If your elderly family member tends to end up dehydrated a little too often, she might want to look into ways to improve hydration. These ideas might help you both to increase her water intake a bit.
Find out How Much Water Is Optimal for Your Senior
Talk to your senior’s doctor about water intake for your senior. Although there are general recommendations floating around about water intake, those are extremely generalized. Get specific and make sure you put together a plan to ramp your senior up to that hydration goal. Drinking a lot more water suddenly can get overwhelming and your senior is less likely to stick with her new hydration habit.
Keep Water Bottles Accessible
When water is easy to drink, your senior is going to be more likely to drink it. Keep bottles of cool water wherever she is. Something else to consider is the size of the water bottle or glass you’re using. If the size is too big, that’s an intimidating amount of water to drink. But if you keep the size around 16 to 20 ounces, that’s an easier amount of water to handle at a time.
Branch out with Other Hydrating Drinks
Ideally, you want your senior to drink more water in order to maintain hydration levels. But that’s not the only game in town. There are lots of other beverages that your elderly family member can try that can help with hydration, but they’re better kept in moderation. Anything that has a lot of sugar or even salt is likely a bad idea, and so is caffeine. But you can try other ideas, like vegetable juice or smoothies, and see if they work for your senior. Replacing a little bit of her water with these ideas can help.
Go with a Full Glass of Water with Meds
If you’ve read most medication instructions, they almost all include instructions to take the medication with a full glass of water. There are lots of reasons for that, including that your senior’s body needs plenty of water in order to process the medication. This is a good rule of thumb to start using, though, because it helps her to hit her hydration goals, too.
Getting enough water can sometimes be a guessing game for your senior. Having help from elderly care providers can help, especially if they take over the tracking duties for her. They can also remind her to sip water throughout the day.
If you or an aging loved one needs Elderly Care in Roseville, CA, remember Senior Home Care Services. Call us at (916) 514-7006 for more information.
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