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Three Tips for Helping Your Senior Get Started with a Gratitude Journal

November is National Gratitude Month, which might make this a great time for you and your senior to experiment with a gratitude journal. According to Greater Good Magazine, gratitude can improve immune responses, help with mood regulation, and can help people to feel more outgoing. These and more benefits can have a huge impact on your senior’s life.

Look at All the Different Ways She Can Journal

There are a ton of different methods your senior can use for keeping a gratitude journal. She can use a blank journal that has a pretty cover and write out long paragraphs or she can just keep a running list. If she likes using digital tools, she might use a notes app in a tablet or smartphone and get just as much from keeping a gratitude journal. There are also online versions that might be appealing to her. She may want to experiment quite a bit to find the right fit for her.

Help Her Make it a Habit

The biggest benefits with a gratitude journal come from regularly expressing that gratitude. Making this a regular part of her routine helps her to make it a habit. One way that you can both benefit is to set aside time together. You don’t have to share with each other what makes it onto your gratitude lists, but it can be a great way to quietly enjoy time with each other. Talk to your senior about when it feels right to her to write in her gratitude journal. It might be something she likes to do last thing before bed every night or it might be something she likes to do earlier in the day.

Gratitude Journals Can Be Incredibly Simple

Some people have elaborate gratitude journals where they list out what they’re grateful for and then write a few paragraphs about what inspires that feeling. Other people choose to keep a list of one or two words. How many things your senior lists per day is also totally up to her. She might list one thing each day or hold herself to a more disciplined list of a specific number each day. Some of the things that she might be grateful for could include that she has help from home care providers when you’re away or that her health is improving. There are only the rules that your senior decides to place on the activity.

Gratitude journals are a fantastic way to share things that you love with your senior and vice versa.

If you or an aging loved one is considering hiring home care in Santa Clara, CA, please contact the caring staff at Home Helpers today (408) 317-4969.

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Four of the Most Common Arthritis Symptoms and How to Cope

Most people know that arthritis is painful, but do you know what the most common symptoms of arthritis are? This list can also help you to find solutions that might ease the problem for your elderly family member.

Soreness and Stiffness While Moving

Your senior may be very familiar with the stiffness and soreness that she is likely to experience with arthritis pain. This might be something she only experiences in the morning when her joints haven’t moved much overnight or when it’s cold out. There may be other situations, too, like when bad weather is expected to roll in. Moving a little can work that stiffness out of her joints and regular exercise, as cleared by her doctor, can help to reduce that problem overall.

Redness and Heat at Joints

Joints that are battling arthritis may appear redder than the surrounding areas. Your senior may also feel heat in that joint, too. She may describe it as just feeling hotter in that part of her body. When you touch that joint, you may also feel some heat coming off that area. These are signs of inflammation and you may be able to help relieve the heat and discomfort with ice packs and by elevating the affected joint.

Inflammation in Joints

Even without heat and redness, there’s definitely some inflammation in your senior’s joints. Inflammation is how the body’s immune system tries to deal with pain and perceived attacks against the body. Eating an anti-inflammation diet may be something that your senior’s doctor recommends for her. There may also be medications, like NSAIDS, that her doctor recommends in order to help manage inflammation.

Muscle and Joint Pain

One of the most common symptoms, and likely the one that gets the most attention from your senior, is pain in the joints that are arthritic. For some people with arthritis, the pain ranges greatly depending on a lot of different variables. Other people experience debilitating pain constantly. Wherever your senior falls on that range, her doctor can help her to put together a plan that helps to protect her joints and alleviates at least some of her pain.

Regular daily activities can become very difficult for your senior when arthritis is flaring up or as it gradually becomes worse. Bringing in senior care providers to help your elderly family member wherever possible is a powerful way to give her the assistance that she needs.

If you or an aging loved one is considering hiring senior care in Palo Alto, CA, please contact the caring staff at Home Helpers today (408) 317-4969.

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What Should You Do if You Think Your Senior Has High Blood Pressure?

High blood pressure carries with it some big health implications. One big problem is that it’s not always easy to recognize high blood pressure in someone until a doctor diagnoses it. Here’s what you need to know about high blood pressure and your senior.

Risk Factors of Uncontrolled High Blood Pressure

When you understand the risk factors that come along with high blood pressure, that can help you to understand why it’s so important to pay attention to this health metric. People with untreated high blood pressure are far more likely to experience organ failure, including heart failure, at some stage. They’re also more likely to experience a stroke. These are serious health issues that can be avoided to a certain extent.

Recognize the Symptoms

Many medical professionals refer to high blood pressure as a silent disease because it can sneak up on someone very slowly. Some of the symptoms are incredibly gradual, such as headaches that increase in intensity and frequency over time. Your elderly family member might start to experience changes to her vision when her vision has been stable for a long time. If your elderly family member is experiencing chest pain or trouble breathing, she should see her doctor right away.

Get a Proper Diagnosis

If you’re in doubt at all about your senior’s blood pressure, you have options. There’s always the blood pressure meter at the drug store, or even a home meter. But those are just ways to start seeing what you’re suspecting. Go to your senior’s doctor with her and talk about what she’s been feeling and experiencing. Her doctor can take her blood pressure and run some other tests to see what’s really going on. Once you’ve got a proper diagnosis, you can make a plan.

Follow the Treatment Plan

Your senior’s doctor will map out a plan for her. If her blood pressure is extremely high, then lowering it is going to feel weird to her at first. She may need to make changes to her diet, she may need to start exercising with guidance from her doctor, and she may be prescribed one or more medications. Following that treatment plan as closely as possible is really important, particularly if her blood pressure is extremely high.

As your senior’s blood pressure levels change and hopefully come down, she may not feel as well as she would like. Having help from elder care providers can help to smooth that transition.

If you or an aging loved one is considering hiring elder care in Sunnyvale, CA, please contact the caring staff at Home Helpers today (408) 317-4969.

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Helping Your Senior Eat Right

As the caregiver of an elderly parent, one the main areas you may support your parent in is eating right. Proper nutrition is always an important aspect of a healthy lifestyle but as our parents get older, it’s often common that eating properly is harder than ever. Seniors generally become less active and therefore eat less. Because they are eating less, it’s even more important that what they eat nutritious and filled with nutrients they need to maintain good health.

Several obstacles can make the desire to eat well and the ability to eat well a hard path to traverse. Having an elderly care provider in your parent’s life, can assist you in helping your parent make wise food choices.

Shopping can be the first obstacle many seniors have to overcome. Not only do they need safe transport to a local store (or have someone help them use an app or website to place food orders online), but they also need to know what to buy when they get there. As a caretaker, you can help by providing rides or lining up an elderly care provider to drive your parent to and from the grocery store as well as push the cart and/or help your parent reach items that are out of reach.

Another item to help your senior shop is the old-fashioned list! Whether your parent wants to write it down a piece of paper or use a list app on her phone, a list will ensure the right products get bought and not forgotten. To make sure good nutrient-rich items always make the list, have your parent always have categories that he fills in with what he would like to eat. Some important food categories to remember are:

  • Whole grains and a variety of grains
  • Variety and nutrient-density of fruits and vegetables
  • Low-fat and nonfat dairy foods, including milk products with reduced lactose
  • Oils low in saturated fats and lacking trans fats
  • Low-saturated fat and vegetable choices in the meat-and-beans food group
  • Fiber-rich foods in all food groups

If your senior is struggling with food ideas to fill each category, either yourself or your elderly care provider can help brainstorm some items that your senior may enjoy eating in each of these categories.

Once the shopping is complete, another possible stumbling block is meal prep. Some senior parents begin to lose the ability to complete a recipe or simply don’t have the energy for it. Have caregivers prep meals for the whole week that your senior can easily put in the microwave or oven to heat up and eat each day. You can use this time to bond together if you are able to do with your senior. Set up a day or evening each week to prep meals and your senior is sure to look forward to it.

Finally, sometimes eating alone can be lonely and actually decrease the appetite. An elderly care provider can be your parent’s lunch buddy to create the company needed to make each meal more enjoyable. Your elderly care professional can also help prepare the meal and clean up after so that your parent will not feel overwhelmed by additional tasks often required with preparing a home-made meal instead of a frozen meal.

Good food choices are an important part of your aging parent’s life and will affect all aspects of her quality of life.

Source: https://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/news/20071220/over70-adults-get-new-food-pyramid

If you or an aging loved one is considering hiring elderly care in Campbell, CA, please contact the caring staff at Home Helpers today (408) 317-4969.

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What Do You Do If Your Mom is Nervous About Starting Senior Care?

Hiring caregivers is always tricky. Your mom needs help with daily activities, but she’s also very shy and isn’t comfortable around strangers. When you schedule senior care services, what do you do if she’s not comfortable with her new caregiver?

Try to Be There for the First Week or Two

While your mom adjusts, consider working from an office or den within her house. Don’t intervene or try to be part of the adjustment, but it may help your mom feel comfortable if you’re in the same building. If she’s panicking or struggling, you can help calm her down before returning to work.

As she adjusts and gets to know her caregiver, start leaving the house to run quick errands. Eventually, she’ll be okay being left alone with her new caregiver and won’t need you there.

Start Small and Increase From There

Instead of throwing your mom into a full day of senior care services, start small and increase as she acclimates to the change. Have the caregiver come one day a week for a few hours. As your mom gets used to it, add a second day and longer hours. Work up to a schedule that covers everything your mom needs help completing.

Be Prepared to Switch if Needed

You could always force your mom to deal with it, but it can be detrimental to her mental health. She may know she will never get along with this person and have a hard time explaining exactly why. Personality conflicts happen at any age. Some people just don’t click.

If that happens, ask for a different caregiver. You might have to try a few out, but with time and patience, you’ll eventually find the right caregiver.

Consider Addressing Social Anxiety With Her Doctor

Your mom might benefit from discussing social anxiety with her doctor. Shyness and social anxiety are different, but if having a caregiver is causing her stress, it’s worth asking her doctor for advice. If it is social anxiety, some techniques can be used to help her.

Work With a Senior Care Agency That Understands the Nervousness

Address this issue with the senior care provider when you make arrangements. Let them know that she’s shy and may not take to a stranger in her home. There’s the chance that she’ll be allowed to talk to different caregivers and get to ask questions before someone arrives at her house. This will make her first days of senior care services go smoothly.

If you or an aging loved one is considering hiring senior care in Los Gatos, CA, please contact the caring staff at Home Helpers today (408) 317-4969.

Clutter Management Tips for Your Elderly Loved One

It is a normal thing for your elderly loved one to want to keep all of their stuff. They have been on this Earth for many years. They want to hold on tight to all of their memories. However, it is also important for your elderly loved one to keep clutter out of their home. The more clutter they have, the more likely they are to fall. In addition, if they do fall, they could get injured on the stuff that is around their home. Your loved one doesn’t necessarily have to get rid of everything. However, there are some clutter management tips that you or an elderly care provider could help them with.

Do One Thing at a Time

If you or an elderly care provider is helping your loved one to declutter, it is important to only do one thing at a time. For instance, you can help your elderly loved one to clean out one drawer or one shelve at a time. Everything didn’t accumulate all at once. It isn’t reasonable to clean and organize it all in one day. Taking this process slower can help your elderly loved one to accept that they need to declutter. It could make them more likely to get rid of things they don’t need.

Keeping Some Things

If your elderly loved one has a lot of clutter, don’t push them to get rid of everything. It is a good idea for them to keep some things. For instance, if your elderly loved one has a full closet full of their deceased spouse’s clothes, encourage them to box away most of it. They can keep a few items in the closet. If they can’t bring themselves to get rid of the rest of the items, they can box them up and put in a storage unit, in the basement, or the garage.

Have a Spot for Everything

When helping your elderly loved one to declutter, it is important to encourage them to find a spot for everything. For instance, if your elderly loved one wants a place for knick-knacks, encourage them to have one shelving unit for them. If they have additional knick-knacks, it might be a good idea to have them store those away someplace. Having a spot for everything will reduce the clutter on counters and on the floor.

Conclusion

These are some of the clutter management tips that you and an elderly care provider can help your loved one with. If your loved one can get their clutter under control, they will have a more organized home. In addition, it can reduce the risk of having a fall. It can also reduce their risk of getting an injury if they fall, too.

Sources

https://www.aarp.org/home-family/your-home/info-2014/declutter-tips-for-home.html

If you or an aging loved one is considering hiring homecare in Sunnyvale, CA, please contact the caring staff at Home Helpers today (408) 317-4969.

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How Does Stress Impact Your Dad’s Health?

You know stress is normal. You also know that it can cause health issues if it goes unmanaged. How does stress impact your dad’s health? What can you do to help him avoid common complications from unmanaged stress?

Health Issues Linked to Excessive Stress

Studies have shown that excessive stress can impact the heart. One study found that stress causes high levels of stress hormones that impact the nervous system and the brain. It found that chronic stress shrank the size of the brain, which impacted cognitive function and memory.

Stress is also believed to impact the immune system. It makes a person dealing with chronic stress more likely to contract illnesses like the flu or the common cold from others.

One other study found that excessive stress can impact the heart. Chronic stress can cause the heart to skip a beat or have a heartbeat that occurs with less force than a normal one. It can lower blood pressure and raise the risk of blood clots forming.

How Do You Decrease Stress?

If your dad is often stressed, how do you help him better manage the things causing it? First, you have to figure out what causes his stress. Some of the more common stressors as you age are the death of a spouse, moving to a new home, being diagnosed with a chronic condition, or struggling financially.

Once you’ve figured out some of his triggers, it’s time to take steps to use methods to decrease his stress. If his stress is related to his finances, it may be time to help him with bills and budgeting. If it’s related to a chronic health issue, hire home care services to offer him the support he needs at home.

Your dad may be embarrassed to say he needs help around the home. The next time you visit, look at his house to see if his laundry is piling up, his house is clean, or his refrigerator is empty. He may need supportive care services as he ages at home. Services like housekeeping, transportation, and meal preparation will help.

How do you arrange home care? Call an agency and talk to a specialist about your dad’s health, living situation, and abilities. If he struggles with mobility, caregivers can help him move around the home, get out of bed or a chair/sofa, and walk up and down the stairs.

Talk to a specialist to learn more about the full range of home care services available in his area. One call helps you find out more about pricing, services, and schedules.

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Four Ideas to Help Your Senior Have a Healthier Bladder

When you can help your elderly family member to have as healthy a bladder as possible, that means she’s going to be better prepared against things like bladder infections and other problems. Some of those issues can lead to bigger problems, and you definitely want to avoid those for your senior.

Don’t Rush Bathroom Trips

Whether your elderly family member is waiting until she’s in a hurry to go or she’s trying to rush through her trip once she’s there, hurrying really has no place in bathroom trips. Reducing some of the stress around going to the bathroom is important. One way to do that is to start scheduling bathroom visits every couple of hours or so. Knowing that she doesn’t have to rush can help a lot.

Reduce Factors Likely to Irritate Her Bladder

The human bladder is a lot more sensitive than most people realize until it’s irritated. As your senior gets older, her bladder may be affected by a variety of different stimuli that maybe didn’t pose problems in the past. Carbonated beverages, spicy foods, and even caffeine can all present problems. It helps if you can help your senior to start tracking what she’s eating and drinking so that she can start to notice what’s causing issues.

Help Her to Remember to Drink Water

Water and drinking plenty of it is always important for your senior’s health. It’s especially important for bladder health, which is why it’s a good idea to devise ways to help her to remember to drink plenty of water. Talk to your senior’s doctor about how much water is right for her and then ramp up to that amount. Easing into that total amount means your senior is more likely to stick with her new water habit.

Revamp Her Wardrobe a Bit

Your senior’s clothing might be the last thing you think about when it comes to keeping her bladder healthier, but it really can help. If she’s used to wearing tighter fitting clothing, that can contribute to bladder infections. Likewise, natural fibers let more air flow close to her skin, which can also help to reduce bladder infections and other skin issues.

A lot of these changes can be tough for your senior to manage all at once or on her own. Having help from elder care providers can make that transition a lot easier and you’ll know she’s got help with anything that’s getting complicated.

If you or an aging loved one is considering hiring elder care in San Jose, CA, please contact the caring staff at Home Helpers today (408) 317-4969.

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Tips for Getting Your Elderly Loved One to Accept Your Help

Do you really want to help your elderly loved one? Every time you try, do they seem to shut you down? This can be very frustrating. However, at the same time, it is important to remember that your elderly loved one is likely trying to preserve their dignity and pride. With this being said, one of the best things to do to get your elderly loved one to accept help is to understand why they are resisting.

Out of Habit

One of the reasons why your elderly loved one might be declining your help is out of habit. They might be so used to taking care of themselves and doing things on their own, they find it hard to accept help. If this seems to be the case, then have a few talks with your loved one. Let them know that you don’t want to take anything away from them. You aren’t trying to take over everything. Ask them what they are willing to let you help with?

Due to Their Pride

Your elderly loved one might be resisting your help because of their pride. If they start asking for or accepting help, it means they are admitting they can’t do things on their own. They are admitting they have a mental or physical health issue they can’t take care of on their own. This can be difficult for your elderly loved one to admit. Talk with them and let them know that you don’t want them to feel bad. Let them know they are still strong and independent. Explain that you don’t think any differently of them because they need some extra help.

Privacy Matters

Many elderly people don’t want to ask for or accept help because of their privacy. For instance, if your elderly loved one now needs help in the shower or bath, they may not want help. They likely don’t want a family member looking at them when they don’t have clothes on. If this makes your elderly loved one feel uncomfortable, they might feel better having caregivers help them instead.

The Cost

Did you offer to hire caregivers to assist your elderly loved one? Did they resist or say no to the help? It might be due to the cost. Your elderly loved one might be feeling financially stressed out. They might not feel that the extra help is a necessary cost. If this is the case, talk to your elderly loved one about finding affordable help. Let them know that there are programs that often help with caregivers and the services they provide.

Conclusion

These are some of the reasons why your elderly loved one might be resisting help. However, if you talk to your loved one and understand what is going on, they might be more willing to open up. They might be willing to receive the extra help from you or from professional caregivers.

Sources

https://www.hhs.gov/aging/index.html

If you or an aging loved one is considering hiring caregivers in Sunnyvale, CA, please contact the caring staff at Home Helpers today (408) 317-4969.

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Why Is Clutter Becoming a Problem for Your Senior?

Your senior’s belongings may be more important to her than you realize. What seems like clutter without a cause can actually have a lot more riding on it than she’s let you know. Understanding what you’re up against can help you to make the right choices for her.

Everything Triggers a Memory

One of the biggest reasons that anyone holds onto physical items is because those items have memories associated with them. That’s not a bad thing at all, but sometimes there are too many items that have memories attached to them and they might be overpowering your senior’s home. Often by the later stages of life, your senior has collected items from her past that she wants to share with other family members. That heritage might be better served by handing down those items now to clear the space your senior needs.

She’s Dealing with Other Issues

Poor health, whether that’s from physical ailments or from mental health issues like depression or anxiety, can create issues for your senior with clutter, too. It can become too much or too painful to be able to manage the items that have built up over time. In the past, those items might not have posed a problem, but when your senior’s ability to deal with them fades, that can indicate that she might need to pare them down a bit.

Disposal Seems Impossible

Many of the items that are “cluttering” your senior’s home might not be small at all. They might be larger pieces of furniture. Or they could be smaller items that seem overwhelming simply because there are so many of them. Regardless, disposing of this type of clutter can feel really impossible for your elderly family member, so she may simply try to ignore it.

She Doesn’t Want to Lose Anything

Loss and fear of loss can drive a lot of what your senior chooses to do, especially with clutter. Your elderly family member may reach a point where having lost a lot throughout her life, it becomes painful to think about losing anything else, even if that item seems to serve no purpose in her life. Many people who experience this issue can become hoarders, which can bring with it other problems.

Safety is the biggest concern for your senior overall. That may mean that it’s time for you and her to talk seriously about the clutter she’s got in her home. Elderly care providers may be able to help your senior to maintain her home after you’ve done the decluttering.

If you or an aging loved one is considering hiring elderly care in Los Gatos, CA, please contact the caring staff at Home Helpers today (408) 317-4969.

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