Most seniors experience a decreased quality of life approaching the late stages of life. To help your aging parents or loved ones maintain a positive outlook, you must not only look after their medical needs but also their mental and emotional ones. Seniors need to have a positive mindset to alleviate some of their age-related medical issues such as a lack of energy, lack of appetite, stress, and cognitive decline. You can learn how to make your aging parents’ lives easier with the right gadgets and tools that help them perform their daily tasks and activities. Most importantly, you need to be there to support them and keep them engaged and comfortable. On that note, here are the top 6 things that can help your beloved parents live a better life.
1. Depression Monitoring and Treatment
Depression strikes millions of seniors above the age of 65 since the later stages of life bring about certain triggers. Depression can be triggered by the loss of a spouse, retirement, or the inability to be self-sufficient and continue living in their own home. Not to mention the depressive side effects of some kinds of medications and diseases. Talk to their doctor and become aware of the early signs of depression, so that you can be there for your parents if you notice any decline in their mental or emotional health.
2. Motion Sensor Lights and Fall Detector Alarms
If there’s a reason why older adults fall at night, it would be having to move in the dark to turn on the lights. This problem can be solved by motion sensor lights that can be plugged into free outlets. They automatically illuminate with the motion of anyone passing within six feet and work only in the darkness to save electricity. You may also want to consider personal fall detector alarms that allow your parents to call for help whenever they need it. Fall detectors can be location-aware and will update you with your parents’ location wherever they are. They are also usually water-resistant and come with one-month battery life.
3. Physical Activity Encouragement
Your elderly parents need regular physical activity to stimulate blood flow, improve heart health, and relieve stress and anxiety. Make sure you encourage your parents to go out walking, engage in physical therapy exercises, or even clap their hands to music whenever there’s a chance to keep the blood flow stimulated. Exercise brings many benefits to aging seniors such as increasing their stamina, improving the quality of their sleep, and relieving depression.
4. Stairs and Car Entry and Exit Aid
Part of looking after your elderly parents is encouraging them to get out more and get more movement. If your seniors can still drive, mobility specialists from Mobility Paradise suggest that getting in and out of the car can be one of the most difficult things they have to do. Help them drive more often by installing car standers and other tools that support their weight as they use a handle to get in and out of their cars. If your senior is in a wheelchair, you can help them ascend and descend stairs by installing ramps. Even without a wheelchair, hip pain, back pain, and many age-related conditions can limit their leg movement and make it difficult for them to use stairs. That’s why there are many tools that help raise their steps and support their feet as they take the stairs. You’ll be helping your parents get more physical activity and stimulate their blood flow using these moving aids.
5. Dressing Aids
Now, you can find many adaptive clothing options that can make it a lot easier for your elderly mom and dad to get dressed. There is a wide variety of helpful gadgets and tools that help seniors get into their clothing. For instance, you can get your elderly father or mother a pair of sock aids to help them get into their socks independently without leaning forward. Many other independent dressing gadgets exist to help the elderly button their clothes and do their zip-ups. Imagine how much better the quality of their life would be when they don’t have to rely on others to get dressed.
6. Easy and Lightweight Kitchen Cookware
The durable cookware sitting in your parents’ kitchen cabinets for years may be great for cooking, but too hard for them to use. With conditions like arthritis and decreased body strength, imagine how heavy those old saucepans would be for your parents to carry and move around. Even opening jars may become difficult at old age. Look for lightweight cookware and cooking aid tools such as jar openers and hands-free tin can openers that help your seniors in the kitchen and encourage them to keep cooking.
As your parents grow old, it gets harder for them to stay independent and self-sufficient. They also face many hardships such as being removed from their home, retiring and not going to work, and sometimes losing their spouse which can put them under inevitable depression. Helping them move around, get their tasks done, and looking after their mental health can give them a positive point of view and a push to fight through their age’s difficulties.
