Elderly Care in Omaha NE
As a family caregiver you know how important it is to stimulate your parent’s mind and keep it active and engaged as they age in place. Like any other system throughout their body, your parent must keep utilizing and challenging their mind so that it stays strong and responsive. This helps to minimize cognitive functioning loss, memory decline, and other concerns that can negatively impact your parent’s quality of life. Stimulating their mind, however, does not just mean doing brain puzzles or learning new things. Instead, you can plan activities and experiences that support not just their brain health but also your relationship.
February is Bake for Family Fun Month. This is the ideal opportunity for you to learn more about the benefits of getting your aging parent into the kitchen with you to enjoy some baking together and plan more baking experiences so that they can keep their mind healthy and support improved emotional well-being as they age.
Some of the mental benefits of baking with your aging loved one during Bake for Family Fun Month and throughout the rest of your care journey include:
• Soothing the mind. Baking is an activity that takes all of your parent’s attention. This means that they can release other issues that they are worrying about and allow their mind to relax. This is also a chance for them to meditate on specific issues so that they can let their mind work through them.
• Stimulating the senses. Stimulating of the senses is a powerful way to stimulate the mind and keep it active and engaged. Baking stimulates all five of the senses, from feeling the weight and texture of the ingredients to smelling the products baking to tasting the final product.
• Cognitive processing. Baking requires several mental processes. This includes reading the recipe, following the instructions, finding the ingredients, measuring them out, and selecting the appropriate processes to handle each step of the recipe. This keeps the mind engaged and strengthens these skills.
• Stimulating memory skills. Memory decline is common among elderly adults but encouraging them to use their memory skills regularly can preserve them for longer. Baking is the ideal opportunity to talk about memories that you have of the treats that you used to bake together or that they used to bake with their parents. This strengthens their memory skills and supports your relationship.
Starting elderly care for your aging parent can be one of the most nurturing, compassionate, and caring decisions that you can make throughout you care journey with them. By bringing an elderly home care services provider into the home with your loved one, you can ensure that they get the care, support, assistance, and encouragement that they need to manage their individual needs, challenges, and limitations in a way that is right for them. By taking into consideration what they need to manage, their lifestyle and goals, and the type of care that you give them, this care provider can craft a customized approach to care that empowers your loved one to properly manage their physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being, and encourages them to life an active, engaged, and fulfilling lifestyle. This can include planning fun and beneficial activities that stimulate your parent’s mind, support their emotional health, and help them to maintain as much of their independence as possible.
https://www.goodnet.org/articles/5-reasons-baking-good-for-mental-health
If you or an aging loved one are considering elderly care in Omaha, NE, please contact the caring staff at Seniors Helping Seniors® Greater Omaha at (402) 215-0308 today.