Seniors are chronically dehydrated. If your senior parent is aging in place there is a strong likelihood that they are dehydrated at any given time. Dehydration can cause a lot of health problems for seniors like kidney problems, dizziness or poor balance, dry skin, and constipation.
There are a lot of factors that can impact whether or not your senior parent is drinking enough water. Medical conditions, the weather, their activity level, and medication side effects can all cause seniors to not drink enough. Seniors who have illnesses like dementia may not even realize when they are thirsty.
So if your senior parent isn’t drinking enough and you are worried that they are dehydrated you should work with their senior home care provider to make sure they drink at least 8 glasses of water every day.
If you can’t be with your senior parent all day, having senior home care is a great way to make sure that your senior parent has the support they need to stay safe at home.
Some easy things that you can do to help make sure that your senior parent is drinking the amount of water they need to avoid dehydration are:
Fill a Pitcher Daily
Get a filter pitcher that will remove impurities and anything that tastes bad from the tap water. Then fill that pitcher with every night and let it chill overnight. Your senior parent should be drinking at least one glass of water from that pitcher every hour or so.
If the pitcher is empty at the end of the day then you can be sure that your senior parent is drinking their water. A senior home care provider can also fill the pitcher up daily for your senior parent.
Make Fruit Water
You can buy an infusion pitcher at any big box store or online. An infusion pitcher is a lot of fun and makes great-tasting water. The pitcher has a core in the middle that is a hollow tube. In the tube, you can put cut-up fruit like strawberries or lemon slices. Or you can add cucumber slices and mint.
After you put fruit or cucumber in the hollow core fill the pitcher with water. As the pitcher sits in the refrigerator the water will become infused with the fruit flavor. It makes ordinary water taste wonderfully refreshing.
Stock the House With Water
Many seniors prefer bottled water because tap water can taste bad to them. Changes in taste and smell as seniors get can make things like tap water taste different to them. Your senior parent may be more motivated to drink water if there is bottled water available to them. Keep the house stocked with bottled water or get a water delivery service so there is always plenty of bottled water for your senior parent to drink.
Make It Hot
Seniors who have sensitive teeth or who have dental problems may not like cold water because it hurts their teeth or their gums. Hot herbal tea could be the solution. Use warm water rather than boiling water or let the tea cool off to room temperature. Fruit teas and herbal teas are a tasty way to get your senior parent to drink more.
Make Water Always Available
Put a glass of water or a bottle of water by your senior parent’s bed, next to them when they’re sitting in the living room, and on the table in the kitchen. If there is water within reach at all times your senior parent is much more likely to drink consistently throughout the day.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Home Care in Kearney, NE, please contact the caring staff at Caretech today at (402) 697-5121
Caretech provides the best care services for seniors and families throughout Nebraska including Omaha, Lincoln, Bellevue, Grand Island, Kearney, Fremont, Norfolk, Hastings, Columbus, Papillon, North Platte, La Vista, Scottsbluff, South Sioux City, Beatrice, Lexington, Chalco, Gretna, Gering, York, and surrounding areas.
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