Tips for Facilitating Meaningful Days for a Loved One with Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s comes with a loss of cognitive skills on top of memory loss. This greatly limits the things an individual with this neurodegenerative condition can participate in, and requires caregivers to adopt different communication styles as the disease slowly progresses.
With these useful tips, you can ensure that your senior loved one has meaningful days and gets the most out of them!
Make & Follow a Routine
People with Alzheimer’s function better when they have a structured day ahead. It helps them stay focused as they go on about their daily tasks, facilitating their memory as well. This means you should make a routine, and stick to it!
For instance, make it a point to have meals at a specific time, at a particular place. Incorporate an outdoor activity after they’ve had their evening snack, even if it just means sitting peacefully in the garden. Bedtime should be at a particular hour as well, so as to avoid disrupting their sleeping patterns.
Encourage Them to Engage In an Outdoor Activity
Participating in physical activity and connecting with nature go hand in hand. As important as physical fitness is for older adults, it’s even more effective if done outdoors.
There’re several physical activities that are stimulating for people with Alzheimer’s. They can participate in different forms of exercise, depending on what best suits their range of motion. For individuals with limited mobility, there’re different types of seated exercises as well as chair yoga to choose from, which can be done in the garden outside.
Other activities such as gardening and bird watching also serve as relaxing and enjoyable ways to spend time outdoors. They help keep the mind at peace, promote a state of tranquility, reduce anxiety, and improve sleep. Make sure your elderly loved one is getting a dose of outdoor stimulation a couple of times each week, if not every day!
Have Them Participate in Household Chores
While your elderly loved one may no longer possess the agility they once did, that doesn’t mean they can’t participate in any household activity! In fact, a lot of older adults prefer staying involved in housework and helping out with small chores as it makes them feel productive and helps their self-esteem.
Depending on your loved one’s mobility and stage of Alzheimer’s, encourage them to engage in household activities. This could be something simple such as folding linen, or helping you set the table for meals. As long as the work doesn’t pose any physical danger to their health, individuals with Alzheimer’s can usually participate in these chores.
At AvantGarde Senior Living & Memory Care, our skilled nursing staff provides memory care services and assisted living facilities for older individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.
Call us at (818) 881-0055 to learn more about our senior living community in Sherman Oaks!