COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, offers some unique challenges to aging adults. It keeps them from breathing well, which causes a variety of other issues, too. Creating an environment at home that is safe and that supports good respiratory health is essential for aging adults who have COPD. Senior home care can make this complicated task a lot easier for seniors and family caregivers.
Improve Indoor Air Quality
Indoor air quality dramatically affects respiratory health, especially for people who have COPD. Reducing exposure to airborne irritants is crucial, and it’s easier than many people think. Using air purifiers, changing air filters regularly, and ensuring proper ventilation are just a few of the ways to improve indoor air quality. Many air purifiers can also keep track of indoor air quality and alert seniors when that air quality drops below a certain level.
Adjust Humidity Levels
Balanced humidity levels are more important for easy breathing than people with healthy lungs realize. Too little humidity can be irritating, but too much humidity makes it difficult to breathe and can contribute to problems like mold growth. Keeping track of humidity levels indoors and using humidifiers when necessary can help maintain that balance.
Protect the Sleep Environment
COPD is a serious health issue and like any serious health issue, bad sleep just makes it worse. Finding ways to help seniors with COPD improve sleep is vital. That might involve keeping the room cooler at night, elevating the head of the bed to improve breathing, and ensuring that bedding is clean and comfortable. Home care providers can help with these tasks.
Prioritize Breathing Exercises
Breathing exercises help seniors with COPD to keep their lungs as strong as possible. They can also help to improve lung function and make it easier for seniors to breathe. Practicing these exercises regularly is essential and consistency makes a big difference. Home care providers can help aging adults remember to do these exercises and stay on target.
Revamp Meal Preparation
It takes a lot more energy than people realize to do simple things like prepare a healthy meal. Seniors with COPD need to conserve their energy as much as possible, so that can mean letting other people handle big tasks like preparing meals. Elder care providers can offer healthy, nutritionally dense meals that keep seniors strong and as healthy as possible.
Get Help with Other Needs
There are lots of other daily tasks that can be tiring for seniors with COPD. Staying on top of these tasks would be impossible alone, but with senior home care, it’s a lot easier. Once they understand how caregivers can make their lives easier, it can make seniors with COPD feel more comfortable accepting that help.
Supporting aging adults who have COPD means assessing what’s becoming more difficult for them and putting solutions in place to address those needs. Senior home care services can make it easier for family caregivers to understand what their aging family members need and to find the tools that make life easier and healthier.
If you or an aging loved one are considering home care in Parchment, MI, please contact the caring staff at Fresh Perspective Home Care today. Call (269) 329-4717.
Fresh Perspective Home Care is a trusted non-medical senior home care provider in Kalamazoo, Portage, Mattawan, Richland, Vicksburg, Schoolcraft, Three Rivers, Gull Lake, Yorkville and Otsego, Michigan.
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