Four Tips for Prolonging Independence

Everybody likes to feel that they have some sort of say in what happens in their own life and your senior is no different. When she feels as if her independence is slipping away, she might react in some unpredictable ways.

These tips can help her to prolong her independence as much as possible.

Homecare Ridgewood NJ - Four Tips for Prolonging Independence

Homecare Ridgewood NJ – Four Tips for Prolonging Independence

Exercise Is a Must

As your senior ages, she loses muscle mass and tone. She’s likely not as strong as she used to be and this can also affect her endurance. Adding exercise back into her routine may not get her back to the strength of her youth, but it can make a big difference for your senior’s balance and flexibility, too. Talk to your senior’s doctor about the types of exercise that are right for her. Her doctor can help you to outline a plan of action.

How’s Her Social Life?

Social isolation is something that aging adults tend to have negative experiences around. When she’s not talking to or seeing friends, neighbors, or even family members often, that’s not a good sign of mental health. It’s important that your elderly family member still is able to interact with other people regularly. Often aging adults stop having much interaction with others when they’re forced to stop driving, so make sure that your senior has plenty of transportation options available to her.

Devices and Tools Are Helpers

Hearing that she needs to start using a cane or that other devices are necessary can make your senior dig in her heels. The problem is that those devices can all help to make her safer and even more independent than she is now. Perhaps going down to the mailbox is a problem now and requires that she has someone there to help her. But with her cane, she’s much more stable on her feet and is able to go by herself more often. That can be an empowering moment for your senior.

Hire Homecare Providers

As helpful as devices and tools can be for your senior, so too can homecare providers. The idea of having someone new coming into her home might make your elderly family member nervous, though. Homecare can do so much for your senior from helping her with personal care tasks to taking over household chores that have become too much. The more energy she conserves, the more she spend it somewhere enjoyable, doing things she loves.

Independence means a great deal to your senior. It means that she’s not gone yet and that she can still do some things for herself. Keeping as much of her independence as she can gives her a sense of accomplishment.

If you or a senior family member are considering hiring Homecare Services in Ridgewood NJ, please contact the caring staff at Caring Solutions Home Care LLC. In-home senior care servicing Bergen & Passaic Counties. Call today at (973) 427-3553.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Pamela DelColle, RN, CCRN