Guest Post: How to Prevent the Dangers of Falling for Seniors
Essential Points:
Home modifications are crucial: Make your home safer by removing tripping hazards, adding grab bars, and improving lighting to reduce the risk of falls.
In-home care services provide support: Hiring a caregiver can assist with household tasks and ensure a safer environment, giving you peace of mind.
Lifestyle changes make a difference: Regular exercise, proper footwear, learning how to fall safely, and avoiding alcohol can all help maintain balance and prevent dangerous falls.
Taking a bad fall is dangerous for anyone, but when it comes to older adults, a fall can be deadly. As we age, we lose our sense of balance, have to take breaks after walking for short periods of time, and experience both muscle loss and decreased eyesight. All of these changes make falling more likely. Here are a few tips for how you can change your environment and lifestyle to prevent dangerous falls.
Modify Your Home
The first step to preventing falls is to make sure your home is fall-proofed. Remove any tripping hazards and make any necessary modifications to your home.
- Add grab bars to your bathroom to make it easier to navigate slippery floors.
- Remove excess furniture in your home so that the floor plan is more open.
- Keep your home well-lit so you can see where you’re going. Consider installing a smart lighting system to upgrade your lighting.
- Take advantage of this checklist to make sure you don’t miss any steps to fall-proofing your home.
- An added benefit to making home modifications is that this could increase the value of your home.
Take Advantage of In-Home Care Services
While modifying your home will make a fall less likely, hiring an in-home care service will give you peace of mind knowing that someone is there to help you.
- In-home caregivers can help by cleaning out hallways, making it easier to traverse the stairs, as well as providing assistance during baths.
- Before you start your search for the right in-home care service, make sure you have a good idea of what help you will need. Ask important questions, so you know what you’re getting into.
- Once you’ve found the right caregiver, it’s important to build a positive relationship so you’re both comfortable.
Make Lifestyle Changes
Preventing a fall can be as simple as making changes in what you wear or how you approach navigating your home.
- Learn about how to fall properly so you don’t get hurt if you happen to slip.
- Exercise regularly to keep up your balance and strength.
- Take a look at your footwear to make sure it’s the right fit for you.
- Avoid alcohol at any cost. Not only will it make you more likely to fall, but it will also worsen health conditions like diabetes, ulcers, and memory loss.
Falling can be dangerous, but with preventative action, you’ll have a happier and longer life. Take some time to modify your home by reducing tripping hazards, adding grab bars, and improving the lighting. You might also make necessary life changes and consider hiring an in-home care service.
If you want to learn more about how to keep from getting injured, Science of Falling can offer detailed advice for how to have safer falls, including falling tutorials.
Thanks for reading this guest post by Annabelle Harris! Be sure to visit her site elders.center for more articles from her.