Tag: Healthy Habits

The first day of May is often a time when people in every state are starting to see sunny, warm weather. People get back outside after dreary winter weather and a slow, or sometimes quick, start to spring. Gardening, yard work, and time spent on the patio or deck are favorite pastimes.

Your dad may spend too much time in the sun as he spends time outside in his garden, patio, or deck, which increases the risk of skin cancer. Melanoma Monday is a day for raising awareness of the risk of skin cancer and the importance of protecting your skin from the sun.

Apply Sunscreen Every Two Hours

Your dad needs to apply sunscreen every two hours. When choosing a sunscreen, he needs one that is a broad-spectrum product that protects against both UVA and UVB rays. An SPF of 35 or higher is ideal.

When he sweats or comes out of the water, he needs to reapply the sunscreen, even if it hasn’t been two hours. Make sure he applies sunscreen to his eyelids, the bridge of the nose, ears, the tops of the feet, and the back of the neck.

Invest in Sunscreen Clothing

Some people hate the feel of sunscreen. If your dad is like that, he still needs to protect his skin. He cannot just go without and hope for the best.

Several clothing brands make sunscreen clothing that offers an SPF of 50 or higher. The clothing is lightweight and airy, but it provides the sun protection he needs.

Wear a Wide-Brimmed Hat

Your dad has to protect his face from the sun, and a wide-brimmed hat is good for that. Have him pick his favorite style and measure his head to ensure you get the right size.

Use Sunglasses

Finally, make sure your dad has sunglasses that protect his eyes from UVA and UVB rays. The larger the lenses, the more protection he has for his eyes and eyelids. Purchase a few pairs so that he can keep one pair in the car and have a couple of pairs inside the home.

Sit in the Shade

As much as your dad can, have him sit in the shade. A patio umbrella is helpful. A shade tree is also helpful in blocking the sun and providing a shady spot to sit and read or relax.

When your dad has companion care at home, he has a caregiver to keep him company, help him keep his home clean and organized, and assist him with meals. He has a caregiver to take him shopping, help him run errands, and join him on walks outside in the sun.

Companion care at home helps your dad maintain his independence without struggling with the harder daily tasks. Talk to an advisor to learn more about companion care services.

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

Your mom fell and needed hip surgery. While she’s recovered, she still has to use a cane when she’s walking around. For that reason, she’s hesitant to go outside and do many of her favorite activities. How do you keep her active and get her to embrace her old routines? Here are a few ideas for how you and in-home care providers can work together to keep your mom active.

Find Hobbies She Enjoys

Does your mom have hobbies? Whether she does or doesn’t, it’s a good time to explore them. She loves photography, so use that to get her up and active. She likes to paint. Go to a park with her supplies and have her paint the scenery.

If she doesn’t have hobbies, it’s time to see if there are things that interest her. She might discover she loves gardening and making customized flower arrangements. Birdwatching is a good hobby if she has to take breaks every now and then when walking on a trail.

Heighten Safety Around Her Home

Go around your mom’s house and yard to heighten safety. Look for trip hazards outside. Uneven or loose patio bricks need to be secured. Loose deck rails need tightening. Potholes in a driveway or sidewalk need to be filled.

Check her lighting and ensure that it illuminates the entire area and doesn’t leave dim areas. Downed tree branches and wasps and hornets’ nests on eaves, under decking, or in shrubs are also things to check for.

Do the same things inside her home. Make sure the lighting illuminates the entire staircase and landing. Look for loose railings, carpeting, and tile flooring. If she has hardwood flooring, make sure it’s not cracked and splintering. Install grab bars in the bathtub or shower.

Help Her Regain Her Confidence

Make sure your mom has the encouragement she needs to stay active. If she’s doubting herself at all, she may lose the confidence to try something different. Help her regain her confidence by making sure she’s never alone.

Sometimes, it helps to have someone with her. She loves to take walks on the neighborhood trails, but she’s too nervous now. If someone is with her, she’s eager to walk. Do whatever it takes to help her gain the confidence she’s lost.

In-home care is a great asset to your mom’s care team. While you are there to help her out as much as you can, you have a job and children who also need you. Your visits with your mom are limited to weekends or after work. It’s hard providing all that your mom needs in quick visits.

Arrange to have home care aides assisting your mom on her walks, when working in her garden, or on grocery shopping days. Caregivers help her maintain her independence while staying safe and social. Call a home care agency to learn more and make the appropriate arrangements.

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

The American Heart Association established National Walking Day to get people to see the value of being active. April 5th is National Walking Day in 2023. It’s time to get your dad out of the house. With the help of a home care provider, walking regularly can become part of your dad’s daily routine. Here are some fun walks to take together throughout the spring and summer.

Visit a Zoo

Is there a zoo or animal sanctuary in your area? They’re a family-friendly environment you and your dad can explore together. Bring a camera and check out the animals. You might be able to arrange a meet and greet with some of the animals, too.

Explore an Easy Mountain Trail

Visit a state forest and find out which trails are designed for beginners. Your family is out in the fresh air and sun and can look for wildlife and birds while walking. Bring a picnic if possible and have lunch outside in nature while you de-stress.

Go To a Pedestrian Mall

Head to the city and explore a pedestrian mall for an afternoon. These vehicle-free stretches are usually brick, stone, pavement, or concrete, which makes them suitable for wheelchairs, walkers, and canes.

While you’re out shopping and walking around, you can treat your dad to a coffee and snack or get lunch together. You’ll have a great day together and take care of errands at the same time.

If there are no pedestrian malls, an indoor mall will do. Try to walk at a reasonable pace to ensure the blood starts pumping.

Find a Bike Path or Recreational Trail

Most cities have one or more bike paths or recreational trails. Pedestrians can use bike paths, too, but follow the rules and stay to the side so that cyclists can go past without a hassle. If they know the common courtesy rules, they will speak up as they approach you so that you know they’re there.

The benefit of walking on a recreational trail is that they’re usually paved and clear of obstacles like potholes and tree roots. That makes this trail a great choice for your dad if he needs a cane or walking stick.

Ideas When You’re Stuck Inside

If it’s rainy in your dad’s area, set up a treadmill near a TV. Put on a walking tour of a city he’s always wanted to explore. He can walk on the treadmill while taking a visual tour of a foreign city, a tropical island trail, or a city in another state.

What If You Have Other Commitments?

When you’re busy at work or caring for your kids, who helps your dad? Instead of leaving him aloew3rne, hire home care aides to help out. He’ll have someone to accompany him on walks, help him with housework, and offer the reminders he needs to take care of himself. A home care advisor can help you get started.

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

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.

Everyone knows that breakfast is absolutely vital, right? It’s been called the most important meal of the day for decades. And if your elderly family member has been skipping breakfast, here are some solid reasons for her to rethink that practice and start enjoying her first meal of the day a little bit earlier.

Breakfast Is Another Opportunity for Nutrients

The long and short of it is that your elderly family member needs all the nutrition that she can get. That means that not only should she be eating healthy snacks throughout the day, but she needs to start the day out with breakfast. Lots of breakfast food options are also high in fiber, which is vital for overall health. Oatmeal with berries, for instance, is really high in fiber and starts your senior out with plenty of fuel.

Her Body Needs Fuel After Sleeping

Overnight, your elderly family member has been sleeping, not eating. So, when she wakes up, her body needs fuel to keep it going. The energy that your senior gets from eating breakfast can keep her active during the morning hours instead of sluggish, and that can be an important factor in keeping her healthier overall. In-home care providers can help your senior with breakfast if she finds that it’s just too much effort first thing in the morning.

Her Brain Also Needs Fuel

But it isn’t just your senior’s body that needs fuel after sleeping. Her brain needs fuel to keep it moving, too. Healthy fats, natural sugars, protein, and fiber are all great nutrients for your senior’s brain. It’s easy to get those from breakfast, especially if home care providers are making sure that there’s a balanced meal ready for your elderly family member at the top of every day.

Skipping Breakfast Can Leave Her with Low Blood Sugar

Some people just never eat breakfast, and that’s been a habit that they have had their entire lives. That might have been true for your senior for a long time, but if she’s developed any health issues over the years, she might have to change that up. People with diabetes often find that first thing in the morning their blood sugar is very low. Skipping breakfast can allow those numbers to fall even lower, which can be a big problem. In-home care providers can remind your senior why it’s important to eat and help with things like remembering to test blood sugar levels, too.

She May Need Food to Take Medications

Something else to consider is that your elderly family member may be taking medications now that have to be taken with food. Taking those medications on an empty stomach can have disastrous impacts on her and should be avoided. That means even a light breakfast is something she needs to be ready to enjoy.

It can help to find breakfast foods that your elderly family member enjoys to make the whole idea a lot better. Something else to remember is that if she really dislikes breakfast foods, she can eat other types of food for breakfast. The main goal is that she’s getting plenty of solid nutrition.

Source
https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/many-benefits-breakfast

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

Is your aging family member avoiding meals or choosing foods that don’t have a lot of nutritional value? That isn’t unusual for seniors, but it can lead to bigger health problems. Here are some tips that can help you to encourage her to eat healthier meals on a more regular basis so that she’s able to stay as healthy as possible.

Don’t Try to Make Your Senior Eat Foods She Hates

If there are foods your senior absolutely hates eating, don’t try to make her eat them at all. When someone has food aversions, more exposure to those foods isn’t going to make a difference. That’s especially true as your senior gets older. Focus on what she’s willing to eat and go from there. Try to remember what it’s like for you to be forced to eat foods you don’t like, even if they’re healthy options.

Put a Plan Together for Healthy Eating

Without a plan, this is going to be a lot more difficult for both you and your aging family member. Preparing a menu each week or each month helps your senior to know what to expect and it can make shopping and meal prep easier, too. If your elderly family member needs help with that, home care providers can make those tasks much simpler.

Focus on Keeping Meals Dense in Nutrients

When you’re talking with your senior about meals, the focus needs to be on nutritionally dense foods. That’s even more important if your senior has been really erratic in her eating habits. When she does eat, you need to be getting as many nutrients into her body as possible.

Schedule Meals and Snacks throughout the Day

Something else that can help is to set specific meal and snack times throughout your senior’s day. This helps her body to start to expect foods at certain times. Your elderly family member may still not be excited about eating, but she knows when those meals and snacks are planned to occur.

Consider Whether Your Senior Needs Company

Does your elderly family member need companionship while she eats? Lots of people need to eat with other people in order to feel comfortable eating. In some cases, that’s the missing link when it comes to eating consistently. If this is the case for your senior, elder care professionals are a great choice. Home care providers can spend mealtimes with your elderly family member, engaging her in conversation while she eats.

Work with Her Doctor

Keep working with your elderly family member’s doctor to make sure she’s getting enough nutrients. If she’s still having trouble eating consistently, there may be other solutions that her doctor recommends. Her doctor can also help you to finetune any of the aspects of her plan that you’re worried aren’t giving her what she needs.

Hopefully it becomes easier for your elderly family member to get the nutrition that she needs on a consistent basis. Reassessing the plan periodically can help to keep up with changes she might experience.

Source
https://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/senior-nutrition

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

Did you know that 5.2 million older Americans faced food insecurity in 2019? When an older adult cannot shop for the right ingredients or doesn’t have access to nearby stores, they may start making poor nutritional choices. Being unable to drive long distances can be challenging to a healthy diet.

Another issue is that chronic health conditions can change dietary needs. Your dad may not be accustomed to cooking without added salt or sugar. He may have arthritis that prevents him from holding a knife properly. He needs your help making meals for him, but you work full-time and need meals that take very little time to prepare.

Grain Bowls

Keep cooked quinoa, barley, and brown rice in the freezer. If you store it in serving sizes, it’s easy to put together a grain bowl. Use a microwave to thaw the grain and move it to a bowl. Top it with diced cooked shrimp, canned tuna, or chickpeas.

Add favorite fruits and vegetables that you’ve chopped up and have available. Once your dad has chosen what he wants with his grains, he can add his favorite dressing.

Veggie-Loaded Egg and Tuna Salad Sandwiches

When you have free time, boil a dozen eggs. Move them to the refrigerator and peel them as needed. Use a food processor to finely mince a red onion and a bunch of celery hearts.

Instead of plain tuna salad sandwiches, mix tuna with chopped eggs. Mix ample portions of the vegetables into the egg and tuna. Refrigerate any onion mixture that you don’t use and save it for other recipes.

Add a tablespoon of chopped capers and pickles, if your dad isn’t restricting salt. If he is, swap the pickles for diced cucumber. Shredded chicken breast can be used in place of tuna if your dad isn’t a fan of fish. When your dad is ready for lunch, he can add a few spoonfuls of the tuna salad in a wrap or between slices of whole grain bread.

Ready-to-Eat Quiches

Make some mini quiches on the weekend and put them in the freezer. Load them with vegetables like spinach, kale, broccoli, and red peppers. Boost protein intake by adding crumbled tofu.

If you use a muffin tin, you’ll get the right portion size. Move a few to the refrigerator for quick lunches. When your dad is hungry, he can take a quiche from the refrigerator and warm it in the microwave for a minute.

Home Care Assistance Can Be There to Prepare Meals

Why not let your dad have home-cooked meals throughout the week? You don’t have to stop working or rearrange your daily routine to make sure he’s having more than a heat-and-eat meal. Home care assistance services include meal preparation.

Caregivers can stop by, keep your dad company, and make sure he has hot, nutritious meals all of the time. Call a home care assistance advisor to get started.

Sources:
https://www.ncoa.org/article/what-is-food-insecurity-get-the-facts

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

According to mental health professionals, a record number of seniors are experiencing loneliness, depression, and anxiety. When seniors don’t get the social interaction that all people need in order to stay happy and healthy, their mental health can really suffer. But it’s not realistic to expect that their children are going to be able to always provide the social connections that seniors need. Having a social safety net of people who can step in and be there for your senior loved one when you can’t is essential to their mental health. A few good ways to do that are:

Bring in Elder Care

A great option for the kind of regular social interaction that seniors need is elder care. When your senior loved one has elder care a provider will come to the house on a set schedule to help your senior parent around the house, talk with them, share meals with them, and more. That’s exactly the kind of routine social interaction that seniors need. And if you can’t visit your senior parent more than once or twice a week because you work or have children or have other responsibilities you can supplement your visits with elder care.

Reach Out To Neighbors

Neighbors can be another good piece of the social safety net for seniors. If your senior loved one is aging in place in the family home there’s a good chance you know some of the neighbors already. Check in with them to see if your senior parent can call them for a chat or if they need something. Offer to be the same point of contact for them if they need it. Then create a list with all the phone numbers for the numbers in large print and put it next to the phone so that your senior loved one or an elder care provider can reach out to the neighbors if they need to.

Enlist Other Family Members

Your siblings or cousins may live too far way to help with the daily care of your senior parent but that doesn’t mean that they can’t provide some social support from wherever they are. Set up a phone schedule so that your senior loved one is getting regular or even daily calls from a different member of the family each time. Checking in with your senior loved one on a regular basis will make them feel cared for.

Encourage Your Senior Parent To Get Professional Help

Getting senior parents to open up to a professional is tough because many of them were taught growing up that they shouldn’t talk to therapists or counselors. But professional psychiatrists and counselors can really help seniors as they struggle to find purpose when they retire and start to get older. Talk to your senior parent and strongly encourage them to get some professional help to help manage any symptoms of depression or anxiety.

Source
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/older-adults-and-mental-health

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

Added sugar is a bigger deal in foods than you might have realized. It can be especially important for your senior to start really looking at how much added sugar she’s getting in her diet each day. Here are a few steps to take to reduce your senior’s sugar intake, and how home care can help her stick with these changes.

Get Familiar with Food Label Information

Sugar has a lot of different names, and it’s important to get familiar with as many of them as possible. Generally speaking, words that end in the suffix -ose are likely to be a sugar. Some examples include sucrose and fructose. High fructose corn syrup, for instance, is another type of refined sugar. Look at the ingredients, but also at the part of the label that gives calorie and added sugar information in grams. The higher that number is, the higher the added sugars in each serving.

Reduce Sugar Before Just Cutting it Completely

Cutting sugar completely is an admirable goal and there’s no doubt that your senior’s diet would probably benefit, but it’s also unrealistic. If your aging family member eats a diet high in added sugars now, cutting sugar completely would be a shock to her system and to her taste buds. Not to mention that her body would respond with withdrawal symptoms, including headaches, exhaustion, muscle pain, and mood swings.

Buy Unsweetened When You Can

When you can, it’s a good idea to buy unsweetened versions of foods, particularly prepared foods. Sugar can lurk in some unlikely places. For instance, some frozen fruits and vegetables include added sugar for no real reason other than flavoring. Checking the ingredients and the nutritional label can help you to spot those versions and avoid them.

But Don’t Avoid All Sweet Foods

But again, you want to avoid cutting out all sweet foods and sugary items. That’s especially true if your senior has leaned on these items heavily in her daily diet. Gradually reducing is one thing, and it’s probably a good idea. Home care providers can help your senior to strike a healthy balance between sweet treats and healthier options.

Opt for Natural Over Artificial Sweeteners

Any time you can, it’s a good idea to avoid artificial sweeteners. These artificial sugars often have zero calories, which makes them appealing. But they can sometimes cause sensitivities in some people and they can often leave an aftertaste that isn’t appealing. Natural sugars are less likely to have that effect on your elderly family member.

Help Your Senior Stick with the Plan

The biggest issue you’re likely to face is that your senior may not be as on board with this plan as you’d like her to be. You can make it easier by having home care providers help out with meal preparation and grocery shopping, especially if you’re not able to handle those tasks. Home care providers can help your senior to track what she’s eating and drinking, too, getting a solid idea how much sugar she’s really eating a day.

Talk with your aging family member’s doctor about what she can do to avoid too much added sugar. Having a plan gives you a way to help your senior to meet those goals.

Source
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8492796/

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