6 Tips for Caring for Your Senior in Extreme Heat
Summer is wonderful, except when the heat gets to be unbearable. If that’s what your senior is experiencing, you might want to try some of these ideas for cooling her down a bit. Overheating is the earliest sign that heat-related illnesses are on the way, so doing everything that you can to keep your senior as cool as possible is vital.
Talk with Your Senior’s Doctor
Set aside some time to talk with your elderly family member’s doctor about her individual risk factors around heat. This can help you to understand how your senior’s health is affected by hot weather. It also can help you to put together a plan for managing unexpected reactions to heat.
Prioritize Hydration
Hydration is your elderly family member’s best tool against heat. Ideally, she needs to sip water all day long instead of chugging it at once. Spreading out her water intake throughout the day helps to ensure that as she sweats and urinates, her water stockpiles are being consistently replenished. It might be helpful to ask your senior’s doctor how much water she should be drinking each day.
Look at Medication Side Effects
Some medications have some side effects related to hot weather and that might be a big problem for your elderly family member. If it’s been a while since you read the patient leaflets for her medications, you might have forgotten about some of those side effects. Either flip through those leaflets or talk with your senior’s pharmacist about how her medications may be affected by hot weather.
Time Activities Carefully
It’s vital that your elderly family member isn’t trying to do too much in the hottest parts of the day. By timing her activities carefully, you can help her to avoid overheating. Home care providers can help your elderly family member to stay on target with routines that allow her to rest during the hotter times of the day.
Keep Curtains Closed During the Day
Closing windows and curtains can do a lot more to keep your senior’s home cool than she might realize. Even a couple of degrees can make a big difference in how she feels. Home care professionals can help your elderly family member to keep up with little details like this that can help her to stay cooler.
Offer Cool Showers or Baths Before Bed
Before bed, your elderly family member might feel too hot from the day. Taking a cool shower or bath before bed can help to lower her body temperature and make it easier to sleep. If you’re not able to be there with her, home care providers can assist your elderly family member with safely cooling down before she heads to bed.
The dog days of summer might stick around for a lot longer than most people want them to be there, but there are things your senior can try that can help her to stay cooler. Try some of these ideas and see if they help her to be more comfortable.
If you are considering home 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.