Many seniors suffer from dehydration. There are a lot of reasons why seniors don’t drink enough water. Sometimes they find that water or other drinks taste strange because of the side effects of medication that they are taking. Or they may forget to drink water throughout the day because they have a hard time recognizing their body’s signals. Elder care providers for seniors often need to remind seniors every hour to drink water in order to keep themselves hydrated.
If seniors don’t drink enough they may experience dizziness, fatigue, irritability, or other symptoms. In the winter dehydration for seniors can be a real problem because seniors may be even more hesitant to drink water when it’s cold.
Here are a few ways that you or an elder care provider can encourage your senior loved one to drink more and stay hydrated:
Offer Hot Herbal Teas
Herbal teas are delicious and wonderfully warming in cold weather. Stock your senior loved one’s house with a large selection of herbal teas so that there will always be a flavor on hand to entice your senior loved one to try a cup of tea. Instead of trying to get your senior loved one to drink water every hour offer them a cup of nice hot tea. They may prefer the hot tea to a glass of water.
Try Flavored Water or Watered Down Juice
Flavored waters can be a great way to encourage senior to drink more, but you need to watch out for the sugar in flavored waters. You can also offer your senior parent watered down fruit juices like orange juice or cranberry juice instead of flavored water. Watered down juice will have a familiar juice taste but won’t be too sweet or have too much sugar so they can drink more of it.
Offer Soups and Broths
If your senior parent really doesn’t want water and doesn’t care for tea try getting them to drink some light soups or broths instead. A cup of steaming hot bone broth has protein, vitamins, and minerals in addition to the water that your senior loved one needs. Bone broths, chicken broth, or vegetable broths are all good options for seniors who should be drinking more but don’t want to drink water. You can make bone broth yourself or buy it at the store. Bone broth also comes in a range of flavors so that your senior loved one won’t get bored.
Offer Citrus Fruits As Snacks
A great way to sneak more water into your senior loved one’s diet is to encourage them to oranges and grapefruits as snacks. Citrus fruits are packed with healthy vitamins and they contain a lot of natural juice that will keep your senior loved one hydrated. Surprise your senior parent with a box of fresh Florida oranges and grapefruits for the winter so they will have plenty of delicious citrus fruit in the house to snack on.
Source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dehydration/symptoms-causes/syc-20354086
If you or a family member are in need of hiring Elder Care Services in Stonybrook NY, or the surrounding areas, contact the caring professionals at Star Multi Care Services today at (631)956-8835. We are the Right Choice for Home Health Care Services!
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