The winter is a time of the year that many people don’t enjoy very much. It’s cold, dark, and the days are so much shorter. It can set off seasonal affective disorder (SAD), or at the very least, just make people unhappy. Spring is certainly something to look forward to.
If you have senior family members to take care of during the winter, this time of the year can be even harder to deal with. Older people often have a poorer immune system, thinner skin, and more brittle bones, which means that they catch bugs, feel colder and can fall and slip and break bones more easily in icy conditions. With all of this in mind, here are some of the ways you can keep senior family members comfortable this winter.
Find A Care Home
Although not every senior person will thrive within a care home environment, for some, it really is the best place to go, and winter might be when you – and they – realize that the time is right to start inquiries.
If their own home is hard to keep warm, expensive to keep up and has potential hazards within it, then searching out the ideal care home in Banstead is an excellent option. You can rest assured that when living in a care home, they will be taken care of, kept warm, and there will be no hazards in their way. Winter no longer has to be a worrying time.
Keep The House Warm
One of the most important things you can do for a senior loved one is to ensure their homes are kept properly warmed throughout the cold winter months. The first thing you should check is the boiler – is it working correctly? If so, you can set a timer and ensure that the heating is on before your loved one gets out of bed in the morning, keeping their homes warmer. If the boiler is not working properly, it should be serviced to ensure that it works as well as possible. Do this sooner rather than later, as the closer you get to Christmas, the harder it will be to find an engineer.
You can also check the insulation in the attic and throughout the house. If the insulation needs fixing or replacing, this should be done as a matter of urgency since you will lose a lot of heat otherwise.
Keep Healthy
Your senior loved one will also need to exercise during the winter. No matter how tempting it might be to snuggle up under a blanket and do nothing at all, it’s far better to move around for between 10 and 30 minutes a day – and ideally more if that’s possible. How much exercise your senior loved one can do will depend on their fitness and mobility levels. Of course, indoor exercise is going to be the safest option since it could be icy outside.
You must also ensure your loved one is wearing layers of clothing. This is far better at keeping them warm than thick clothing, as the heat becomes trapped between the layers and remains. It also means that if they get too hot, they can remove some layers to become more comfortable.
