Does Your Elderly Loved One Need Multi-Sensory Stimulation?

When people get older, their sensory functions don’t work quite as well as they used to. For instance, your elderly loved one might not be able to taste or see things as well as they did 5 or 10 years ago. The good news is that there are many sensory activities that can help improve your elderly loved one’s physical and emotional health. Keep reading here to find out more about the multi-sensory stimulation tips and activities that might benefit your elderly loved one.

 

Home Care Services in East Quogue NY: Multi-Sensory Stimulation

 

Auditory Stimulation

There are some auditory stimulation activities that can improve your elderly loved one’s mood. They can also improve their cognition and help them to relax. These activities include the playing of sounds such as Mozart or a song that your elderly loved one used to love. Having your elderly loved one listen to sounds can help them connect to their hearting. It is important to remember that your elderly loved one might not like the first sounds you or their senior care provider turn on. You might have to try different things to figure out what they like the best.

 

Tactile Stimulation

Your elderly loved one might need tactile stimulation, as well. These activities include things such as touch and texture. Research shows that tactile stimulation activities can improve an elderly person’s overall well-being. Some of the things that you might have your elderly loved one do are creating a virtual beach, doing brain path activities, or play with pine cones.

 

Visual Stimulation

You might need to offer visual stimulation for your elderly loved one. This helps to activate their sight. There are many ways that this can be done including light therapy, playing videos or movies, and decorating with photos. All of these things can help to stimulate your elderly loved one’s vision. When they do these things, it can help to stimulate their cognition, as well.

 

Olfactory Stimulation

Olfactory stimulation is something else that your elderly loved one might need. This stimulates their sense of smell. You might want to have your elderly loved ones smell things that remind them of their childhood such as sweet tea.

 

Conclusion

These are just some of the types of multi-sensory stimulation that your elderly loved one might need. You or their senior care provider can take your elderly loved one to their doctor to get further advice on what sensory stimulation they may need, as well.

 

If you or an aging loved one is considering hiring Home Care Services in East Quogue, NY, call the caring staff at Artful Home Care today at 631-685-5001.

 

Sources

https://journals.lww.com/

Beth McNeill-Muhs