We would all like for our bodies to work when we get older as they worked when we were 20. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Most times, the elderly have difficulty performing different routine tasks, and that’s why we should do whatever we can to help them.
There are also a ton of products out there that make life easier for the seniors. There are smart toilet seats, motorized shoes, teachers, rechargeable magnifying glasses, smart pillows, etc. But there are also a lot of things that we can do for the elderly.
Things We Can Do for Seniors
It’s important to know that every human wants to socialize, especially the elderly. We owe it to our grandparents to talk to them and have fun with them. After all, they raised our parents, and they probably had a hand in raising us as well.
Prevent loneliness
Loneliness leads to depression, and it happens later in life, usually because we lose someone we love, or because of other stressful events. It’s hard to make time for different people every day, but you can make it a routine.
The worst thing is being alone for an entire day with nobody checking up on you. Reflect on that for a moment. Luckily, our grandparents have their children and grandchildren to spend time with. It’s important to be surrounded by family.
This is the first and most important thing we need to do for our elderly. Take care of them in a manner that they don’t feel alone and isolated.
Engage them in activity
It’s important to keep yourself physically active, especially in old age. It doesn’t have to be a high-intensity exercise, there are other exercises designed for elderly people. So, keep them physically engaged.
These exercises can lower their blood pressure, improve their stamina and strength, relieve anxiety, and improve their sleep. There’s a lot more they can do. However, there’s also the mental part of activity.
They need to be mentally active as well, and that’s where crosswords, chess, dominos, and other games that engage in logic. It’s important to exercise the mind because it needs to stay sharp, especially when we get older.
Remind them you need them
The last thing anybody wants is to feel not needed by anyone. That’s why we need to remind our elderly that they are an important part of our society, and that we still need them. It’s best to include them in different daily tasks.
They can fold the laundry, wash the dishes, and do other tasks that are significant to the household. Also, the best way of making somebody feel needed is to ask them for help and explanation. There are still things that they know to do and we don’t.
Products Making Life Easier for Seniors
There’s a point in our life when we have problems with our vision, with our wrists, our muscles, and so on. The list seems endless, but it’s just a fact. The body ages and we can’t rely on our senses as much as we used to.
Apart from great in-home senior care there are a few products that can make the lives of the elderly much easier. So, let’s look at these handy products.
With different vision impairments come different needs. A simple and usually inexpensive product that can make life easier for seniors is a remote with big buttons. Imagine trying to change the channel, but you can’t see the buttons.
It’s very frustrating, that’s why these remotes are a lifesaver. Anything with larger buttons can help a lot when someone has poor vision.
2. Colored keys
Instead of doing the key-guessing dance, which means going through every key on their keyring before they get the right one, we can get colored keys for seniors. Color is a powerful mnemonic device that helps them differentiate the keys according to their uses.
It’s also good if the key ring is larger so that they can feel it in the pocket. The reason it is good is that when it’s not in the pocket, we feel that something is missing, and that’s how we know we forgot something.
3. Fix for the rugs
Even younger adults like us trip over rugs, but we’re still young, so we have good reflexes and we can prevent ourselves from falling over. Unfortunately, the older generations don’t have razor-sharp reflexes, and there’s a huge possibility they’ll fall over and suffer injury.
Getting some rug tape can fix this issue. Actually, it can prevent the issue, because taping the rug to the hardwood floor, or any other floor prevents tripping and falling. Get a double-sided tape for aesthetics.
4. Smart toilet seat
A smart toilet seat can be of great help for the elderly. Sometimes it’s quite difficult to perform the daily toilet routine, and the smart toilet seat makes sense in these situations. Most of these come with heaters.
There are other functions such as an air dryer, slow closing, energy saving, massage functions, etc. With this kind of toilet seat, it’s a pleasure to go to the bathroom. They even have a deodoriser.
5. Clip-on book lights
When you get older, it’s difficult to read as it is. Imagine going to bed and reading your favorite book. You get sleepy and tired, you want to sleep, but you have to get up and turn off the light because you can’t sleep with the lights on.
As soon as you get up, you feel less sleepy, and when you go back to bed, you can read a little more before you become sleepy again. To avoid this entire situation, you can use a clip-on book light. Once you get to bed, you can sleep after you’re done reading the book.
Take off the clip-on light, turn it off and put the book aside. This can make life easier for everybody, not just the elderly.
6. Seat cane
It’s like carrying their own seat everywhere they go. The product is a cane that turns into a seat, and it’s great. They can aid older people when walking, but they can also become a seat when they get tired.
Just open it and sit in a line when waiting in front of the pharmacy or the post office. Waiting can be tiresome and when we get older, our bones become more fragile and we can’t stand for a long time, so we can easily sit with a seat cane.
7. Robot vacuum cleaner
Vacuuming is a hard task, especially if we own a powerful vacuum. A powerful vacuum equals a cleaner floor and room. However, a powerful vacuum also equals vacuuming difficulty for the elderly.
The invention of robot vacuum cleaners is a genuine breakthrough in finishing daily chores. It’s so convenient and the seniors can rest and relax while it finishes vacuuming their floor. They can do the other things related to cleaning.
8. Pillbox
The more we age, the more pills we need to take every day. That’s why having a box for pills makes life much easier. You even have those sorting boxes that go according to days and times. We don’t have to think about which pill we need to take or if we already took it but forgot.
This doesn’t cost a lot, and it seriously improves quality of life. Imagine taking a larger dose than prescribed. It can cause a lot of damage.
Giving Back to The Community
It’s not like they didn’t give back to the community, they actually help build the community as it is. However, because most people have a sense of purpose during their lifetime and they work most of their life, the elderly need a sense of purpose as well.
We can help them achieve this by making them remember what their hobbies were and get them reintroduced to those hobbies. There are also senior services they can enroll into such as foster grandparents or senior assistants.
Conclusion
We need to show our elderly citizens the respect they deserve, and we need to do anything we can to make their lives easier because one day we’ll be walking in their shoes and we would like for our younger generations to do the same thing for us.
That’s why we need to show them they are not alone, that we need them, and that among the cane seats, robot vacuum cleaners, and smart toilet seats, we will continue to make products that make their life easier.
Author bio:
My name is Grace Wilson. I’m a 27-year-old biotechnologist and kind of a bookish girl. Surfing the Internet is my favourite, that’s why I’ve turned into blogging. Following a healthy mindset and lifestyle is what I consider my life principle. If interested, follow my Twitter.
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