Is your senior ready for American Heart Month throughout February? There are a lot of different ways that your senior can become more in tune with her current heart health and take steps to improve it. The task might not be as difficult as she fears, either.
Planning for Heart Health Makes it Easier
Without a plan, anything is more difficult and that includes heart health. Your senior may not have been thinking much about how to keep her heart as healthy as possible recently, but you can sit down and talk about it now. The plan doesn’t have to be big at first, but outlining some goals is a good idea.
Get Your Senior’s Numbers
If you’re starting from scratch with your senior, get some baseline numbers. What’s her blood pressure like? Maybe it’s time to set up an appointment with her doctor and get a full overview of where her heart health stands right now. This is going to help immensely with goals going forward.
Adopt a Heart Healthy Diet
Talk to your senior’s doctor about a heart-healthy diet. This means lean proteins, lots of vegetables and fruits, and limiting things like excess salt and sugar. Your senior may have additional health concerns, though, so be sure to talk to her doctor about the specifics of her health needs.
Talk to Her Doctor about Exercise
While you’re at it, find out if exercise is something that your senior is able to do safely. Her doctor can help you to understand how much exercise and what types of exercise are the best bets for your elderly family member to start out doing. Starting out slowly and gradually increasing her stamina is going to help your elderly family member to strengthen all of her muscles, including her heart.
Look for Other Ways to Include Self-care and Heart Health
How else does your senior need to take better care of her heart health? If she’s extremely stressed, look for ways to include reducing her stress levels. One of the things that could be holding your senior back could be changing abilities to handle specific daily tasks. Hiring elder care providers to assist can make a big difference and reduce your senior’s stress.
Heart health is a crucial part of your senior’s overall health and well-being. February reminds your senior to take the best care of her heart that she can.