How to Improve the Seniors’ Quality of Life

As people get older and become seniors, their quality of life deteriorates. While it’s great that you care for them at home and give them their basic needs, you must also look after their emotional and mental needs. 

It should help them maintain a positive outlook in life, thereby improving and maintaining the overall quality and wellbeing. In fact, it can also help lessen some medical issues that older adults face, such as lack of appetite, cognitive stress, heart attacks, strokes, etc.

Ways to Improve A Senior Loved One’s Quality of Life

So, how can you help improve the quality of life for seniors? Here are some ways to do that:

1. Make them feel valued

All of us, no matter what age, need to feel valued. But for senior loved ones, most adult children tend to dismiss them as no longer needed because of fear that something might happen if they’d be allowed to do the activities they like doing, such as helping around the house, cooking, or cleaning. 

This dismissal makes seniors feel like they are no longer useful and is already a burden to the rest of the family. While you must pay attention to their physical restrictions, allowing them to do things they enjoy would make them feel valued and still needed. 

2. Encourage them to do some physical activities

Don’t let your senior dear ones only sit or lay down all day. Encourage them to do some physical activities, such as walking or even dancing. It doesn’t have to be vigorous, but mild and regular exercises can help stimulate blood flow, improve heart health, and relieve stress and anxiety. 

It could also help improve their sleeping patterns, build their stamina, and even ease depression. Without a doubt, these exercises directly connect and improve their overall health, physically, mentally, even emotionally.

3. Monitor and treat any signs of depression

Speaking of depression, older people are particularly prone to it for many reasons – loss of job, inability to care for a child, death in the family, immobility, disease, cognitive impairment, and more. 

Depression is a serious medical condition. Look out for these signs from your loved ones and seek professional advice immediately if you find it in them:

• Irritability

• Sadness

• Fatigue

• Abnormal sleeping patterns

• Complaints of pains without a physical cause

• Feeling of hopelessness

4. Keep them connected

What can be worse than the feeling of isolation? You may not notice it with the hustle and bustle of your daily lives, but your loved ones may already be feeling separated from the outside world. 

To avoid this, keep them connected to family, friends, and even the local community. Arrange visits and do engaging activities together, like eating, going on short trips, walking together, even singing. Whatever you can do to help your loved ones still feel the sense of belonging and connection will improve their quality of life tenfold.

5. Keep them mentally active

Seniors, just like everyone else, need to keep their minds active, and you can all play a role in making it happen. Allocate some time to play mind games with them, such as scrabble, crossword puzzles, sudoku, or whatever the elders in the family fancy playing. 

Encourage them to read books or watch brain-stimulating game shows. Find an interest that involves using their minds and encourage them to create a hobby from it. Even simple sharing of stories over dinner will be an excellent practice to stimulate their brain and keep it active.

5. Create a fun environment for them

From flowers to music to just about anything to improve your seniors’ quality of life, do it as much as you can. Create a fun environment for them to let them know you value them. 

Make sure they are eating well and have a healthy diet. Let them go out and interact with the community as much as they desire. Ensure that they take all their medications on time. Take pictures and videos with them. Allocate as much time with them as you can. You’ll never know how long you can still do fun things with them. 

Conclusion

Remember when you were still a kid? Do you still remember how much your mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, took care of you when you were little? 

Now that they’re old, it’s your opportunity to care for them, not out of responsibility but of love. The overall quality of their life depends on that.