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From Home Care Assistance
Everyone should strive to live the best life possible, and seniors have a unique opportunity to show others how to find happiness throughout the aging process. These seven tips are perfect for every senior who wants to live a happy life in old age.
1. Prioritize Family and Friends
Social connections are the key to happiness with age. Friends and family members are the perfect people to lift your aging loved one up when he or she is feeling down. They’re also the ones who will be there to celebrate your loved one’s special moments. Make it a point to call or visit your loved one whenever you can. Seniors who live alone can also benefit from the companionship of a compassionate professional caregiver. Whether they require around-the-clock supervision or just need assistance with exercise and household tasks a few days a week, seniors can enjoy a higher quality of life with the help of trusted in-home caregivers.
2. Keep Smiling
It sounds simple, but it’s often difficult to smile when times get tough. However, just the act of smiling triggers hormones in the body associated with happiness. Encourage your loved one to smile in the mirror when first waking up in the morning. Starting off with a smile may set a positive tone for the whole day.
3. Discover New Interests
It’s easier to be happy when there are things to look forward to each day. Seniors can take classes and explore different hobbies that stimulate the mind and body. If your loved one takes a class and doesn’t like it, he or she can move on to the next thing. Your loved one will eventually find some new activities that fill him or her with joy.
4. Stay Healthy
Little health problems can become big ones that reduce happiness. For instance, an injury that goes untreated could lead to chronic pain that makes it difficult to feel happy. Seniors should make a promise to themselves to keep regularly scheduled health checkup appointments and go in for exams when they have unusual symptoms. They should also follow the basic tenets of a healthy lifestyle to stave off common health conditions that occur with aging. If your loved one sustains an injury or develops a health condition, help is only a phone call away. Some seniors only require help with a few daily tasks so they can maintain their independence. However, those living with serious illnesses may need more extensive assistance. Home can be a safer and more comfortable place for your loved one to live with the help of an expertly trained and dedicated live-in caregiver.
5. Maintain a Sense of Humor
The idea that seniors lose their sense of humor is a myth. Your loved one can choose to continue to laugh at the funny things in life so he or she can blow off the bad things that happen. When watching a funny movie or telling a few jokes with friends, your loved one may find that laughter really is contagious, and hearing a funny story may lift his or her spirits.
6. Go Outside Every Day
Sunshine is a major mood booster. When your loved one starts to feel down, encourage him or her to go for a short walk outside. Even sitting on the porch in the sunshine for a few minutes can work wonders for emotional health.
7. Give Back to the Community
After retirement, seniors have more time to do things they have always wanted to do to make other people’s lives better. Try to think of a skill your loved one can use to share with the community. Whether your loved one writes cards to soldiers who are stationed overseas or helps with grooming dogs at the animal shelter, he or she will feel good knowing these actions have made other people smile. These tips can help your loved one enjoy a happy life throughout the golden years, and assistance is available so he or she can age in place safely. If your senior loved one needs help managing an illness or assistance with daily tasks, make sure you secure a top-rated provider of elderly home care, who can help your loved one live a happier and healthier life in the golden years.
How others can make seniors feel useful and needed
When you care for an older adult, do your best to make them feel like you still need their help and that they’re not a burden.
Even if they can’t do these tasks efficiently or perfectly, that’s ok. What’s important is that they’re contributing.
Ask for help with tasks they can handle, such as:
Folding laundry
Organizing drawers
Opening the mail
Writing grocery or household to-do lists
Clipping coupons
Keeping you up to date on the news
Prepping dinner – for example, trimming vegetables
Going with you to help shop for groceries or run other errands
Sense of purpose
Regardless of age, one of the most central facets of building a good quality of life is having a sense of purpose. But, for those who are retired, or don’t have family members to care for, this sense of purpose is still paramount. Doing something for others — or for your community — can be deeply fulfilling.
Providing opportunities to nurture this sense of purpose – whether it’s volunteering at a local charity, or gardening, can significantly boost elderly people’s quality of life.
In fact, there are not only emotional benefits to this, but physiological ones, too. Dozens of studies have shown that seniors with a sense of purpose in life are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, disabilities, heart attacks or strokes, and more likely to live longer than people without this kind of underlying motivation.