Fall and winter are prime times for people to get sick more easily. This isn’t necessarily because it’s colder out, but often because immune systems are more strained. The right help from you and from home care assistance providers can boost your senior’s immune system and help her to stay healthier during peak cold and flu season.
Talk to Her Doctor First
Set aside some time to talk to your aging family member’s doctor about keeping her healthier. Even if you had this conversation a few months ago, some things might have changed. If there are vaccinations that might help, like pneumonia or flu shots, now might be the time to get those scheduled. Her doctor may have some other suggestions, too, especially if your elderly family member has experienced some other changes to her overall health.
Revamp Your Senior’s Diet a Bit
Check out your elderly family member’s diet. Ideally, it should be nutritionally dense and offer her the calories she needs in order to keep her body running and healthy. Your senior’s body needs nutrients, including protein, vitamins, and minerals, in order to keep her immune system strong. If cooking is something she’s avoiding, she might need some help from home care assistance professionals to make eating healthily easier.
Convince Your Senior to Hydrate
Everybody talks about drinking more water, but your senior might not realize how important hydration is for her immune system. The body is made up mostly of water, so getting enough water keeps every system working the way that it should. Even if your elderly family member thinks she’s drinking plenty of water, she could stand to drink a bit more most likely.
Work on Improving Your Senior’s Activity Levels
If she’s cleared by her doctor to exercise, your senior really should get moving. Exercise keeps her muscles and her bones strong, but it also improves circulation throughout the body. Has she been pretty sedentary lately? Even moving a little bit more is going to help.
Take Advantage of Sleep
Sleep does so much for your senior’s overall health and if she’s not sleeping as well as she could be, that needs to change. Setting a regular bedtime and wake-up time is a good start. From there, she should make sure she’s avoiding things like caffeine too late in the day because that can make sleep more difficult for her to get.
Kick Stress to the Curb
Stress does a number on health, so your senior needs to get rid of it as much as she can. That might even mean letting home care providers take over some tasks that are getting to be more troublesome for her. This can give your senior the space she needs to rest a little more and stop worrying about things that are making her anxious or frustrated.
Ideally, small changes can add up to big results for your elderly family member. Keeping her as healthy as possible doesn’t have to be difficult at all, especially with help from in-home care professionals.
Excerpt: Keeping your senior healthy means supporting her immune system as much as possible.