Category: Exercise

No matter what age, maintaining your health is critical. For seniors, staying healthy may take more effort than before. With the help of personal care at home, seniors can improve their health so they stay in tip-top shape to handle anything put in their path. Continue reading to learn more about healthy aging and how home care can help.

Seniors Need to Remain Active for Optimum Health

One of the most important things for seniors is to remain active. This can be difficult with mobility and health issues, but helping seniors navigate what active means as they age is a key component that loved ones and home care workers can address.

Seniors with mobility issues may feel that their ability to be active no longer exists. This isn’t true, as there are many things they can do. Many workouts are available for limited mobility, including chair yoga or working out with dumbbells.

If mobility isn’t an issue, seniors should strive to be active for at least 30 minutes daily. This might mean cleaning their house or walking in the mall with friends. They may join a workout group or complete workouts at home. Being active doesn’t mean running a marathon, but it does mean working hard enough to get their blood pumping. With personal care at home, loved ones know that seniors get the motivation they need to remain active. Home care providers can encourage seniors by being active with them, or introducing new ways to move when mobility becomes an issue.

Eat a Healthy Diet

In addition to being active, seniors should focus on a healthy diet. Changes in their bodies, health concerns, and medication affect a senior’s diet. Not to mention cognitive or mobility issues that may make it harder to ensure proper nutrition due to their decreased ability to cook.

Personal care at home can assist with meal planning, grocery shopping, and even cooking when seniors need assistance maintaining a healthy diet. Seniors will feel valued as they assist with meal planning or prep. These simple tasks help them feel a sense of control when everything changes around them.

Additionally, home care workers will stay on top of medication changes and the need for supplements or dietary changes. Working with loved ones, they ensure seniors receive the nutrition they need while in their care.

Decrease Stress and Frustration

Seniors often struggle with the changes that occur as they age. Elder care workers are trained to assist seniors when they become overwhelmed. They can suggest stress-relieving activities such as taking a walk, gardening or reading a book. If seniors need assistance with these tasks, personal care at home ensures they get the care they need.

Seniors are at risk for increased depression when changes to their daily routine threaten their way of life. Increased isolation and withdrawal from hobbies they once enjoyed are signs that home care workers can monitor.

Adding personal care at home is essential for seniors to maintain a healthy lifestyle as they age. In addition to the tasks listed above, home care workers can transport seniors to events and help them with light cleaning around the home. Home care adds the additional support that many seniors need as they age.

Source:
https://www.bannerhealth.com/healthcareblog/advise-me/for-seniors-a-checklist-for-good-health
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/weight-management/healthy-eating-physical-activity-for-life/health-tips-for-older-adults
https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/infographic/healthy-aging.htm

If you or an aging loved one is considering personal care at home in Minneapolis, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

Does your senior spend almost all of her time indoors? That isn’t unusual at all, especially if your senior is having trouble with health issues and feeling under the weather a bit. But there are big benefits to spending time outside, even if it’s just a few minutes at a time. Home care assistance can make it easier for your elderly family member to get out of the house, whether that’s to a nature trail or into the backyard.

Fresh Air Can Be Revitalizing

Spending a little bit of time every day outside can do a lot to perk your senior up, both physically and mentally. Air inside can get stuffy this time of year, so when it’s nice out, it can be relaxing to sit outside in a bit of sunlight and just be for a little while. If your aging family member has plants outside or birds to watch, that’s even better.

Sunlight Boosts Vitamin D Levels

There are significant health benefits to sitting in the sun for a few minutes, too. Sunlight helps to stimulate production of vitamin D, which is crucial for bone health and general well-being. If your elderly family member tends to be low on vitamin D levels, spending a few minutes each day in the sun can help her to rebuild it. She’s also less likely to burn herself by getting some sun in the fall and winter, although it isn’t impossible if she spends too much time in the sun. Your senior can also get vitamin D from her diet. Meal prep help from home care assistance can ensure your senior is eating a balanced diet with plenty of nutrients.

Being Outside Can Clear Mental Cobwebs

Being in nature and just being outside for a little while can do so much for your senior’s mental health. There’s something about outdoor time that allows the brain to clear itself for a little while. If your senior has a tough time with meditation but still wants to find ways to clear her mind, time outside might be exactly what she’s looking for to accomplish that feat.

Your Senior Might Be More Active

It’s also possible that your elderly family member gets motivated to be more active in general by going outside more often. The physical act of going outside is activity, of course. But she might find herself inspired to do things like take a walk, even if that walk is just a few rounds of the backyard. Over time, she might even find that she expands on that activity and starts to choose to be even more active. Home care assistance can remind your senior to be more active, especially if that’s something that her doctor has recommended that she try.

Finding ways to improve your senior’s quality of life doesn’t have to be incredibly complicated. Sometimes it means helping her to prioritize simple activities like spending time out in the fresh air when the weather is nice enough for her to do so safely.

If you or an aging loved one is considering home care assistance in Eden Prairie, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

Has your elderly loved one been having pain in their legs? Maybe they don’t get pain in their legs, but their legs seem swollen or tired all the time. If this is the case, they may not be getting enough circulation in their legs. The good news is there are ways that your elderly loved one can improve circulation in their legs starting today. Be sure to encourage your elderly loved one to start doing these things with the help of elderly care right away.

Getting Hydrated

One of the reasons for reduced circulation in the legs is being dehydrated. If your elderly loved one isn’t drinking 6 to 8 glasses of water every day, they may be dehydrated. When someone is dehydrated, their blood is thicker. This means it can’t flow or circulate as well throughout the body. If your elderly loved one won’t remember to drink 6 to 8 glasses of water every day, you and their elderly care providers may need to remind them.

Exercising

If someone is sitting down most of the day, their blood isn’t going to flow or circulate, as well. The blood will especially not be circulating well in the legs, since the legs are still most of the day. If your elderly loved one needs to improve the circulation in their legs, exercising is a great way for them to do that. They don’t even need exercise equipment for this. In fact, walking is a great way to improve circulation in the legs.

Changing Their Diet

Another way that your elderly loved one can improve the circulation in their legs is by changing their diet. Research shows there are many foods that can improve circulation throughout the body. Some of these foods include mackerel, sardines, salmon, olives, leafy greens, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds. Any foods that have high Vitamin C levels in them are great for improving circulation, as well.

Sitting Better

How does your elderly loved one sit? If their legs are crossed a lot of the time or they slouch, this could be putting excess pressure on their legs – impeding blood flow. This could be reducing circulation in their legs which can cause pain, discomfort, and tiredness in the legs. It is important that you and elderly care providers remind your elderly loved one to sit up straighter throughout the day.

Conclusion

These are some of the ways that your elderly loved one can improve circulation in their legs. Be sure to share these tips with them today.

Sources
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-increase-circulation-in-legs

If you or an aging loved one is considering elderly care in Eden Prairie, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

Studies lead experts to believe that continuing education can help maintain cognitive skills. Learning new things helps stimulate the brain through mental activity. What are other things you can do to help exercise your brain and help keep it young?

Daily Exercise

Daily exercise is good for all of the organs in the body. Mixing up the types of exercise is best, and you should make sure to include walks outside in nature at least one day a week.

One thing that can age the body is excessive stress. Time spent in nature helps lower the stress hormones, which helps fight inflammation within the cells. Get outside, enjoy the sun, and listen to the birds sing as you stretch your legs and breath fresh air.

A Healthy Diet

Skip foods with added sugar, high sodium, and saturated fat. Instead, choose meals and snacks that incorporate a balance of whole grains, lean proteins, dairy, vegetables, fruits, and legumes. Seafood, especially fatty fish that are high in omega-3 fatty acids, is vital.

Social Activity

Social activities are essential as you age. Friendships help you avoid depression and loneliness. Volunteering enables you to feel needed and important to others. Social activity exercises the brain, enhances mood, and strengthens your ties to the community.

Games and Puzzles

Puzzles like jigsaws, logic problems, and crosswords help keep the mind sharp. You can also play games to help exercise the brain. Look for games that require thought and logic, such as Scrabble, Cribbage, or Chess.

Annual Check-ups

Make sure your parents see their doctor every year. They want to have chronic health conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes diagnosed and treated. It’s not something they should ignore. They also want to make sure they’re vaccinated against the flu, pneumonia, shingles, tetanus/whooping cough, and COVID-19.

Even if your parents have done all of these things, age-related memory loss and dementia are risks that come with getting older. If you suspect your mom or dad is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s or another type of dementia, talk to a doctor.

It’s best to diagnose dementia early and start preparing for future needs. At some point, senior care aides will become a big help to your parents and the rest of the family. From support with housework to companionship services, senior care is essential.

Family caregivers need breaks from time to time, and your parents will need plenty of support when their abilities change. Call a senior care agency to make arrangements sooner rather than later.

If you or an aging loved one is considering senior care in Edina, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.