Asthma and the Elderly: What Do You Need to Know?
While your elderly loved one may have had asthma for most of their life, there are still some things that you and other family caregivers may need to know about this condition. One of the things that would be good to learn about is what lifestyle changes your elderly loved one can make to ease the severity of asthma symptoms. The lifestyle changes that are noted below are ones that you and elder care providers can help them to make.
Eating Well with Elder Care Aides Assisting
Elder Care Morris County NJ – Asthma and the Elderly: What Do You Need to Know?
The first lifestyle change that your elderly loved one may need to make to reduce the severity of their asthma symptoms is to eat well. This can entail many different changes such as:
- Eating more anti-inflammatory foods
- Drinking more water
- Adding grapes, kale, berries, and other flavonoid-filled foods to their diet
The list of healthy foods could go on and on. However, the main goal is to eat foods that reduce inflammation and allergies in the body. The more healthy foods you and elder care providers can get your elderly loved one to eat and the more unhealthy foods they avoid, the better their asthma symptoms should be.
Reducing Allergens and Triggers
Everyone who struggles with asthma has triggers. There are certain allergens and other things that cause their symptoms to get worse each year. For example, if there are scented candles or perfumes in your elderly loved one’s home, these could be playing a role in their asthma attacks. So, the first thing for you or an elder care provider to do is to figure out if there are any aromas in your elderly loved one’s home that are causing their asthma to get worse. In addition, if anyone who comes into your elderly loved one’s home smokes, this could be triggering their asthma, too. If this is the case, whoever it is that smokes, should change their clothes before coming into your elderly loved one’s home.
Practicing Deep Breathing
Your elderly loved one can reduce their asthma symptoms by practicing deep breathing. Part of the issue with asthma attacks is that your elderly loved one gets overwhelmed. This causes their breathing to get worse and heavier, further exacerbating their asthma. If this is happening for your elderly loved one, you and elder care providers can work with them on various deep breathing skills. There are even many deep breathing exercise videos you can find online for your elderly loved one to do, as well.
These are some of the lifestyle changes that your elderly loved one can make if they are experiencing asthma attacks or severe asthma symptoms. It is important to know that if these changes don’t help and your elderly loved one still has severe or worsening asthma, make sure they see a doctor or go to the hospital, if absolutely necessary. It is better to have them get checked out if you aren’t sure whether things are too bad.
Sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4818235/
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring professional Elder Care Services in Morris County NJ, please talk to the caring staff at Generations Home Health Care today. Providing Home Care in Somerset, Essex, Union, Morris, and Hunterdon Counties. Call us today at (908) 290-0691 or (973) 241-4534.
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