Home Care in North Palm Beach FL
A truly startling number of people throughout the United States is currently living with diabetes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 9 percent of the total population of the country, more than 29 million people, is suffering from the disease. Even more startling is that nearly 90 million more people are prediabetic, meaning they are close to the physical requirements necessary to receive a diagnosis of diabetes. This disease can be truly devastating for your elderly parent, which makes it important to do everything you can as their family caregiver to help them to reduce the risk of developing the disease and to live a healthier, stronger lifestyle as they age in place.
November is American Diabetes Month. This is the perfect opportunity for you to educate yourself and your aging parent on the lifestyle choices that they can make to help them reduce their risk for diabetes so that they can stay healthier longer. This is especially important if they have two or more of the risk factors for diabetes, particularly those that they cannot alter, such as family history or age.
Some ways that you can help your parent lower their risk for diabetes include:
• Get them active. Inactivity is one of the leading risk factors for diabetes that your aging parent can chance. Encourage them to find a few physical activities that they enjoy doing, and get the active five days a week. This does not have to be strenuous or formal exercise. Just living an active lifestyle with activities such as gardening, dancing, volunteering, and taking the steps instead of elevators can make a tremendous difference.
• Encourage a healthy diet. What your parent eats makes a major impact on their overall health and well-being. When your loved one eats the right foods, they are giving their body the nutrients that it needs to function properly and to avoid health complications such as diabetes. This also helps to counteract another risk factor, which is being overweight.
• Control blood pressure. There are several health conditions and complications that can put your aging parent at increased risk of diabetes. Controlling these issues, including hypertension, properly reduces the risk for this condition. Talk to their doctor about ways that you can help them to manage their health concerns in a way that will reduce their risk factors for other conditions, including diabetes.
If your elderly loved one has recently been diagnosed with diabetes or you feel that they are not managing their condition as well as they could, now may be the ideal time for you to consider starting home care for them. An in-home senior care services provider can help your parent to better understand their condition and what they need to do to manage it, and then provide a personalized set of services that integrates those management techniques with care, support, assistance, and encouragement. Together this helps your parent to keep their diabetes in check while also maintaining as much independence, activity, and fulfillment as possible as they age in place. If your aging parent has risk factors for developing diabetes but has not yet been diagnosed, home care may also be able to help them avoid this condition. By helping them to make better lifestyle choices and offering support and reminders for compliance with guidelines and instructions from their doctor, this care provider can help your parent live a healthier and more fulfilling lifestyle as they age in place.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/basics/risk-factors/con-20033091
http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/statistics/?referrer=https://www.google.com/
If you or an aging loved one are considering home care in North Palm Beach, FL, contact the caring staff at BrightStar Care of Jupiter. Call today (561) 741-1200.