Taking care of senior adults is vital during the pandemic since some of them find it challenging to perform some tasks that younger people find easy to carry out. But some senior adults still want to take care of themselves. So, they need to know how to take care of themselves.
Self-care allows them to feel nourished and ease any feelings of anxiety and stress. The pandemic made it essential for senior adults to take care of themselves to reduce contact with other people. And even after around 62 percent of the population got vaccinated, senior adults should know what to do to take care of themselves. Here are the things that senior adults should take into account when they take care of themselves.
Recognize the Issue
Before they take care of themselves, senior adults should recognize that there is an issue that they need to resolve. While many senior adults survived the first year of the pandemic, the recent surge in the number of cases poses another challenge for them. They should recognize this challenge and focus on keeping themselves safe amid the emergence of new variants of the virus.
If they feel sad due to the situation, they should acknowledge the feeling and express the sadness that they feel. This is particularly true if they cannot socialize due to the increasing number of cases in different parts of the country. Recognizing the issue allows them to find ways to deal with it. It also helps them maintain their emotional and mental health.
Stay Active
Exercising has always been a good way for people to stay healthy. And this is particularly true among senior adults. While some senior adults can continue with their physical exercises, others can perform simple tasks that help them stay healthy.
The pandemic also made it essential to stay safe while performing physical activities. One way to stay fit is by taking care of a garden. Gardening allows senior adults to improve their strength and endurance. It also allows them to relax and lower stress levels.
Since they are working outside the house, it helps them get their daily dose of vitamin D. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium. It also protects senior adults from high blood pressure, depression, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, among others.
Senior adults can also take a walk around the neighborhood to help them stay fit. The important thing is that they avoid staying home all the time. They should get on their feet and perform physical activities to release endorphins to make them feel good.
Eat Healthy Food
Aside from exercising, senior adults should have a nourishing meal. The meal should also satisfy their taste buds to allow them to feel good about themselves. The act of cooking food also offers some therapeutic and psychosocial benefits for senior adults. It also gives them a sense of connectedness and belongingness, especially if they are cooking for their loved ones.
Senior adults also require a healthy meal to ensure they have the strength that they need to perform their daily exercises. They should also make sure their food provides for their daily nutritional requirements.
Staying in an assisted living facility makes this easier since the facility has personnel who ensure its residents have a healthy diet. They also cater to special diets whenever necessary to ensure the resident have a healthy meal while staying at the facility. These facilities also have nutritionists who can make sure everyone receive0073 the right amount of nutrients they need each day.
Get Enough Rest
Getting enough rest is also important to keep people healthy and fit, especially senior adults. They need around seven to nine hours of sleep every day. Even though sleeping patterns change as people grow older, senior adults should identify the causes of their insomnia if they find it challenging to sleep at night.
The common causes of insomnia include medical conditions, poor sleeping environment, lack of exercise, and medication, among others. When they find why they cannot sleep well, they should deal with it to allow them to get enough rest every day.
Resting is important to ensure their immune system functions properly. This is important to reduce the risk of getting infected with the virus. Senior adults should also understand that their stress levels will increase when they do not get enough rest. Additionally, people will make poor decisions and be less focused if they do not get enough sleep.
The current health crisis makes it essential for senior adults to take care of themselves to allow them to avoid getting infected by the virus.
