Learn How Encouraging Lifestyle Changes And Active Aging In Your Patients Improve Their Well-Being
Pegasus is recognized as an industry leader due to our adherence to the highest ethical and clinical standards. Our professionals’ diverse backgrounds, expertise, and experience are essential in maintaining those standards. As a nurse-owned and operated business, we value and support our home healthcare team members.
Pegasus skilled in-home caregivers in Sierra Madre and elsewhere assist patients of diverse backgrounds and needs. Their goal is to keep individuals independent and safe in their home. Career home health care nurses promote active aging to their patients to help achieve that goal.
Active aging advocates believe it applies to everyone, regardless of age, health, or status. Although most Pegasus clients are elderly, we offer caregiver services to all ages. Becoming more active benefits both your younger and older patients.
Active aging is not attempting to regain youth. It’s about quality of life. It means maintaining and strengthening all aspects of health to enjoy life.
Helping individuals reach their potential despite any infirmities is the foundation of active aging. As an in-home caregiver, you visit your patients regularly and have an accurate idea of their abilities.
Change Is Inevitable In Aging
Aging brings many changes. Most are inevitable and normal, such as gray hair. Internal changes aren’t always inevitable or normal. These include, among others, the following:
- Bladder and urinary tract: weakened muscles result in incontinence.
- Cardiovascular: blood vessels stiffen, causing the heart to work harder. Some individuals develop hypertension.
- Cognition: short-term memory may be impaired. Some thinking skills may be lost.
- Digestive system: nutrients may not be adequately absorbed, but most individuals more commonly experience constipation from lack of exercise.
- Hearing and vision: individuals may experience difficulty focusing or develop eye diseases such as macular degeneration. Hearing loss can make it hard to hear certain sounds or understand conversational details.
- Skin: decreased collagen production results in loss of skin elasticity. Individuals bruise easily, and breaks in the skin increase the risk of infections.
- Teeth: age and certain medications can lead to increased decay and gum diseases.
- Weight: metabolism slows as individuals age. If diet and activities aren’t modified, seniors may become obese.
Promoting active aging in your patients won’t always prevent or reverse the changes. However, increasing their activity can improve an individual’s quality of life. That’s why you should discourage them from giving up and becoming couch potatoes.
What Determines Well-Being As Individuals Age?
Experts use various criteria to determine well-being. One model uses the following to measure the degree of wellness:
- Life-long learning
- Participation in social activities
- Physical and mental health
- Security
Others expand the categories to include healthy:
- Cognition
- Emotions
- Physical functions
- Professional activities
- Social life
- Spirituality
- Surroundings
Some experts define well-being as having:
- A positive attitude
- Adequate exercise
- Enough sleep
- Good nutrition
- Meaningful activities
- Mental stimulation
- Relationships with others
All these help you evaluate your patient’s physical and mental wellness.
For example, do they feel secure, or are they fearful? Do they spend time enjoying activities with others, or are they isolated and depressed? Can they move around their home safely?
You are familiar with your patient’s health, so you can select the areas to promote that will best help them. Providing customized care is one of the perks of home health care. You aren’t locked into a one-size-fits-all model.
Active Aging Often Requires Lifestyle Changes
Like most other ways to improve health, active aging usually requires lifestyle changes. Individuals need to exercise more, eat good food, get enough sleep, stop smoking, lose weight, and limit alcohol consumption. Because changes mean giving up something they enjoy or doing something they don’t like, convincing them may challenge you.
It isn’t easy to stay motivated about being active at any age. Remind your patients, and yourself, of the benefits of improving lifestyle habits. Studies have shown that active aging helps individuals:
- Improve their memory
- Lower their risk of insulin resistance
- Maintain muscle mass
- Manage their weight
- Reduce their risk of heart disease and sudden cardiac death
- Reduce depression
- Reduce stress
One of the most significant benefits of active aging is the reduced risk of falls. It allows individuals to have productive and meaningful lives.
Spend some time dispelling the myths surrounding what people can or cannot do as they age. Yes, they can exercise, and yes, they can learn new things. No, they don’t need less sleep as the years increase, and no, they aren’t too old to quit smoking.
Your Pegasus team includes other specialists and professionals that you can call on. For example, dietitians help with nutrition. Physical and occupational therapists get your patient moving safely.
Join The Pegasus Team And Advance Your Nursing Career
Pegasus professional in-home caregivers in Sierra Madre and our other locations work one-on-one with their patients. They encourage lifestyle changes and active aging to improve each individual’s well-being. Career home health care nurses experience job satisfaction from improving the quality of life for others.
Pegasus, an equal opportunity employer, is a licensed Home Care Organization and a Joint Commission Accredited Home Health Care organization. We’re hiring professional caregivers seeking employment in an organization that appreciates their skills.
