Tips For Keeping Your Aging Parents Happy And Healthy

Written By Brooke Chaplan / Reviewed By Ray Spotts

It's a humbling experience to watch your parents progress in age. Just like you might be experiencing your own emotions, they experience their own as well.

As they progress in age, it's not uncommon for feelings of sadness and frustration to set in as they become more aware of how much assistance they need in order to still thrive. Thankfully, there are many ways you can assist in their process of cultivating happiness and optimal health.

1. Start a Book Club

As an individual gets older, cognitive decline naturally happens. By reading on a consistent basis, it's much easier to prevent or prolong the decline. Furthermore, reading may hold physical benefits such as the ability to lower blood pressure and decrease depressive symptoms.

One great way to encourage your parents to read involves starting a book club. Whether you opt to discuss the book once a week or once a month, review interesting takeaways that you all enjoyed from it. Discuss the book around a delicious meal to make it more interesting and festive.

2. Communicate Daily

Even if you and your parents don't live together, make it a point to connect daily. By communicating daily, you can help to reassure your parents that you're not going anywhere. Your presence will always be felt. That's very reassuring when a lot of older people feel as though they're tossed aside and forgotten.

3. Provide the Right Environment

As your parents get older, there are a lot of tasks they might not be able to do on their own anymore. Create a comforting home environment by hiring a cleaning service to clean the house each week. Consider a grocery delivery service to support the need for healthy food within arm's reach.

If it's safer for them to be in a supervised facility, it's wise to invest in a care home that can provide the best care and support for your parents. Take some time to determine their needs so that you can find a facility that will allow them to remain physically and mentally healthy.

4. Speak in Their Love Language

If you don't know the love languages of your parents, don't be afraid to ask. However, if you don't want to ask, just express all the languages and pay attention to what they respond to the most.

If you already know that your mother can talk for hours without missing a beat, quality time is important. If you know that your father loves being outside in nature, take him outside for a drive to a local park for some fresh air and mental stimulation.

It's often stated that you can't make other people happy because happiness is an inside job. Yes, you're not solely responsible for the happiness of your parents. However, your presence and effort can do wonders for their well-being. When a person knows they're loved and cherished, this can make a major impact on the way they feel.

Loneliness is a major contributor to depression and declining health. By maintaining a consistent presence with these tips and more, you can do an amazing job at creating a safe space for your parents to thrive in happiness and health as they transition to their older years.

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Written By:

Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information, contact Brooke via Facebook at facebook.com/brooke.chaplan or Twitter @BrookeChaplan  

Reviewed By:

Founder Ray Spotts has a passion for all things natural and has made a life study of nature as it relates to health and well-being. Ray became a forerunner bringing products to market that are extraordinarily effective and free from potentially harmful chemicals and additives. For this reason Ray formed Trusted Health Products, a company you can trust for clean, effective, and healthy products. Ray is an organic gardener, likes fishing, hiking, and teaching and mentoring people to start new businesses. You can get his book for free, “How To Succeed In Business Based On God’s Word,” at www.rayspotts.com.