Good news for seniors looking to move to a Life Plan Community. The Age Well Study, a five-year study from Mather LifeWays Institute on Aging and Northwestern University finds that residents in Life Plan Communities report significantly more healthy behaviors than seniors in the general community. One of the Life Plan Communities included in the study was Lenbrook, located in Atlanta’s Buckhead district.

 “Our Lenbrook residents live their best lives every day, and these research findings again confirm that residents of a Life Plan Community such as Lenbrook really do enjoy better overall health and well-being than older adults in the community at large,” says Felecia Sveda, Vice President of Operations-Hospitality Services.

Age Well Study

Lenbrook is one of 80 Life Plan Communities throughout the U.S. that is currently participating in the landmark research. The Age Well Study is the only national longitudinal study that evaluates the impact of living in a Life Plan Community on the cognitive, physical, and psychosocial health and well-being of its residents. Annually for five years, The Age Well Study measures residents’ self-reported health and wellness metrics, and compares results to a demographically similar sample drawn from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) conducted by the University of Michigan.

First Year Results

The results from year one of the study are in and there is good news for Lenbrook residents and other Life Plan Communities.  Based on more than 5,000 survey responses nationwide, the results show that:

• Life Plan Community residents tend to have greater emotional, social, physical, intellectual, and vocational wellness than their counterparts in the community at large;

• Residents report significantly more healthy behaviors than older adults in the community at large; and

• 69% of residents report that moving to a Life Plan Community “somewhat or greatly improved” their social wellness.