Age-Related Memory Loss And How Home Health Care Can Help

Health & Medical Blog

As people age, memory loss is a common problem. While it can be related to diseases as severe as Alzheimer's disease and dementia, that isn't always the case. Memory loss can just as often be a natural part of the aging process. Unfortunately, this can be a dangerous problem, which makes home health care aides essential as a way of fighting off and improving it.

What The Symptoms And Dangers Of This Problem Are

The mind gets less active as people retire and spend more time relaxing. As a result, it is easy for them to have difficulty remembering important information. Symptoms of memory loss or occasional forgetfulness in the elderly include:

• Forgetting when medicines were taken
• Not eating regularly
• Missing appointments and birthday parties
• Neglecting to pay bills (due to failure to remember them)

While occasional forgetfulness isn't a major problem, it can become one if an elderly person forgets important things, like when to take their medicine or when to visit a doctor. That's why it's so crucial to get help when these symptoms occur.

How Home Health Care Can Help

Home health care aides can help those with occasional memory loss by having a schedule of daily events that need to be done every day and helping them to meet these goals. They can also remind them of important events throughout the month and year and keep them on track for these crucial personal milestones.

Home health aides can also help by actively promoting better memory in their patients. One way is to get them on their feet and exercising, as research as shown even 30 minutes of exercise a day can help improve memory function. This can be as simple as a walk around the block or a trip to the grocery store. Other ways that home health care aides can actively promote better memory include:

• Integrating healthier eating decisions in their life, including vegetables and healthy fats, in order to boost memory power
• Playing memory games with them, such as puzzles, in order to actively test their memory and keep it sharp
• Teaching them new skills and abilities in order to push their mental functioning to higher levels

With the help of a home health care aide, it is easy to help an elderly person with memory problems think more clearly and effectively. Paying for it can be tricky, but Medicare Part A and Part B typically provide some coverage of home health care services like these, particularly intermittent skilled nursing and occupational services. This is useful to consider if a person is struggling to pay for a home health aide.

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10 January 2017