A reality of life is that a lot of us will lose some or much of the independence that we may take for granted right now. If you have a loved one who is getting older, or who may have a disability affecting their life, then you might see them having more difficulty with needs that they used to be able to take care of. You can improve the day-to-day of their life by helping them address these needs. Helping elderly relatives maintain more of their independence is key to increased mental health and wellbeing.
Helping Elderly Relatives Maintain More Of Their Independence – Why Independence is Important
Some might think, ‘What’s the point in helping them stay independent? It might be easier to simply do it for them?’ Well, for one, it’s not always easier. It puts demands on you, and also limitations on them. What if they need to meet their needs when you or other carers or helpers aren’t around? What’s more, encouraging our elders to exercise their independence offers many benefits. It helps them stay physically fit, mentally stimulated and engaged with the world around them. This can have a profound impact on their emotional well-being. This is due to the sense of dignity they can maintain by being able to live to their fullest.
Support Their Social Life
Aside from staying physically fit, you should get into the idea of keeping a loved one socially fit, as well. Isolation affects a lot of older people. The impacts of spending a lot of time alone can go deeper than affecting their mood. It’s thought to be amongst the leading lifestyle risk factors for dementia, for instance. When people don’t have others to interact with, it can begin to affect them deeply. Help ensure that they’re keeping up with social activities. Perhaps help them find new groups to get involved with, such as community events and hobbyist groups.
Helping Elderly Relatives Maintain More Of Their Independence – Make the Home Safer
Things that may have once been relatively simple can become a much greater risk for seniors. In the home, this includes slips, trips, and falls. These can cause serious injury as we get older. Your loved ones might find themselves hesitant to do things that might come with a risk of falling. This includes wellbeing tasks such as being able to bathe themselves or to get up the stairs. You should look at some of the safety modifications that you might be able to install in the home so that your loved one can take care of their needs without assistance, whether it’s a grab rail, stair lift, or otherwise.
Help Them Get Around
A lot of people have trouble staying mobile as they get older, which can limit their ability to not only travel to different places, but it can limit their ability to make their way through and around their own homes without undue effort and pain. If you have noticed your loved one moving a lot slower as of late or needing to rest after moving, even just a little, then you might want to look at the prospect of getting them a mobility aid for walking. There are all different kinds to help with different needs, from canes to walking frames to rollators. There are, of course, options like mobility scooters as well, which can help in increasing the distance they can move outside of the home, too.
Helping Elderly Relatives Maintain More Of Their Independence – Get Active With Them
For some people, staying active is going to be a lot more difficult. For instance, the people who might need the mobility aids mentioned above aren’t going to be able to do a lot of exercise, but that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing that can be done. You should talk to their doctor about what kinds of exercise they might be able to do. This can include low-impact exercises that are designed to be gentler on the joints, as well as exercises that avoid putting stress on the parts of the body that might have injuries from the past. Everyone can do a little more to stay active. It’s one of the best ways to help them retain their range of motion.
Make Sure they Always Have a Voice and a Choice
As your loved one gets older, you might find yourself assisting them when it comes to visiting the doctor, or for other important appointments and decisions in their life. They may rely on you to ensure things go smoothly, but that doesn’t mean that they have to be cut out of the conversation entirely. Make sure to address them and avoid talking about them as if they’re not in the room, especially when you’re at the doctor’s. Ask them what their opinions are on the decisions and choices being offered. Even if they’re happy to leave the details to you, it can help them feel like they’re involved, and not a passive bystander in their own life.
Offer Them Some Backup – Helping Elderly Relatives Maintain More Of Their Independence
One of the concerns that might prevent an older person from taking the time to be more active, such as by going out to the store themselves or exercising, is that they worry about what might happen to them. They don’t want to be left alone in a bad situation, such as a fall. To that end, you should consider equipping them with one of the medical alert systems on the market. These are devices, both portable and installed in the home, that allow them to call for help in the event of an accident or an injury. Knowing that help is always accessible may help them feel a little more comfortable in exercising that independence.
When addressing the needs of an older loved one, you have to balance their desire for independence with what is most practical. In some cases, you have to know when to step in and handle those needs for them.
