Keeping your elderly parent or loved one hydrated is important for their overall health, but sometimes it can be a difficult task when they refuse to drink or just don’t understand the importance of hydration.
When a senior becomes dehydrated, it can have serious consequences. Water is necessary for most of our bodily functions, such as regulating body temperature, pumping blood to the muscles, and lubricating the joints.
Below are some tips to hopefully encourage your senior or loved one receiving home care to stay hydrated, healthy, and happy!
Use a straw
Sometimes the simple things can surprise you when you least expect it. Try using bendy straws to encourage your senior to drink liquids throughout the day and prevent them from having to try and lift or possibly spill heavy or awkward cups or glasses.
Find fun cups
Your senior may be bored with drinking water and one fun way to spice it up is to get them a new cup that will make them smile and encourage them to use it. If there is a theme or color that they like, try to incorporate it into their drinking apparatus. It just might be enough to get them excited about hydration!
Give them an incentive
For the competitive senior getting home care in your life, try offering some sort of small but fun and exciting incentive to get them in the habit of hydration each day. Create a weekly contest with a prize if they meet their H20 “quota” and make it a big deal if they do.
Mix it up
If your senior isn’t a fan of plain drinking water, try mixing it up by trying hot or cold tea, shakes and smoothies, or even popsicles! If you think outside the box, you will find that there are many other ways to keep your senior hydrated other than plain water, which may seem boring or unappealing to your senior parent or loved one. Experiment with temperatures, colors, and flavors to see what they like and what works to get them excited about staying hydrated, and keep trying if you haven’t found something they like yet.
Set a timer
If you find that your senior forgets to drink, try setting a timer that will go off periodically to remind them that it’s time to stop and hydrate. This may help prevent dehydration and the uncomfortable side affects that come with it.
Hire Help
Another advantage of home care and hired help is that you have back up when encouraging your senior to get their fluids, as well as supervision for them to ensure that they do so. You are busy and have many demands that require your daily attention like work, children, and other tasks. You can let your senior’s caregivers take over responsibility for their hydration and take one thing off of your already too-crowded plate.
Source:
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/drink-up-dehydration-is-an-often-overlooked-health-risk-for-seniors/
IF YOU OR AN AGING LOVED-ONE ARE CONSIDERING HOMECARE IN DAVIDSON, NC, PLEASE CALL THE CARING STAFF AT HOME HELPERS HOME CARE. WE SERVE CLIENTS IN MOORESVILLE, STATESVILLE, DAVIDSON, CORNELIUS, HUNTERSVILLE, DENVER, CONCORD, KANNAPOLIS, AND THE CHARLOTTE METRO AREA. CALL TODAY: (704) 286-0933.