Many older adults suffer from boredom and loneliness.
They may have no idea how to fill their time or have cognitive issues, like dementia, that make it difficult for them to do activities they did in the past. A lack of meaningful activities can lead to a lack of sense of purpose and even depression. If you’re concerned about how much time your aging relative sits idle, elder care can help them by involving them in meaningful activities throughout the day.
What Are Meaningful Activities?
It can be difficult to define the term “meaningful activity” because they are different from one person to the next. Essentially, a meaningful activity is one that is stimulating and keeps your aging relative’s attention. It also involves the older adult’s personal interests.
There are many reasons to include meaningful activities in an older adult’s day, such as:
- Providing mental stimulation and improving cognitive health.
- Increasing physical activity.
- Improving sleep.
- Better self-esteem.
- Fewer problems with challenging behaviors in people with dementia.
- Better quality of life.
A meaningful activity can be nearly anything, so long as your older family member enjoys it, finds it engaging, and it gives them a feeling of accomplishment or purpose.
Sometimes the best way to determine what might be a meaningful activity for your aging relative is to think about what kinds of activities they enjoyed when they were younger or before a disability made the activity too difficult for them to do on their own. Many activities can be adapted to fit their current abilities. For example, if your elderly family member always prided themselves on keeping a clean and tidy house, they may find something as simple as folding a basket of towels meaningful. It can make them feel useful and like they are contributing to the running of the household.
Activities Elder Care Can Do with Seniors
There are many kinds of meaningful activities elder care providers can do with your aging relative to help fill their days and improve the quality of their lives. Some things elder care can do with the older adult are:
-Baking and Cooking: Elder care providers can choose simple recipes with easy to follow steps. They can also just help with the parts of cooking that are difficult, like opening jars or lifting heavy pots.
-Arts and Crafts: Seniors who enjoy creating things can continue to do so with the help of an elder care provider. Elder care providers can collect supplies and set up the project. They can also help older adults with dementia to get started, which is sometimes all they need to continue on their own.
-Reading: Older adults who like to read may lose their ability to do so because of poor vision or other problems. Or, they may be unable to get to the library to choose new books. Elder care providers can drive them to the library to get a book and read to them if they are unable to read on their own.
This is just a small sampling of the kinds of activities elder care providers can do with older adults. If there’s something your aging relative enjoys doing but has trouble doing on their own, talk to an elder care agency about how they can help.
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring Home Health Care in Cranford, NJ, call the caring staff at Helping Hands Home Care today at 908-418-4299. Providing Home Care Services in all of Northern and Central NJ, including Clark, Westfield, Cranford, Scotch Plains, Rahway, Linden, Summit, Edison, Elizabeth, Mountainside and the surrounding areas.
Sources
Verywellhealth.com/activity-ideas
Verywellhealth.com/activities
Blog.alz.org
After graduating from Seton Hall University with a BS in finance Helping Hands Homecare’s Owner / President, Robert D’Arienzo, went to work on Wall St. for six years. However, after Robert’s grandmother became ill with stomach cancer Robert and his family needed to find assistance in the home for her. After many trials and tribulations Robert could see that there was a great need for quality home care services here in NJ and loved the idea of being able to assist other families who were going through what his family went through with his beloved grandmother.
Thus, Robert had found his passion. After almost a year of preparation Robert opened Helping Hands Homecare in 2003. Robert wanted Helping Hands Homecare to focus on providing the highest quality of caregivers, exceptional customer service, and providing a service that familys could depend on in their time of need. Since then Helping Hands has assisted hundreds of individuals with the simplest of needs to more complex cases while preserving those standards set out many years ago.
Robert is a Google Verified Author
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