Exercise is important no matter what age you are. When you exercise, you boost your immune system and improve your mental health, not to mention strengthen your body. For elderly adults, exercise can improve and prolong their lives, allowing them to function as they would like, no matter their age.
However, despite its benefits, exercise isn't as simple a concept as it may seem. For instance, a 2016 report by the World Health Organization showed that around a third of Australians don't get enough exercise. Exercise takes time and effort. For elderly adults, finding the time or the means to exercise can be much more of a struggle.
If your elderly parents are not getting the exercise they need to stay healthy, they may benefit from the assistance of a home carer. With a care worker to help them, even for just several hours a week, your parents can get the exercise they need.
Walks in the Park
A study in 2005 found that exercise speeds up wound healing in people over the age of sixty. Simply by going for walks, elderly adults can ensure that their bodies are healthy enough to heal physical injuries before infection can occur.
If your parents have been struggling to get the exercise they need, they could benefit from having an aged care worker to assist them. A few hours a week, the carer can meet up with them and help them get to and back from a local park safely, for example.
Stretching for Balance
When you are young, your bones are strong, which means falls don't always result in broken bones. However, the bones of older adults are much weaker and more brittle, meaning even a minor fall can cause considerable damage. However, exercise of any kind, such as simple things like stretching exercises and Tai Chi, can improve balance, reducing the risk of falls.
A home care assistant can visit your parents several times a week and help them to go through a stretching and light exercise routine. With improved balance and agility, your parents will be more confident on their feet and as a result, the risk of falling will be minimal.
Activity for Bone Strength
As mentioned above, falling injuries are a major concern for elderly adults. Because elderly bones are constantly deteriorating, they are much weaker than young bones. Fortunately, exercise can help to slow the rate at which bone deteriorates. If your parents are also undertaking stretching routines as well as regular exercise, they will get double the benefit.
An added benefit of at 30 minutes a day of exercise is that it strengthens muscles and ligaments. In turn, this allows your body to react faster and gives you more energy. It also helps to reduce falls.
Hire a Carer to Assist With Exercise
It isn't easy to care for your parents when you are juggling your own responsibilities. Even an hour a day might be too much of a burden on your strained time. However, for that hour a day, you could instead hire a home carer to help ease the burden on your time while ensuring that your parents are healthy.
Home carers do so much more than just regular care duties, such as administering medicine and physical therapy. You can now tailor care packages so that you get exactly what you need, no more, no less. If you are worried that your parents aren't exercising enough, a home carer can help to ease your mind.
Get in touch with an aged care provider if you believe that your parents could benefit from the assistance of a home carer—even if for just 30 minutes a day.
