Dementia patients require help with daily activities, personal care, and decision-making. If you ever find yourself in a position where you have to care for someone with dementia, knowing the fundamentals can be helpful.
Understanding The Basics
It’s important to remember that dementia can affect one’s ability to make decisions, produce memory problems, and alter one’s behavior. Supporting someone who has dementia can be mentally and physically taxing.
To help you along the road, you can use various tools, such as online dementia care. Here are some important tips for helping someone with dementia.
Day-To-Day Tasks
The disease’s symptoms get worse as the cognitive impairment gets worse. When people find completing even the most fundamental duties challenging, they frequently experience tension, anxiety, and fear. Supporting the person in this situation ought to come first.
Adding memory aids to their house will aid in remembering everyday duties and object locations. They can simplify their lives by, for instance, placing sticky notes with a list of to-dos and marking the doors, drawers, and cabinets with instructions.
Washing And Bathing
Dementia makes it difficult to maintain personal hygiene, so bathing requires assistance. Most people probably fear falling or becoming nude.
Since taking a bath is a private activity, you should exercise discretion and deference. You can try to remember these suggestions.
- Ask how they want to be aided during bathing.
- Provide a bath seat and install handrails and a handheld shower.
- Provide the preferred bath products.
- Accompany them if they don’t want to be left alone.
Sleep
The body clock may malfunction, and sleep habits may be affected by dementia. During the night, a person with dementia will likely wake up multiple times and get confused. Since they are no longer aware that it is midnight, some people might even go as far as dressing for the day.
Despite the possibility that sleep disturbance is a stage of dementia that may pass, here are some strategies to help the person:
- Place a clock by the patient’s bed that displays the time of day.
- Assist the individual in getting enough sun exposure and daily exercise.
- Limit your evening use of alcohol and caffeine.
- Ensure that the bedroom is a comfortable place to sleep.
- If you can, try to avoid taking naps during the day.
Final Reflections
Caregiving for someone with dementia can be difficult because of the person’s progressive cognitive deterioration, which can significantly impact daily functioning.
Fortunately, the information on primary care provided above will serve as your guide in helping to manage the work while simultaneously maintaining the person’s health and safety.
Read More: How To Set Healthy Boundaries With Your Kids
