How beautiful it is to be young, beautiful, and agile forever, never to grow old and enjoy life to the fullest. Unfortunately, Mother Nature has a different plan for everyone. Growing up is inevitable and old age comes with profound effects.
The body loses its agility, the bone becomes fragile, the eyesight might not be as sharp as before, and one becomes susceptible to various illnesses. The brain might also deteriorate due to a lack of mental stimulation.
As a result, it is essential to do everything possible to make life comfortable for the seniors in your life. Most seniors could be frustrated at the inability to perform basic activities and rely on others for what they were once able to do.
You can do many things to make life comfortable for your seniors. Since most seniors have mobility issues, it is essential to remove hazards and upgrade the home to make it safe for seniors. Here are some recommended tips to make this happen:
Watch out for Signs of Depression
It is pretty standard for seniors to experience depression. It might be due to loneliness, stressful life events, confinement to a bed, sickness, or loss of a close person. As a result, watching out for depression signs will help make them comfortable.
Many people suffer from depression, and it affects over 7 million people aged 65 and above. Luckily, you can do many things to help reduce depression. Take your senior one for a walk, get help from a therapist, take them to dinner, etc.
Watch out for Trip Hazards
Fall is one of the significant hazards for seniors, triggering injury or death in severe cases. However, you can make simple adjustments in the house to adjust trips and falls.
Clean all liquid spill immediately, and remove anything that might trigger fall like wires. Ensure throw rugs are not so oversized that it will throw them off balance. Try not to have obstructions that will make the pathway constricted. All paths should be as large and straightforward as possible so the navigation will be seamless.
For the outdoors, ensure you have smooth pathways without debris or obstacles. Getting rid of the threshold is essential so that they don’t have to step over it while moving from one room to the other.
Have Better Lighting
The sight also takes a hit as seniors approach old age. As a result, optimum and bright lighting is essential to complement the partial loss of vision in all rooms and passages.
With this, getting around the house will be seamless, removing the possibility of bumping over an obstacle. The light in the pathways, stairs, and passage should be extra bright. This also applies to the outdoors. Better still, motion sensor light which comes on when it senses motion is a good idea for senior homes.
Stimulate their brain
Keeping seniors mentally active is also a pretty good one. It is common for most seniors to come down with dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, etc. These are neurodegenerative diseases that affect seniors’ memory, language, thinking capacity, and problem-solving capacity.
You can, however, help keep your senior one’s brain active. Brain games, puzzles, Sudoku, etc., are a fun and straightforward way to keep their brain engaged and stimulate them mentally.
Display Interesting memories
Most seniors are usually lonely, reminiscing about the good days they had years ago. They look forward to the period when they were young and had their family with them. Their favorite vacation spot all becomes a mirage that lives in their memory.
You can help by introducing images that trigger happiness in their life. Put pictures of family thanksgiving and dinner parties they had years ago. High school pictures of young, beautiful, and agile will indeed trigger smiles and good memories.
Put these on their phone and display them on the wall to look at it and smile. Imagine a visitor comes and they saw a picture when your old one was young. They will be excited to talk about it, and such an experience will leave them happy.
Improve the Bathroom
This is where seniors are primarily prone to fall, especially seniors with poor strength, balance, and mobility. Ensure you make the necessary change and upgrade that will help them maintain their independence and reduce falls.
Hand grabs, for instance, in the shower, next to the toilet, will help prevent falls. If possible, remove tubs and install a senior-friendly bathroom. Consider installing non-slip mats if removing the bathtub is not an option. This will avoid slipping while bathing.
Have Bars and Furniture Support
Your strength, mobility, and agility take a hit as you age. As a result, one might need some support for moving around and other basic chores. Most adults even deal with incontinence, so they need to wear adult pullup.
Consider installing a support furniture bar for older people. This way, they can move around with little fear of falling. Ensure you have grab bars at strategic positions in the house. It will go a long way to reduce the confinement of seniors to a single place.
Conclusion
Seniors deserve the best to make life comfortable and extend their life expectancy. You can do many things to ensure the comfort of your senior one and ensure their life is free of injury and sickness. These are simple and less costly upgrades and improvements you can make around the house that will benefit them immensely.
