As you age, it is only natural to take in the aging progression in those around you too. From watching your children or family members grow up and experience life to seeing your parents enter their senior years and a new phase of their life.
Worrying about your parents as they get older is natural and something many people have concerns about, especially for those parents who have health or mobility issues. And as their children, you’ll want to do what’s best for them to support them so they can continue to live happy, healthy lives for as long as possible.
Whether the time is there or not to perish about their physical or cognitive limitations, there are some things you can do to help them stay in the best possible condition and enjoy their golden years exactly how they want to.
Stay Engaged
Staying engaged with your parents, involving them as much as you can or as they want to be, and ensuring they aren’t isolated are great ways to preserve their cognitive functions and help ward off depression. Depression in seniors is prevalent as their lives change, their social circles dwindle, and they become more isolated. The more connected people are at any age, the more likely they will be to remain physically and mentally healthy and ward off premature cognitive decline.
Keep Them Active
If they have health conditions or physical limitations, they should be active as much as possible within their capabilities. Being active can mean ensuring they get out for a walk every day; they might want to join a sports club or swim, for example. They may want to try strength training, which is massively beneficial in helping to preserve bone strength, muscle mass, and mobility; if you don’t use it, you will lose it after all.
It doesn’t matter how active they are, just that they are. Help them find something that keeps them moving and keeps the blood pumping.
Play Games
Playing brain training games can help keep one sharp and is thought to protect against cognitive decline. At the very least, it can stave off boredom, which can be beneficial on its own, too.
Games can be board games or crossword puzzles in a newspaper or magazine, or they can be digital games via a device like sudoku or card games. The actual game itself doesn’t matter; just the engagement and lying in the game that will keep the brain active. For instance, you can encourage your parents to play Sudoku on a daily basis or engage in a game of Scrabble with them.
Good Sleep
As we get older, our sleeping habits and patterns change, as does the amount of sleep we need. Your parents might be noticing this and potentially struggling to get enough sleep. Talk to them about their sleeping habits and leisure. They are getting enough sleep. There is no one hard and fast rule for how much sleep seniors need, but at least 7 hours per night for everyone is a good rule of thumb. If they’re struggling with sleeping, getting them more active during the day or helping them develop a good sleeping routine can be beneficial, too.
Improve Diet
If you’re concerned about premature cognitive decline or you want to avoid issues from becoming worse for your parents, helping them eat a balanced and nutritious diet full of brain-boosting foods can be precisely what the doctor ordered.
A nutritious diet supports physical health, and some foods contain nutrients your body needs to perform essential functions. Leafy green vegetables, fatty fish, berries, walnuts, and even tea and coffee can be beneficial additions to your diet and can go a long way to helping you support your parents’ cognitive abilities.
Social
Being social is an excellent way to help your parents stay mentally active and healthy. Isolation and loneliness, as mentioned before, can be detrimental, and encouraging your parents to be active within your family group can be highly beneficial. However, you can also encourage them to have their own social life. This could involve helping them join a local seniors’ club, arranging regular visits with friends or family members, or even encouraging them to participate in community events. The more engaged they are with others, the more they socialize, the longer they can ward off signs of depression associated with social isolation, and the more they can retain their cognitive functions and abilities. This is because being social forces them not to use their brain to engage with people around them, meaning they are using their brains to keep them healthy.