Your elderly loved one may have jokingly said that once he retires, he’s going to spend all of his retirement days sitting on the front porch drinking sweet tea and watching the neighbors. While relaxing and enjoying life is an important part of your loved one’s golden years, adding regular activity will help him enjoy them to the fullest for a long time. As a caregiver, it can often be difficult to encourage sedentary elderly loved ones to be regularly active, but it’s such an important part of their overall health that it’s worth the battle. Seek the help of a companion care at home provider to work with your loved one, too.
Four Benefits of Physical Activity for Seniors
- It can decrease the risk of many chronic health conditions. Even if your loved one enters his retirement in great shape, if he doesn’t stay active, his risk of developing a chronic health condition increases. Regular activity can help prevent diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and some cancers.
- It keeps his brain sharp. Regular exercise not only exercises his muscles, but it also provides stimulation for the brain. The brain is actively at work when a person exercises, making many decisions and processing all of the environmental factors needed to help the body perform well.
- It increases emotional health. Physical activity helps the body produce those feel-good hormones that can help stave off mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. It also helps increase a person’s feelings of self-esteem.
- It reduces the risk of falling. Staying sedentary can increase the risk of falling for your elderly loved one since they won’t be keeping their muscles in their best shape. Exercise can help prevent your loved one from diseases such as osteoporosis and sarcopenia, an age-related loss of muscle mass, strength, and function. Both conditions can increase his risk of falling and sustaining a serious injury.
How to Encourage Physical Activity
Begin by meeting with your loved one’s doctor and him to talk about what activity is safe for him. For many individuals, hearing it from a trusted doctor can give more credence to the concept of being physically active well into their retirement years. Once you have some guidelines from his doctor, try these four steps to help your loved one begin and maintain regular physical activity.
Start slowly. Even just an extra 10 minutes a day of walking is a start. Provide positive feedback for any small beginnings and then build upon those.
Find things he likes to do. If your loved one hates swimming, then joining a gym with a great lap pool is probably not for them. Think about what he liked to do before retirement. A nature enthusiast may enjoy joining a hiking club, or a sports fan may like looking for local teams or leagues to join.
Find him someone to exercise with. Having an accountability partner can keep your loved one on track. A companion care at home provider can join him in some activities if he likes company when he exercises. Having a companion care at home provider can help him to exercise longer and receive the benefit of companionship as well.
Don’t let him quit. Even if your loved one missed his daily workout or illness forced him to take a break for a week, encourage him to contact his companion care at home provider and get right back to exercising so he can stay healthy.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Companion Care at Home Services in Medfield, MA, please get in touch with the caring staff at Care Resolutions, Inc. today at (508) 906-5572
CARE Resolutions, Inc. provides quality 24-Hour Home Care for seniors and families in Walpole, Dover, Wellesley, Framingham, Norfolk, Quincy, Weston, Medfield, Boston, Sherborn, MA, and surrounding areas.
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