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Tag: memory loss

How to Take Care of an Alzheimer’s Patient – The Ultimate Guide

Caring for an elderly person with Alzheimer’s disease at home is a challenging task that takes a lot of patience. If the patient is a member of your family, you may notice that sometimes their emotions can flip like a switch and range from anger to confusion. Not to mention, there are many troubles, pains, and arduous tasks that require constant care and supervision for an individual suffering from memory loss.

In the following guide, we will talk about some tips and advice on how to take care of an Alzheimer’s patient and reduce frustrations.

Before starting, you should remember that you are caring for the elderly with a child’s behavior. It is definitely a huge emotional and physical challenge. So, be careful not to pass judgment on them and sympathize with their situation.

The Difference between Dementia and Alzheimer’s

To begin with, if one of your family members has Alzheimer’s disease, the whole family should know some basic information about the disease and its symptoms. You also should know how to cope with the disease to preserve the patient’s life from exposure to any harm, and to avoid the deterioration of their health. However, apart from the difficult technical definition of dementia and Alzheimer’s, we’ve simplified the difference between them. Alzheimer’s is a specific disease that affects the brain, while dementia is the decline in cognitive ability that includes memory loss and thinking difficulties.

Hire Professional Caregivers to Take Care of Them

Families who experience high levels of stress during the moderate and severe stages of the disease may deal with it with anticipatory grief associated with feeling the impending loss of their loved one. For this, you have to ask for the help of experienced caregivers to take care of your loved one. In addition, it should be noted that your role in managing daily tasks will increase as the disease progresses. Therefore, we recommend you consider the following practical tips that can help you manage tasks effectively.

Reduce Frustration

A person with memory loss may become nervous when tasks become more difficult than before. To reduce challenges and relieve frustration:

  • Give yourself time to rest: You will not be able to do all the patient care tasks on a continuous basis; take time to rest between daily tasks.
  • Involve the patient: Allow the person with Alzheimer’s to do tasks on their own, such as dressing independently, or making the bed or the table.
  • Give simple instructions: It’s best for people with Alzheimer’s to understand clear communication in one step. Avoid complex commands that require multiple steps or involve more than one task.
  • If the person with Alzheimer’s smokes, make sure the smoke and fire sensors are working properly and that the fire extinguisher is easily accessible.

Related: Alzheimer’s Care: Engaging Activities for both Patient and Caregiver

Conclusion

People with Alzheimer’s will require more care and supervision as their disease progresses. Caregivers can protect their physical health since they are highly trained and know how to cope with them. If you’re looking for the most professional and friendly caregivers in Wilmington, NC, Home Instead Senior Care is the best choice.  We have decades of experience taking care of people with Alzheimer’s. For more information about our home care services, call (910) 342-0455 today.

3 Tips to Improve Your Memory

As we grow older, our memory can sometimes lapse or even fail. Fatigue, age, and various illnesses can wreak havoc on our memory. This is why we recommend three tips in memory improvement so you can enjoy and recollect your happy moments with clarity!

Nutrition

Now, this may be a strange thought: how does my diet affect my memory? Surprisingly, your nutrition plays a major part in the function of your brain and, by extension, your memory. By making smart choices in your diet, you are laying the foundations for an active brain. Great food choices include:

-Fruits

-Vegetables

-Fish

-Olive Oil

-Nuts

-Whole Grains

All of these selections have been linked to boosting brain activity and memory retention – caffeine too! However, caffeine can prove detrimental in large doses, so it is not recommended for prolonged use for alleviating memory loss.

Activity

Exercise is recommended for all ages, but it is especially important for elderly people to stay active every day. Going on walks, lifting lightweights, jogging, yoga, or swimming – all of these options will keep your body active while keeping your mind engaged as well. The increased blood flow throughout the body also benefits your brain on a physical level, allowing more blood and oxygen around the organ to keep it fully functioning.

Mental Exercises

Working out is great for your overall physical health, but you may be forgetting to work on an integral part of your memory. It resides in, you guessed it, your brain, and it is the most important organ in your entire body! While nutrition and exercise are a great start to a healthy brain, you need to work on your mind as well to truly improve and rebuild your memory techniques. Fun games and activities designed to improve your recollection include:

-Recall testing:

Make a list of groceries, chores, or a to-do list. Once you’ve done that, go over the list again with another person and list off all of the items by memory.

-Math

Math is a great subject to use as a brain teaser! Going through problems or formulas in your head without the aid of paper and pencil forces your mind to focus and keep track of previous steps. By doing simple exercises with your mind every day, this will help you focus and remember minor details and events in your life.

-Hand-eye coordination

While they may seem menial, picking up a hobby like knitting, drawing, or even sculpting will boost your memory. Many people are kinetic learners; if you learn by doing, hand-eye centered exercise is great for memory boosting and recall!

Conclusion

Which of these tips do you like best? Leave a comment below to show how these simple tricks helped boost your short and long-term memory recall, or even suggest a new trick that has worked for you!