant,” says Geoff Fraser, of Clear Choice Health Care. “Time in green spaces significantly reduces our stress hormones, and nature also promotes happiness,” says Fraser.

Research also shows outdoor access affects bone density via vitamin D absorption, regulation of circadian rhythms for enhanced sleep patterns, and improves coping mechanisms for stress. More access to the outdoors improves wellbeing with an increase in positive emotions, decreased agitation, and decreased depression.

“Our outdoor rehab areas are a way for therapists to provide seniors a fun and therapeutic way to get back to higher levels of function in a welcoming atmosphere,” says Fraser.

If you access a senior park ground, don’t go it alone, and most importantly, “Stay away from playground equipment or outdoor exercise machines if you have balance problems and can fall, or if you’ve had surgery anywhere along your torso within the last 12 weeks, because you could rupture an incision,” according to Harvard Health and physical therapist Madhuri Kale at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

She recommends that you get your doctor’s okay first. Once you’re at a park, start by warming up. “Even just a short brisk walk will help get the blood pumping and muscles primed,” Kale says in Harvard Health. Then, be mindful of the workout you’re getting, and don’t do more than you would at a gym.

Geoff Fraser is a partner at Clear Choice Health Care in Melbourne FL