Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month: How to Best Help Your Loved One
Apathy. Confusion. Memory loss. These are some words we know that best describe Alzheimer’s disease. It is a disease that causes degeneration of the brain leading to disorientation, impaired thinking, and memory loss.
As a way to honor Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month, we’ve made a list of how can we take care of our loved ones that experience it.
Ways to Help Your Loved Ones
Study Everything Related to the Disease
To be able to understand your loved ones, you must know the effects, the progression, and what they feel. It will be hard for you to give your love and care if you don’t know anything about their diagnosis.
A Routine and Schedule Must Be Created
They will start to lose the memory of what they usually do so creating a routine will help them not to be confused with what to do. It is also a good thing for you because you don’t need to develop activities every day.
Don’t Forget to Make a List of Their Medications
Taking care of your loved ones with Alzheimer’s disease can make you feel tired. So, you should make a list of their medications and dosages. You can also set an alarm on your phone on when they should drink their medications so you will not forget.
Do Some Exercise With Them
Having this kind of disease should not stop them from being healthy so both of you should conduct a daily physical exercise to break a sweat. You can attend a Zumba or dance class together, walk in the park, or enroll in an aerobics class.
Make Sure They Eat Healthily
Aside from exercising, you should also engage in a habit of serving nutritious meals every day. Avoid sugary food and beverages, salty snacks, and other food that contains trans fat.
Go Outside!
Many people believed that going outside with a person with Alzheimer’s disease is a bad thing. They’re wrong. With proper guidance and help from other family members, you can still have fun and go to parks, museums, malls, and bond as a family.
Find a Shoulder to Lean on
As you take care of your loved ones, you will definitely feel a burnout. When you feel emotionally drained, talk to a close friend or family member and just speak what’s in your mind. Your loved one finds strength in you and you need to recharge your strength from others too.
Knowing That Your Loved One Has an Alzheimer’s Disease Is Not the End
It hurts to see someone you truly love experience such thing but always remember that everything happens for a reason. This is just the start of your journey together.
Know Your Physical and Emotional Limitations
You may look like a superhero doing all these loving and caring tasks for your loved one but you are also a human. Sleep, eat healthy, exercise, and meditate – take care of yourself and know what you can and can’t do. Ask for help from a family member or a friend when you need it.
Show Affection to Them Through Actions and Not Words
They are losing their memory and soon enough, their ability to communicate verbally. Show them your love and affection through smiling every time you change their clothes, listening to their rants, and giving them all your time and effort.
Always remember that when you have loved ones that experience Alzheimer’s disease, there are still people out there willing to help YOU take care of them. You will not feel alone in this journey because A Better Solution is here to join you on giving love, support, and care to your loved ones.
