Older adults are more prone to illness and take longer to recover. While changes to the immune system naturally occur as a person gets older, there are some common causes of a weakened immune system that older adults can address to stay healthy. At Home Care Assistance, we work to support older adults in staying healthy as they age in place. So, if you need assistance for you or your loved one, speak to your in-home Care Professionals.
Other Health Conditions
The body and the immune system can only cope with so much at once. Staying as healthy as possible is therefore important – this includes staying on top of any chronic health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. This requires attending appointments, taking medications, and adhering to any other recommended treatments.
For loved ones, the strain of helping someone you care for manage their health conditions significantly challenging. An in-home Care Professional can help with this so that you can enjoy your time with your loved one. The in-home Care professional can help your loved one take their medication, attend appointments, exercise, and engage in any other required treatment recommendations.
Medications
Medications can result in a decreased immunity. This includes medications such as corticosteroids – often used to treat arthritis or lupus – or chemotherapy drugs. While it is important to not stop taking prescribed medications, if you are concerned about the effects a medication is having on the immune system of yourself or your loved one, then you should speak to the GP. Taking medications correctly is also important to limit side effects. Our in-home Care Professional can assist with medication taking to ensure the correct medications are taken at the right times.
Stress
Stress can leave the immune system weakened making a person vulnerable to catching colds and flus. Older adults can have stresses in their life that they are not used to such as worries about health or money. Keeping an open dialogue with your loved ones about things that worry them can help minimise their stress down and keep them healthy.
Poor diet
A strong immune system needs a healthy diet full of all the required nutrients. Zinc, vitamin E, and vitamin D all play a crucial role in keeping a person’s immune system healthy. However, older adults are often deficient in these.[1] As older adults age, it can be difficult to keep up with the activities required to eat well such as shopping, planning, and cooking meals. An in-home Care Professional can help with these activities. At Home Care Assistance, our Care Professionals can help your loved one with the daily activities required to eat well and stay healthy.
Healthy Lifestyle Habits
Healthy lifestyle habits are also important to saying healthy. This means staying active and sleeping well. It also means avoiding unhealthy habits such as smoking and drinking too much. It can take time to break bad habits and form good ones, but the immune system requires these healthy habits to keep illnesses at bay.
Some changes to the immune system may be unavoidable over time. However, there are lots of things older adults can do to keep their immune system as strong as possible and help avoid illnesses such as colds and flu. For older adults who need support in the activities required to stay healthy, in-home Care Professional can help provide that support.
Support of an in-home care like Home Care Assistance, can bring enormous benefit and comfort to your quality of life while living independently at home. Home Care Assistance has viable solutions when it comes to supporting independent living. For more information, get in touch with a Home Care Assistance near me today.
[1] https://www.healthylife.com.au/learn/immune-support-for-seniors
