The countless benefits of physical exercise are obvious, but what is not as well known is that exercise for adults with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia can be particularly helpful in a variety of ways. It can help lessen the risk for muscle weakness as well as other issues that arise from inactivity, can minimize the impact of psychological and behavioral changes, and even more.
Tips for Caregivers
Are the Benefits of Exercise for Seniors Comparable to Medicine?
If you made a resolution in January to work out more this year, hopefully you’re continuing to stay with it! Adding extra physical activity to your everyday activities is one resolution we should all be putting into action. For seniors, many of whom take a variety of medications for various health problems, this is particularly true. As the top provider of in-home care services in Austin and surrounding areas, we’re excited to share research that shows new benefits of exercise for seniors.
Try the SMILE Concept to Make Personal Care for Seniors More Comfortable
Stop for a moment, close your eyes, and imagine yourself like this: You have spent most of your life taking care of and assisting others – as a mother or father, in your workplace, through volunteering in your community, and as a grandparent. After all that time spent living independently and being in control of all of your decisions, you have suddenly aged to the point that now you are the person in need of assistance with bathing and other hygiene tasks. Consider the sense of fear, loss, and vulnerability.
Helpful Tips for Managing Aging Skin Care Issues
It isn’t a facet of senior personal care that is as commonly discussed as other tasks, but is essential to keeping older adults healthy nonetheless. Aging skin care issues can cause a variety of difficulties for seniors, including discomfort, bruising, dryness, itching, and more.
Is It a TIA or Stroke?
Numbness on one side of the body. Slurred speech. Confusion. Appears to be a stroke, right? Then again, if those stroke-like signs subside rather rapidly and seem minor, they may be caused by a TIA (transient ischemic attack). But prior to breathing that sigh of relief and getting back to life as usual, it’s important … Read more
Understanding and Managing Compassion Fatigue
Caregivers dedicate so much of themselves to the ones they care for – both emotionally and physically. It’s common to become wiped out and to start to experience feelings like indifference, exhaustion, and a withdrawal from the person in your care. Referred to as compassion fatigue or secondary traumatic stress, it can be detrimental to your own wellbeing but can also influence your ability to be as nurturing, warm, and caring as you should be for the person you’re caring for.
Helpful Steps for Relieving Family Caregiver Guilt
Family caregivers give a tremendous amount of themselves to take care of their loved ones, frequently giving up their own desires and needs along the way. It may seem normal, then, to presume that caregivers would feel great about themselves, with a high level of self-esteem and sense of purpose.
Technology for Seniors: Tools That Help Promote Independence
When our parents were younger, telephones were affixed to walls, mail was only the paper variety, and if adult children lived far away from their parents, checking in on them was as simple as asking someone nearby to stop by to visit. If someone were unable to leave home as a result of sickness or frailty, isolation could rapidly set in. Social circles were smaller, and long-distance family members frequently felt powerless if they weren’t able to be there in person to help. But life has drastically changed since those times, and technology has evolved how we communicate and manage the everyday activities of living.
The Importance of Maintaining Senior Independence
Throughout the course of life’s stages, our yearning for independence is fulfilled in a variety of ways. There are significant events, such as moving out of our parents’ home or getting married, and less significant occasions, like accomplishing a difficult task on our own. Later, as we age, preserving independence becomes the focus – the capacity to stay in our own home safely and securely. This wish to age in place at home is frequently the greatest desire for older adults, regardless of their state of health or ability to function independently, even in the midst of injury, sickness, or chronic health conditions.
‘Tis the Season to Celebrate: Holiday Tips for Seniors
Even though the holiday season is usually viewed as a time that is joyful, abundant with visiting loved ones who are near and dear to us and selecting the perfect gifts, for older people, it can be far from merry and bright. A combination of lost loved ones, memories of holidays past, health problems, and more can hit older adults with emotions of lonesomeness and sorrow.
Tips for Safe and Enjoyable Holiday Outings for Seniors
The holiday season is loaded with get-togethers, celebrations, and parties. However, holiday outings for seniors may necessitate a little additional planning. Try these recommendations from the Austin senior home care specialists at CareFor to enjoy fun and relaxed outings with loved ones of all ages this season.
Fall Safety Tips for Prevention and Injury Reduction
Senior falls happen all too frequently and many times lead to serious consequences. If you’re taking care of aging parents at home, fall prevention is key and can be helped by fall safety measures. This includes assessing the home for fall risks, such as throw rugs or other tripping hazards, insufficient lighting, and a lack … Read more
Seniors Can Age at Home Safely with These Tips
The great majority of seniors are set on staying at home throughout aging, rather than relocating to an assisted living facility or nursing home – close to 9 out of 10 of them, according to research done by AARP. And who can blame them? The comfort of familiar surroundings, the freedom to go wherever, whenever … Read more
Is Senior Socialization the Key to Healthy Wellbeing in Older Adults?
It’s intuitive to most of us that interacting with others improves health and wellbeing. It keeps us connected to other people’s experiences, beliefs, struggles, humor, points of views, and various other human occurrences. However, now scientific studies are determining that socializing with others, and most notably seniors socializing with others, actually may boost the wellness of both mind and body.
If You’re a Caregiver for an Older Adult, Consider Adding Music to Your Routine
These days, music is more available than ever before. For those who bring smartphones or tablets with them everywhere they go, hundreds of thousands – if not tens of millions of tunes – are just a few taps or finger swipes away. If you are a caregiver for an older adult, your smartphone may become one of the most helpful tools in your possession in helping tap into the benefits of music. This widely circulated video clip from the Alive Inside documentary demonstrates just how incredibly effective music can be for seniors with limited capabilities and dementia.
Elder Care Technology Trends in 2021
Throughout the pandemic, our Georgetown and surrounding area home care experts witnessed firsthand the crucial role of elder care technology in the lives of aging adults. As we move into 2021 and encounter the challenges of the new year, health and well-being are at the forefront of how we think about technology for older adults. In 2021, it’s expected that these technology trends will be the ones to look out for.
Home Care Assistance Following a Hospital Stay
A priority for hospitals currently is decreasing readmissions for patients who are at high risk. Healthcare Financial Management Association’s article “Two Ways Hospitals Can Reduce Avoidable Readmissions” explains that effective initiatives from several hospitals with minimal 30-day rehospitalizations are, to a certain extent, the result of working together with inpatient and outpatient care providers, such as CareFor, which offers trusted home care assistance.
Holidays With Seniors May Highlight Warning Signs That Home Care Is Needed
While of course we’d like to imagine enjoying a Norman Rockwell-worthy holiday celebration, with all of our family members spending quality time together and Grandma’s traditional holiday feast, the reality for some families instead consists of something unexpected: an E/R visit. As a matter of fact, studies show that emergency room visits for older adults jump about 10 – 20% over the holidays.
What to Do When Seniors Experience Dementia Confusion
Dementia confusion, a typical occurrence in Alzheimer’s, can lead to recent memories being forgotten about or distorted, while memories from the more distant past usually remain unimpaired. This can cause prior periods of time to be more realistic to an older adult with dementia than the present. A person’s alternate reality can be his or her way of making sense of the present through past experiences.
A Senior’s Sense of Purpose: Feeling Useful Makes All the Difference
Look online for the phrase “activities for seniors” and you’ll likely find a number of memory stimulation puzzles, crafts, games, and of course, the requisite bingo. What you won’t find, unless you really search much longer, are the meaningful, philanthropic activities that provide meaning and purpose to our lives. Yet, if you ask older individuals … Read more
Before there were gloves…
At this time of COVID-19, we find ourselves in a frantic search for PPE – personal protective equipment. While you take a breath, please let me share a brief history lesson. You may not believe the story, but it is the truth. It begins with my first day of nursing school, way back in 1975. … Read more
3 Types of Assisted Living Devices to Investigate for Your Senior Loved Ones
During the course of growing older, assisted living devices can make everyday life around the home simpler and less hazardous. There’s a wide selection of adaptive equipment solutions for home care on the market today that can improve senior safety and help older adults remain much more comfortable at home. At CareFor, the leaders in senior care in San Marcos and the surrounding areas, we want to provide you with some insider advice for buying and utilizing some of the most widely used types of home care equipment.
Tips for Home Safety and Enjoying Life at Home When Living with MS Symptoms
As Jane Austen once said, “There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.” And for anyone with a chronic condition, like multiple sclerosis (MS), remaining as comfortable as possible and as safe as possible, is essential.
An Overview of Dietary Guidelines for Seniors and Why This Is Important
It’s clearly no secret that a healthy diet is essential for a healthy body. What many people misunderstand, however, is that the nutritional needs for adults adjust as we age. Nutritional professionals at Tufts University have introduced the MyPlate system, which is a more advanced version of the former food pyramid, providing up-to-date dietary guidelines for seniors in particular.
Frequently Asked Questions About Aging In Place: Promoting Safe and Independent Senior Living
You’re concerned that Dad may need some assistance at home, and so naturally, you know exactly where to turn for assistance, right? No? Relax – you’re not alone. Millions of Americans are faced with the same predicament, and most people don’t know much about home care services until the need for care develops.
COPD Management – How to Better Manage COPD Symptoms
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute reports that a full 12 million adults are now diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and there are another 12 million who could be living with the disease and not even realize it. COPD symptoms most often strikes in middle age, with smoking as the top risk factor. Without proper COPD management, ongoing exposure to dust and chemicals can also heighten a person’s risk.
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Helping Seniors With Medication Adherence
Medicines can both improve and save lives, but there is a concealed hazard that can produce dire consequences — the threat of medication non-adherence.
Medication Safety for Seniors
With more than 10,000 prescription drugs available in the United States, it’s no wonder that so many older adults – about one in three – are taking a minimum of five of them every day. And family caregivers know firsthand the difficulty of handling these medications for seniors. The truth is, studies show that approximately 55% of prescription drugs are being taken incorrectly for a number of reasons, and the results can be extremely dangerous.
Tips for Overcoming Mom’s Resistance to Home Healthcare Services
Do you have an older loved one resisting the reality that he or she is in need of some extra help at home? One of the greatest reservations we have as we grow older is the loss of control and the ability to reside at home alone. Because of this fear, it may be very … Read more
How to Begin Discussing the Need for a Caregiver for Elderly Parents
Getting used to the idea that a senior you love requires assistance at home can be challenging. Even more challenging is talking about the need for a caregiver for elderly parents and getting them to agree that help is needed. If you have spotted changes in a loved one and you’re sensing the need to initiate a conversation about home care as a solution to ensure safety and independence in the home, try some of these conversation starters about a caregiver to broach the subject in a subtle, non-confrontational way.
Should My Parent Move in With Me? What Families Need to Consider
Perhaps one of the most honorable decisions adult children can make is to open their home to an elderly parent. Our parents raised us when we were children, so it’s natural to reciprocate when it becomes less safe for Mom or Dad to live on their own. Yet there are a number of issues to … Read more
Caring for Aging Parents: How Siblings Can Best Work Together
When we were kids, we were taught to share our toys as well as our parents’ attention, and those same feelings tend to carry with us well into our adult years. As remarkable as it is to have siblings, there also are times it can cause increased stress levels, such as when caring for aging … Read more
Texas Home Care Professionals Provide Tips On How To Make The Home Safer For Stroke Victims
Stroke recovery is an emotionally and physically challenging experience, and the only thing you wish to do is to get back to your day to day life. However, given that at least two-thirds of stroke survivors frequently have some kind of disability, as reported by the National Stroke Association, utilizing these stroke recovery tips for in-home safety alterations may be necessary to make life post-stroke safer and easier.
Senior Care Management: Be Aware of These Stroke Symptoms
Stroke, according to the National Stroke Association, is listed as the 5th leading cause of death in America, with approximately 800,000 people suffering from a stroke on an annual basis. This signifies that every 40 seconds someone somewhere in America experiences a stroke. And every 4 minutes someone dies as a result of a stroke.
Learn the Facts About Parkinson’s Disease Progression from CareFor
More common in men, and more frequently diagnosed than muscular dystrophy, ALS and MS combined, Parkinson’s disease is diagnosed in approximately 7 – 10 million people around the world, with an additional 600,000 people in America diagnosed each and every year. And while each person’s encounter with Parkinson’s differs in level of severity, there are five main stages of advancement that are routinely experienced by all.
How a Traumatic Brain Injury Can Affect Relationships
In the midst of the myriad of life changes after a traumatic brain injury (TBI), intimate relationships are affected in a number of ways as a result of: Adjustments in responsibilities Adjustments in relationship roles Problems with communicating Managing emotions and mood swings Becoming used to these changes often brings about feelings of uncertainty in … Read more