Five Healthy Improvements for Your Home
Renovations or even little adjustments to your home can make a world of difference for the health of senior loved ones. Here are five big improvements that can do wonders for them:
- Set up a gym area.
Making your home healthier can be as straightforward as dedicating a room in your house for exercising. This will leave you with no more excuses for not having the time or means to get in shape. Think about the perks, too: it lets you skip out on commutes and gym membership fees.
If you decide to clear out a room to turn it into a gym space, make sure that it is spacious enough for the senior-friendly fitness equipment that you will be keeping there. Have enough empty space for other workouts, and install a mirror as well.
- Get a hot tub.
A hot tub is a luxurious way to stay warm during the colder months of the year. It also improves health by inducing relaxation and improving metabolism. Seniors in particular can reap its benefits without the physical demands of working out.
Source your tub from a reputable hot tub provider to ensure its durability. Buying from trusted companies also guarantees that your hot tub will have features that will further enhance the experience of your elderly family.
- Tend to your garden.
Gardening is therapeutic for everyone, including the elderly. It is a quiet activity that is also visually pleasing, especially when a garden is cared for well. Tending to a garden is a light form of exercise that keeps the body healthy without being strenuous.
To make a garden more accessible for seniors, it may be best to minimize the need to bend down and kneel as much as possible. You can accomplish this by decreasing the area of your garden and raising the beds to make them easier to reach.
- Let natural light in.
Getting a good dose of natural light increases vitamin D levels for both young people and seniors. It also helps fight off seasonal depression and improve sleep. Introduce more light to your home by simply drawing your curtains and opening windows at daytime.
Having more natural light also makes you less dependent on fluorescent lighting. They can induce migraines and eye strain, so older adults are much better off with natural sources of light.
If there is not enough sunlight that comes into your house, it may be a good idea to have larger windows built in. You can also brighten the atmosphere by painting the walls a lighter shade.
- Make use of aromatherapy.
Health issues such as respiratory problems and arthritis can be huge hindrances to a good quality of life for older people. While medication is important in addressing these, aromatherapy also alleviates the discomfort caused by these illnesses.
Essential oils emit pleasant smells that reduce stress and help deal with anxiety and depression. The pleasant fragrances can improve one’s mood by triggering positive memories.
Choose an oil diffuser that can run for a long period daily to maintain the relaxed atmosphere in your home. There are options on the market that also have a color-changing feature to give a room an even more relaxing ambiance.
Being Attentive to Seniors’ Well-being
The National Council on Aging reports that 80% of older adults have a chronic disease. On the other hand, 77% suffer from at least two. As the caretakers of our aging loved ones, we must be aware of how best to take care of the health concerns they have. But this poses new challenges amidst the virus.
Regular checkups and maintenance medication are essentials in this. But during this time when mobility is limited, improving their home life has also become a bigger priority than before.
The changing mental and physical needs of our aging loved ones allow us all to become more sensitive about these. As we pay more attention, we can be their partners in helping them live better and healthier lives in their later years.
