Preventing Winter Dehydration Through Quality Senior Care

With quality in-home senior care, you can help your loved one in Westminster, CO avoid the consequences of winter dehydration

Everybody knows how important it is to drink water. Sadly, few of us put much importance on it during the winter months. The fact is that all human beings, seniors included, are made up of mostly water. In fact, nearly 65 percent of our bodies are water. So, it is absolutely imperative that we keep our bodies consistently hydrated throughout the year, even when we are not being so active throughout the day. Perhaps even more so during those times. Quality senior care should always place a very high importance on preventing dehydration.

Causes and Symptoms of Winter Dehydration

If you are your loved one's primary caregiver, you may be wondering whether or not your loved one is chronically dehydrated. More importantly, you may be asking yourself why. There are many reasons why seniors can lack water retention, including fever, diarrhea, vomiting, side effects from medication, diabetes and lack of thirst as caused by age. As you can imagine, seniors are at a higher risk of becoming dehydrated because of their age and the fact that many take multiple medications that may be working against them in this regard.

So, how can you tell if your loved one is dehydrated? Any senior care professional will tell you that the most obvious sign is thirst. They will also tell you that your loved one may be experiencing less urination, fatigue, headache, dry nose, lips and mouth, irritability, confusion and, at worst, they may go into a coma or experience organ failure.

Helping Your Loved One Stay Hydrated with Senior Care

Prevention will be your best friend when it comes to your loved one's hydration. The following are six things your loved one can do to help keep them hydrated throughout the day:

• Fluid replacement with water, juice, soups, clear broth, Popsicles, Jell-O, ice cream, milk, puddings, decaffeinated beverages, Kool-Aid, nutritional drink supplements and drinks with electrolytes like Pedialyte, Gatorade and Powerade are best for treating dehydration.
• Make sure they consume plenty of fruit and vegetables since most fruits and vegetables have a high water content.
• Stay away from drinks like coffee, tea, alcohol and soft drinks. These are dehydrating for seniors. This is especially true for any alcoholic beverages because the body uses additional water to metabolize alcohol. It also acts as a diuretic.
• If your loved one drinks the above beverages, they should consume more water to compensate.
• They should drink small amounts of water throughout the day. It’s healthier to drink and refill a 24-32 ounce tumbler of water throughout the day (preferably before 5pm) than to drink 64 ounces in one sitting. Your loved one should limit their fluid intake 1-3 hours before they go to bed.
• Speak with their doctor about modifying their prescription schedule routine.

Visiting Angels has provided quality senior care to elderly adults throughout Westminster, Denver, Broomfield and surrounding communities in Colorado for many years. To learn more about the work we do, contact our Westminster office today.