Five Tips for Keeping Your Senior Hydrated

Hydration isn’t something many of us think about unless we’ve been exercising or spending a lot of time in the heat. But for seniors, staying hydrated even on low-activity days can be difficult and lead to adverse health effects. Helping your elderly loved one stay hydrated each day can improve her health and reduce her risk of accidentally hurting herself. Senior home care can help.

 

Why Seniors Struggle with Daily Hydration

As the body ages, it tends to lose some of its natural capacity to stay hydrated and retain the liquids it needs to keep everything working properly. The body’s composition changes so that it retains less water, giving your senior less of a well to draw important hydration from. The body also often loses its ability to self-regulate internal temperature naturally, so it might cause your senior to sweat more than normal, thus losing needed water content.

Appetite and the ability to feel thirsty change and often diminish as a person ages as well. Your senior may not get that important cue that she’s thirsty, or may not drink enough during the day to keep her fluids up. Finally, some medications can lead to dehydration, increasing your loved one’s risk of becoming dehydrated.

 

Symptoms of Dehydration

Some key identifiers of early dehydration to watch for in your elderly loved one include:

• Urinating less frequently
• Fatigue, or feeling weak
• Acting Overly Irritable
• Being dizzy
• Struggling with a headache
• Experiencing muscle cramps
• Complaining of a dry mouth
• Displaying decreased cognitive function or confusion

 

Five Tips to Increase Daily Hydration for Your Senior

1. Have water easily accessible. If your loved one struggles with mobility, place a pitcher or a large water bottle near where she sits so it’s within reach at all times.
2. Make water more tempting. Add fresh fruit or cucumbers to water to brighten up its taste and make it more desirable.
3. If water still isn’t her thing, consider trying other drinks, including non-caffeinated teas, low-sugar fruit juices, and sparkling water.
4. Include plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables that are high in water content in her diet. All produce is great, but some fruits and vegetables are especially hydrating, including watermelon, cucumbers, celery, and strawberries.
5. Avoid food and drinks that can easily add to dehydration. Alcohol is a diuretic and will cause the body to lose fluids, so it should be avoided. Extremely salty foods can draw water out of the cells, and overly sugared treats can contribute to dehydration when the body tries to remove the excess sugar through urination.

 

Senior Home Care Can Include Helping with Hydration

If your loved one has a senior home care provider, they can be a great resource in helping your loved one remain well hydrated even when they aren’t visiting. Ask your loved one’s senior home care provider to leave a pitcher of water even in the fridge or sitting on a table near where your senior spends most of her day, so water is always readily available.

You can also ask your senior home care provider to cut up and prepare those delicious water-rich foods for her to enjoy when they’re away.

A few simple daily changes and senior home care can help your senior stay well hydrated and feel great, no matter how hot it gets outside.

 

 

 

If you or an aging loved one is considering Senior Home Care in Wantagh, NY, please contact the caring staff at Brookville Homecare today. 516-802-7722