Senior care is very important to maintain life quality as people get older. Whether a senior person is in a care home or living at home with a family member or carer, there are some basics to manage. These include mental health, well-being, physical activity, and mental challenges. It’s also important to keep people engaged and interested in their lives as they get older.
Manage Depression
Depression can strike at any time in life, but it is particularly common in older people, that’s because significant life changes occur in later life. Someone might lose a spouse, develop a disease, or suffer the side effects of medication. It’s important to notice signs of depression.
If you notice an older person losing interest in their hobbies or interests, signs of emptiness and hopelessness, angry outbursts over small matters, irritability, and frustration, it’s time to take action. Provide effective care by staying in touch, talking to them, and promoting healthy eating.
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Useful and Helpful
No matter whether a person is young or old, they need to feel useful and like they are contributing to the world. When someone starts to feel like a burden, it can impact their mental well-being and life quality. Look after older people by keeping them engaged in their life.
Even when an older person has lost the ability to contribute in the way they have previously – this could be down to mobility issues, mental capacity, or medication, they are still a way that you help them to contribute to the home. Can they fold laundry, open mail, or organize things?
Physical Activity
Again, physical activity is helpful no matter what age people are. Of course, as we get older, we lose some of our ability to exercise – but we also don’t need to have the same ambitions we did when we were younger. Simple movement and stretching exercises are great for older people.
Not only does physical activity improve movement, energy levels, and mental capacity, but it also improves immune system health and general health. Regular exercise also gives people a sense of purpose in later life when it can be more challenging to find motivation every day.
Mental Challenges
The human body and brain is an intelligent machine. Cells in the body and brain are full of potential, but only when they are activated. For example, anyone can build muscles in their arms and legs, but only if they go to the gym to lift weights, only if they challenge the muscles.
This is also the case with mental health and well-being. Mental challenges like Sudoku, crossword puzzles, and brain games are all excellent for mental stimulation. Maintaining mental health is important for overall well-being and life quality, so provide plenty of mental stimulation.
Community Engagement
Everybody needs a community; it keeps us connected and healthy. Unfortunately, community engagement can fall away when people get older and become more isolated. Provide effective Senior Care by creating groups online and offline to bring older people together to connect.
Photo by Ravi Patel
