Coronavirus tips for the older adults

Exercises for older people to do from home. The older adults are especially vulnerable to the medical and social situation we are experiencing as a result of COVID-19. In this article, the Nomenial team present several beneficial tips to follow in order to make these difficult months safer and, at the same time, more bearable:

Three tips in one

As the pandemic progressed and the causes of infection became clearer, medical experts agreed on three key measures that we all know, but are worth repeating:

Continuous hand washing. Whether it’s with soap and water or gel sanitizers. We need to make sure that our elders wash their hands continuously. They must also avoid touching their faces when they’re away from home.

Mask. Whenever they are in a public place, they should wear a mask that covers their nose and mouth. When we get home, it is important that we remove their mask carefully so that they cannot become infected with it and then store it in a safe place.

There are, under some extreme circumstances, reasons to exempt the use of the mask. For example if our elder suffers from respiratory problems that may be aggravated by the use of a mask. Or, those that due to their disability or dependence, present behavioral alterations that make its use unfeasible.

We must take into account two things if our elder is among those exempted from wearing a mask. They must be certified by a medical professional and they will have to limit their outings, because without the mask they are more exposed to the virus.

Social distance. COVID-19 spreads mainly among people who are in close contact for a long period of time. Therefore, it is vital that our senior maintain a safety distance of at least 1.5 meters with other people in the same space.

The family itself: your greatest protection

We must already be careful about our own health. Even more so about the health of the senior citizens in the house.

Thus, if our elders live with us at home or we visit them frequently, we must be very careful with the activities we carry out. We cannot go to a dinner with a group of friends or play sports in a very busy area. Especially if we are going to be near our older adult relatives at later moments.

This type of preventive behavior should be carried out not only by the family, but by anyone who is in contact with our older adults. This is the case with your caregiver. During these months, aware of their important role and their high degree of responsibility, the caregivers of our Nomenial families have maintained a strict routine to protect the person they are caring for with as much diligence as affection.

Exercises for older people to do from home: Organizing the outings

We must keep the older adults away from those places in the municipality that are most crowded. A very simple way to avoid spaces and times when more people pass through or frequent a point is to plan outings in advance. During a whole week, we can walk around the places and in the time interval in which we want to do it with our elder to observe if it does not suppose any risk for hi

Exercises for older people to do from home: New forms of entertainment

To the physical exercises that the older adults should not stop doing because of this situation, we can add new forms of entertainment at home.

As a small proposal of activities, we like, especially, these three:

Music therapy. It is, as we have already said for some time, the use of music for therapeutic purposes. When we listen to music we can experience very different sensations and feelings. In the case of older people, something very valuable: memories. A morning of music therapy will transport them back in time and encourage communication, help calm anxiety and provide happiness that will last the rest of the day.

If our elder suffers from Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s, we will observe how this therapy achieves major physical, cognitive and social interaction effects.

Spa at home. Surely, in many movies, our eldest has seen scenes in which after a stressful day, the protagonist would prepare a relaxing bath. “I’ve always wanted to do that, but those things aren’t for me anymore,” he said. The time has come for the elders of the house to enjoy a restorative bath.

Laughter therapy. Speaking of smiles, this can be turned into laughter. There are many different ways to apply this therapy.

New technologies. We can take advantage of these days of continuous pandemic in which there are activities that cannot be done to not only keep them entertained, but also to train them in new fields that will motivate them to keep learning.

We will see how they will feel increasingly motivated to undertake new technological challenges themselves.

Socialization and communication

Social relationship is part of the innate nature of humans. Our elders need to socialize in order to feel emotionally well. It has been proven that isolation worsens the quality and length of life. Therefore, we must look for formulas that make our elders interact with the people they love.

In conclusion, we must explain to our elders that this is a temporary situation to which they are magnificently getting used to.

We cannot allow any elder to be overcome by sadness and we must make them know how proud the whole society is of their behavior, of their exemplarity, of them.

Older people are especially vulnerable to the medical and social situation we are going through as a result of COVID-19. In this article, we explore some beneficial advice to follow in order to make these months safer.