As you grow older, your chances of experiencing uncomfortable symptoms that affect your quality of life become larger and larger. You may even be thinking about what will happen at the end of your life, whether you want to be buried or if you should start looking at urns for ashes instead. However, right now that is some time off, which is why focusing on how you can help yourself in the present moment is essential. Mobility can become difficult, whilst maintaining a good memory is even harder, and this can have a drastic impact on your ability to stay independent. Losing some or all of your freedom as you age can be a humiliating affair that one must always work to avoid, so watching as your elderly relative is stripped of their dignity and independence should encourage you to intervene. Luckily, it needn’t be as difficult as you might expect to help an elderly person regain some of their self dependence, as there are several simple tips and tricks that you can utilise to improve their quality of life in no time at all. So, if you would like to find out more, then read on to uncover some of the best steps that you can follow now to make a real difference in no time at all.

Adapt Their Home

One of the most important steps that you must follow to help an elderly relative maintain their independence involves adapting their home. When you get older it often becomes far more difficult to get around – joints get stiff, the risk of falling increases and many people feel as though they simply don’t have the energy to get up and go. Luckily this struggle can be easily alleviated, as you can begin by installing grab bars around their home in high traffic areas such as the hallway and bathroom to make sure they can get around without the need for extra support. Slipping and tripping whilst walking up the stairs could be another issue, and this could do serious damage if they were to fall near the top, so it’s a good idea to source a stair lift in order to reduce this risk. Getting up and out bed from a laying position or struggling to pull themselves out of comfortable chair can be another issue, yet their are specially crafted models that can lift up and rise to place your relative onto their feet without any issues. Making these simple adaptations can have a drastic effect on the way that they can lead their life without the need for care assistance, so there’s no time like the present to offer a helping hand!

Make Health A Priority
Ensuring that your elderly relative can maintain good health is essential for long term independence, as experiencing any issues that are related to mobility, sight or hearing can make it really difficult for you to live without the need for external help and support. Doing something as simple as booking your relative in for a hearing test could alert you to the fact that they need new hearing aids, which contribute massively to the maintenance of independence and freedom. Struggling through day to day tasks without glasses when you suffer from sight loss can be equally uncomfortable, so be sure to visit the opticians office for regular check ups too.