Overheating: Hot weather can be refreshing after the cool weather over the winter and even spring.
But it can also be dangerous, particularly for aging adults. It’s vital that you and your elderly family member have a plan that takes important variables into account and allows your senior to stay as cool as possible during hot weather and not overheating.
Keep Track of Whether She’s Using Her AC
If your elderly family member is stubborn about using the air conditioner, electric fans, or other ways of keeping cool, you might have to encourage her to rethink that to avoid overheating. Older adults tend to have a more difficult time regulating body temperature, which can mean that they believe they’re cooler than they really are. Using the air conditioner when it’s hot will help her to avoid getting to the point where she does overheat.
Encourage Your Senior to Do Things that Help Her to Stay Cool
There are other things your senior can do to stay cooler, too. Taking cool baths or showers in the afternoon can help, as can remembering to drink hydrating beverages throughout the day. Avoiding doing things like using the oven or the dryer during the day can also help the whole house to stay cooler. Trying even a few of these ideas can help a lot.
Talk to Her Doctor about How Her Medications Affect Overheating
It’s also a good idea to talk to your senior’s doctor about any medications that she takes and how those impact her ability to stay cool when it’s hot outside. Some medications, like diuretics or blood pressure medications, can make it more likely that your elderly family member experiences dehydration. Understanding those challenges can help your senior and you to compensate.
Overheating: Find Ways to Keep Track of Changing Conditions
Hot weather means that things can change rapidly for your senior. And if you’re not there with her, you may not be able to help her to accommodate those changing conditions as quickly as you would want to. That’s why having home care providers there with your elderly family member can be a huge relief and assistance for your senior and for yourself.
Keep up with the weather forecast, including heat index values, so that you and your aging family member aren’t blindsided by hot conditions and overheating. The air quality index may also be another factor to consider, especially if your elderly family member has lung health concerns.
If you or an aging loved-one is considering a Caregiver in Hinsdale, IL, please contact the caring staff at Suburban Home Care today. 630-964-9000
There are several great reasons why Suburban Home Care® should be your choice for quality homecare. All of our Certified Nursing Assistants and Home Health Aides are screened, trained, bonded and insured.
Every family needs to be aware that almost every Homeowner’s insurance policy specifically excludes anyone working within your home. If the person you hire becomes injured while working for you, you will become personally responsible for all of their medical bills. This has left several families very vulnerable when their caregiver injured themselves at their home.
The potential to lose everything you have worked so hard to achieve seems an unnecessary risk. Every one of Suburban Home Care®’s employees are completely covered by insurance so you and your loved ones can relax knowing that if something unforeseen happens to your caregiver, they are completely covered by insurance.
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