Author: Robert KreekElderly Care in Rye, NY
As the year winds down and the temperature starts to drop, most people feel the chill. This can be even more noticeable for aging adults, who deal with naturally lower body temperatures, lower body fat, and diminished ability for their body to regulate temperature. While you might feel a little chilly, your parents might be painfully cold, not just making them uncomfortable, but also putting them at increased risk of becoming ill. Finding consistent ways to keep your seniors warm throughout the cold season without allowing them to overheat should be a central focus of your late fall and winter elderly care plan.
Some ways that you and your parent’s referred caregiver can help your senior stay warmer throughout the cold season include:
- Break out the long johns. Long underwear was not just created to look silly. These garments are a highly effective way of keeping you warm even in very low temperatures. They fit close to the body, holding in warmth and allowing you to layer them with other clothing. Today’s long underwear tend to be in two pieces rather than one, and are made with breathable cotton thermal materials for comfort and skin health. Layer these with your parents’ usual clothing to add an extra bit of warmth that is easily adjustable as your parents warm up.
- Use hand warmers. Hands and feet are often the first body parts to feel truly cold, and are some of the most vulnerable to damage due to the cold. Look in the camping or outdoor sports section of your favorite department or sporting goods store for hand and foot warmers. These little pouches contain non-toxic chemicals that, when combined, create intense heat. Simple squeeze the packs and shake, much like heating packs in hospitals. Tuck these down into your parents pockets so that they can put their hands in to keep warm, and nestle them into their socks or slippers while you are at home to keep their toes toasty.
- Preheat the bathroom. There are many reasons why you do not want to have a space heater running in the bathroom while your parent is taking a bath or shower, but you can put one on for 10 minutes prior to getting them in to take the chill out of the room. Get the water running during this 10 minute window so as soon as you take the heater out you can bring your parents in to a nice warm room that will keep them from getting too cold when they get out of the water.
- Warming neck wraps. Your body loses a tremendous amount of heat through the top of your head, the back of your neck, and the bottoms of your feet. Help to keep this heat in using a heated neck wrap. Sew a length of fabric long enough to wrap around the back of your neck into a tube and sew up one end. Add a cup of dry rice, sew a seam to close this section, add another cup of rice, and sew a seam, and add a third cup of rice and sew up the end of the tube. You can then heat this tube in the microwave for up to a minute and cuddle with it around your neck, on top of your head, under your feet, or just in your arms for extra warmth.
If you or an aging loved one are considering non-medical in-home care in Scarsdale and Yonkers, NY, call Griswold Home Careand speak to one of our caring staff members today. Call (914) 768-9065
