If your senior isn’t motivated to stick with exercise, she’ll probably end up quitting soon after she starts. Those little nudges that keep her going are easier to come by than you might think if you incorporate some of these ideas.
Make Exercise a Social Opportunity
If your senior equates exercise with torture, then doing anything that involves exercise alone might just be that much more difficult for her. This is especially the case if she’s a people person and loves to be around others. Making exercise as social as possible might be the way to keep her moving. Looking for senior centers that offer exercise groups and classes or finding a gym might be some of the best ways to help your elderly family member.
Keep Goals Small and Easy to Knock out of the Park
Something else that can present a stumbling block is if your senior’s goals are too big. Big goals can be motivational at first, but if she goes too long without some success and some movement, that goal can feel too big. Break up bigger goals into smaller ones and give your senior plenty of opportunity for success. The more goals she can knock out of the park quickly, the better she’s going to feel.
“Gamify” Your Senior’s Workouts and Add Some Rewards
“Gamification” means making a game out of something that isn’t necessarily a game. It sounds like you’re making light of something as serious as exercise, but that’s not the case. What you’re doing is looking for a way to add as much fun and frivolity as you can. Rewards can help with this. Every time your senior hits a certain “level,” she might get a specific reward. Work with your senior to come up with challenges and rewards that she loves.
Help Her to Keep an Exercise Log of Some Sort
It’s tough for your senior to remember how far she’s come with exercise. This isn’t due to memory problems, either, it’s just difficult to keep up with those tiny changes and improvements. Suddenly she’s not sure that she’s getting anything out of exercise at all. With an exercise log, it’s a lot easier for her to see that it was really difficult to walk for five minutes without stopping and now she walks for half an hour straight. Seeing that difference is a huge boost in morale, even if she didn’t realize how far she’d come.
It’s also tough for your senior to stay motivated about exercise if she’s worn out by doing a lot of other little tasks that take up her time. Delegating some household chores to elder care providers can free up time and energy that help her to stick with exercise.
If you or an aging loved one is considering elder care in Park City, MT, please contact the caring staff at SYNERGY HomeCare Billings today at 406-839-2390.
