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Month: January 2022

What Mindfulness Exercises Can Help Your Elderly Loved One?

Posted on by Craig Bass
Home Care Assistance in Henderson NV
Home Care Assistance in Henderson NV

Is your elderly loved one feeling stressed? Maybe, they struggle with an anxiety disorder or they just need to take a break from the ups and downs in life. No matter what the situation might be for them, there are many mindfulness exercises that can help your elderly loved one tremendously.

Deep Breathing

One of the mindfulness exercises that you and home care assistance providers can encourage your elderly loved one to do is deep breathing. There are many videos online, programs, and apps that can teach your elderly loved one some very basic deep breathing techniques. You or a home care provider can sit down with your elderly loved one and help them to set up a schedule for doing this technique. It can help to reduce their anxiety, lower stress levels, and help to take the weight off their shoulders, too.

Gratitude

Many holistic treatment programs offer gratitude sessions. The main reason for this is because when a person recognizes the things they are grateful for, it gives them more of a reason to feel happy and uplifted. If your elderly loved one is having a tough time in life right now, maybe you or one of their home care assistance providers can sit with them to make a gratitude list. You could even get them a journal, so they can list things they are grateful for every day. Hopefully, this can help your elderly loved one to see all the good in their life.

Break Time

Everyone needs a break from time to time. In fact, it is crucial that everyone tries to take a break to themselves every day. Even if it is just for 10 or 15 minutes a day, taking breaks can allow people to get out of their own head. It can give them alone time and allow them to just let go of the stressors in life. If your elderly loved one isn’t great at giving themselves breaks, it may be helpful for you or a senior care provider to remind them to do this every day. Your elderly loved one can do anything they want during these breaks. However, remind them that it should be something for themselves – a nap, reading a book, sitting in silence, etc.

Conclusion

These are some of the best mindfulness exercises that your elderly loved one should try out soon. The more they do these types of exercises, the better it can be in reducing their anxiety and stress.

Sources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4868399/

If you are considering home care assistance in Henderson, NV, for an aging loved one, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Summerlin. 702-800-4616.

Nighttime Fall Prevention for Senior Citizens

Posted on by Craig Bass
Home Care in Summerlin NV
Home Care in Summerlin NV

You may already know that senior citizens have a higher risk of falling than younger adults. However, did you know that many senior citizens have a higher risk of falling during the nighttime hours than during the daytime? There are many different reasons for this. However, there are also many ways that you and home care providers can work together to help with nighttime fall prevention for your elderly loved one.

Proper Bedding Placement

One of the reasons why senior citizens often fall during the night is because they trip over their bedding. For example, if your elderly loved one needs to get up to use the bathroom at night, they might trip over the edge of their blanket and fall in their bedroom. This could lead to a serious injury. It is important that your elderly loved one’s bedding isn’t stuck under their mattress, so their legs or feet don’t get stuck in the blanket when they try to get up. It is also important they don’t have any blankets on the floor, as well. You or home care providers can go into your elderly loved one’s bedroom each night, before they go to bed, to ensure the blankets are where they should be.

Good Lighting

Another way that you or an elder care provider can help to prevent nighttime falls for your elderly loved one is by ensuring there is good lighting in their bedroom and house. Improper or low lighting can prevent your elderly loved one from seeing where they are walking during the night. If they can’t see well, it could cause them to trip on carpeting, cords, or other things that are in the walkway. You or home care providers can check often to ensure each light in the house has working bulbs that are bright enough for your elderly loved one to see.

Better Flooring

If you are trying to help prevent nighttime falls for your elderly loved one, you should check on the flooring in their house. For example, if they have a lot of runners, lifted carpets, or loose rugs, these could all be fall hazards. It is crucial that someone ensures these are properly stapled or taped down to help prevent falls. If there are any loose rugs, you could also replace those with slip-resistant rugs.

Conclusion

These are some of the nighttime fall prevention tips for senior citizens. As a family caregiver, hopefully, you can work with home care providers to help take care of these things in your elderly loved one’s home. By doing so, you can significantly reduce the risk of them falling at night.

Sources
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/healthy-aging/in-depth/fall-prevention/art-20047358

If you are considering home care in Summerlin, NV, for an aging loved one, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Summerlin. 702-800-4616.

Tips for Making an Emergency Checklist for Your Senior

Posted on by Craig Bass
Senior Home Care in Henderson NV
Senior Home Care in Henderson NV

As you are taking care of your elderly loved one, take some time to think about what they will do if there is an emergency and nobody is around. What would you do if you were with your elderly loved one and they had an emergency? It is important to have a plan. One of the things that you may want to do is to create an emergency checklist with your elderly loved one, so they can be more prepared in case of an emergency.

Writing Down Personal Information

One of the most important things to add to your elderly loved one’s emergency checklist is their personal information including:

  • Name
  • Phone number
  • Doctors
  • Medication allergies
  • Medication list
  • Treatments they are receiving
  • Religious affiliations or preferences (if any)
  • Emergency contacts

If all of this information is kept in an accessible place, if you or a senior home care are with your elderly loved one when they have an emergency, you will be able to inform the medics who arrive of the important things.

Who to Contact

If your elderly loved one has a medical emergency, it is important that certain people are contacted. For example, if your elderly loved one is being picked up by the ambulance for heart issues and they have a cardiologist, it is very important that this doctor is contacted right away. The sooner your elderly loved one’s doctors are contacted, the sooner they can work with emergency medical personnel to help your elderly loved one.

Health Concerns

If your elderly loved one is getting a new senior home care provider, it is crucial they know about your elderly loved one’s health concerns. For example, if your elderly loved one has allergies to certain foods or needs medication reminders because they won’t remember to take their nightly medications, these are things the senior home providers need to know.

Having an Advance Directive

Who will be in charge of your elderly loved one’s care or medical decisions if they are unable to do so? This should be thought about well before there is an emergency. One of the things you can work with your elderly loved one is making an advance directive. The advance directive can help to ensure the doctors know who is responsible for medical choices on behalf of your elderly loved one. It can also help to ensure your elderly loved one’s wishes regarding their medical needs are met.

Conclusion

These are some of the best tips for making a senior citizen an emergency checklist. You can use these tips to help create this type of checklist for your elderly loved one. If you need more information about how to create this checklist or what to put on it, you can talk to medical professionals including your elderly loved one’s doctor.

Sources
https://www.cdc.gov/features/older-adult-emergency/index.html
https://acl.gov/programs/emergency-preparedness

If you are considering senior home care in Henderson, NV, for an aging loved one, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Summerlin. 702-800-4616.

Practical Ways That Seniors Can Maintain A Healthy Weight

Posted on by Craig Bass
Elder Care in Las Vegas NV
Elder Care in Las Vegas NV

During January, seniors should think about what their healthy weight range is and how they can stay at a healthy weight. That’s because January is Healthy Weight Awareness Month. Weight has a huge impact on health, especially for seniors. Being overweight can make seniors more likely to develop serious illnesses. It can also make existing health problems worse. If your senior loved ones are at a healthy weight there are some practical things they can do to maintain that healthy weight like:

Count Calories And Track Meals

If your senior loved ones are at a healthy weight now then they are doing something right. Encourage them to keep a food journal that lists everything they are eating each day and to use a calorie app on their phone or tablet to keep track of the calories that they are eating. For seniors the best way to maintain a healthy weight is to pay attention to the calories that they are eating and make sure they are not eating more calories than they should. More calories means weight gain.

Stay Active with Help from Elder Care

Continuing to get physical activity will help your senior loved ones stay at a healthy weight. Limiting calories to a healthy amount and getting regular exercise are the best things that seniors can do to stay at a healthy weight. Seniors who find that they are losing their motivation to be active can get encouragement and support from an elder care provider. An elder care provider can also help your senior loved ones track their meals and calories.

Develop New Hobbies

Most seniors end up overeating or snacking too much because they are bored. Trying new hobbies and picking up new skills will keep seniors busy, discourage them from snacking, and give them a sense of purpose again. A large number of seniors put off developing hobbies when they were younger because they had bills to pay and a family to support or children to take care of. So now is the time for your senior loved ones to explore some of the things they always wanted to try but were never able to. Encourage your senior loved ones to try new things like playing an instrument, learning a new sport, reading a whole series of books, painting, or gardening. You may even want to try one or two new hobbies with them and make it a family hobby.

Be More Social

Isolation and depression can also be responsible for seniors eating too much or not exercising and gaining weight. Seniors need to be see people and visit with other seniors in order to be healthy. Encourage your senior loved one to join a senior’s center, take an exercise class at the gym, join a craft circle, or participate in other social activities and groups. Volunteer work is a fantastic way for seniors to socialize and do some meaningful work.

Source
https://www.ncoa.org/older-adults/health/diet-nutrition/healthy-weight

If you are considering elder care in Las Vegas, NV, for an aging loved one, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Summerlin. 702-800-4616.