In honor of No One Eats Alone Day on February 17th, it might be a good idea to look more closely at your senior’s habits around eating. Does she eat most of her meals alone? If so, there are some changes that you might consider making that can help her to have more emotional and practical support while she’s eating. Personal care at home can offer a lot more assistance in this area than you might have thought possible.
Emotional Problems with Eating Alone
Many people don’t realize just how difficult it is to eat alone until that becomes their daily situation. For your senior, eating alone can have serious emotional consequences. Dealing with feelings of isolation and loneliness are not always easy, regardless of the cause, but those feelings can be amplified significantly by spending mealtimes alone. Your elderly family member may also start to avoid eating because eating alone is so uncomfortable for her.
Health Impacts of Eating Alone
There can also be some serious physical health consequences from eating alone. Your elderly family member may be choosing meals that aren’t necessarily the healthiest choices for her, especially if cooking has become a lot more difficult for her. If she is prescribed medications that require her to take them with food, not eating may mean that she’s not taking her medications as she should. All of this can have a serious impact on her physical health.
Solutions for Your Senior
Finding solutions for your elderly family member might mean taking a closer look at her particular situation and her specific needs. Does she need help cooking? If so, home care providers can be a stellar solution. If companionship is what she needs, family members stopping in during meals could be helpful. But that isn’t always feasible for many reasons, so caregivers can offer companionship, too. Some seniors find that phone calls or video calls are helpful substitutes for actually having company while eating, but that might not be easy for her to do for other reasons.
Consider Personal Care at Home, Too
If your elderly family member has trouble eating because of challenges that she’s facing with eating, she may need more help. Personal care at home can assist your elderly family member with preparing meals as well as actually eating them. If she’s having trouble holding utensils or needs reminders to chew and swallow her food, caregivers can be there for her to ensure that she eats healthy meals and is safe while she’s doing so. If your elderly family member needs help with other personal care tasks, like getting dressed, bathing, and more, they can help with those as well.
When friends and family members don’t live nearby, it’s much more difficult for your senior to have the company that she may want during meals. Finding the answers that work for her is so important. As your elderly family member’s needs change, those answers may need to change as well. Keep up with how things are working for her so that you know when adjustments might be necessary.
If you or an aging loved one is considering personal care at home in Aurora, CO, call the caring staff at SYNERGY Home Care of Denver today. 303-756-9322
