On average, every retired person in the United States has around 8 of free time every day. Like you can imagine, retiring can have a significant impact on a person, especially if that person doesn’t have what to fill those hours. The real question is, how to spend them and feel good about it? According to the research that was conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person in the United States spends about 4 hours a day in front of the TV. When it comes to people 75 and older, they are spending double that time. During these days, having a hobby may seem like some of the rarest things.
Source: medicalnewstoday.com
When you think about it, this makes perfect sense, because we are busy for all of our lives, with family, career, etc. In the end, when we retire, we have a hole in our day that needs to be filled with some quality and significant time. As you could presume, having a hobby that keeps you occupied during your free time has a very positive impact on your overall mood. Especially if you didn’t achieve a career you hoped for, hobbies can be some kind of a substitute. In that case, a hobby will provide you with all the pleasant work time that you don’t have on your regular job.
Moreover, having a hobby that you can return to any time can have a significantly positive impact on a person comping with stress or loneliness. For example, through their hobbies, people can establish new social connections, improve the daily flow, and most importantly, can boost the daily mood of a person. We know how a retired person can feel if there are no hobbies in their daily schedules. They are essential during retirement. This was the reason we’ve decided to compile a list of the best hobbies an older-adult can have in their free time. Without wasting too much of your valuable time, we are going to start with this list of ours now.
Art
Source: americanorchardsaz.com
We all know people that had the ambition of becoming artists during their youth, but life had other plans for them. Practicing arts during retirement is one of the best hobbies to spend your time with. For example, if you had plans of trying out in the movies, then you can look for movies filmed in your area. You can even enlist for a casting for some roles, or you can enlist for extras. When it comes to the other art practices like photography, sewing and knitting, arts and crafts, photography, etc. You can acquire all that’s needed for practicing these hobbies. Moreover, you can enlist in different classes. During old ages, it is of utmost importance to keep your mind and body stimulated. Believe us when we say that practicing arts is one of the best things you can do for yourself.
Military Coins
Source: taskandpurpose.com
If you know an older person, maybe your grandfather, who served in Korea or Vietnam, then you know that the military is one of the landmarks in his life. On the other hand, there are people who are fascinated with war memorabilia. Some of them are even collectors. One of the ideas that came to us while writing this article was collecting military coins. Luckily there are a lot of them in the United States army. Moreover, you can look for some foreign military coins, badges, even weapons. If you are interested in learning more about this hobby, and military coins overall, be sure to check out gs-jj.com. As we already said, this hobby can be done for more than decades because you don’t really have a limit when it comes to the items you can collect. Therefore, your collection will never be fulfilled. We sincerely think that this is one of the best hobbies people in retirement can have.
Gardening
Source: mothernature.com
Staying active and spending quality time surrounded by nature go hand-in-hand when we are talking about gardening. We are just talking about planting flowers; you can even grow some vegetables in your garden. We can call this a win-win situation. You are going to stay active during all the work that needs to be done in your garden and you will eat healthy and organic food throughout all year. If you decide that you want to plant flowers, you must know that this is an endless task. After you plant all of your favorite flowers or vegetables, you will have a lot of work to do when it comes to maintaining your garden. Countless studies have explained that spending your time in nature will reduce the levels of stress and anxiety. Moreover, you can participate in a gardening class, where you can obtain certain skills that can help you with the planting and maintaining of your garden. Staying active in your later part of life is essential, remember that.
Having a Pet
Source: forbes.com
We’ve stumbled across a study that says that when we are caring for our pets, our brain stimulates a chemical reaction that lowers stress-related hormones, which are known as cortisol. The hormones that are produced while we are caring for pets is called Serotonin, which is known as a hormone of happiness. Also, some other studies proved that caring for a pet can reduce lower levels of stress, cholesterol, and can reduce the blood pressure that’s common among people of that age. Maybe the best option you have when it comes to caring for a pet is that you can obtain an older pet. This makes perfect sense because older pets don’t require so much attention and time like young pets do. Naturally, you wouldn’t have to run around and entertain your pet all day. If you feel like caring for a pet could help you with too much of your free time, you can always contact a rescue center in your city and look for the pet that you like the most.