Home Care near Highland Park, IL – Getting your Senior Adult to Drink More Water
If you’ve noticed it’s difficult to get your elderly loved one to drink enough water, you’re not alone! The risk of dehydration is very real for this age group. Water is so important for many body functions, including carrying nutrients from the stomach to the cells. It maintains molecule structure. It’s needed in the blood vessels, lubricates joints and is needed in the eyes and spinal cord. Water is needed everywhere in the body.
When people age their hypothalamus starts to have a different perception about thirst. The body may be thirsty without the correct signals getting to the brain to signal thirst. Sometimes elderly people think it’s too much trouble to get up to get the drink of water, or they want to avoid getting up later to go to the bathroom. They just don’t realize how important and essential it is to drink a lot of water on a daily basis.
Some of the things that can result in not drinking enough water and other fluids:
- An average person has 60% body weight in water.
- Water is stored in lean tissue.
- An elderly person having less lean tissue would also have less water stored in the body and therefor can rapidly experience dehydration.
- Thirst fatigue, loss of appetite and weakness can result from dehydration
- Headaches, dizziness and impaired physical coordination are common results.
There are some strategies you can use to try and get your elderly loved one to increase their water and fluid intake. Here are some ideas you can try:
- Find an attractive and easy to use water bottle they would be willing to use.
- Use a closed-top container which is fitted with a straw.
- Find other healthy drinks they would consume besides water and offer them often. Some examples are herb tea, fruit juice, and broth and veggie juices.
- Serve high water-content foods such as fruit salads, soups, oranges, watermelon, and leafy vegetables.
- Help your loved one determine the recommended amount she should be drinking daily and then help her figure out a way to monitor how much she drinks on a daily basis.
- Think up a fun reward for drinking her quota each day for a week. You can even join the challenge with your elderly loved one. Drinking lots of water is healthy for everyone!
Signs and symptoms of dehydration may include:
- Urine is very dark in color
- Muscle cramps
- Dizziness and the feeling of being unsteady
- Headaches and impaired concentration and declining memory
- Constipation. If they are eating lots of high fiber foods to get rid of constipation but aren’t drinking enough water to keep the fiber flushing through the body, it can actually result in more severe constipation.
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring home care services near Highland Park , IL -contact the caring staff at Companion Services of America today at (847) 943-3786. Our senior care service area includes Northbrook, Highland Park, Deerfield, Glenview, Buffalo Grove, Evanston, Des Plaines, Skokie, Lake Forest, Wilmette and the surrounding areas.
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