Taking care of a senior parent can be tons of work, no matter who you are. Their bodies respond differently than younger adults, often having more medical conditions to think about. If you have been visiting your mom or dad regularly and start to notice they are not taking care of specific tasks or forgetting to do things to keep them safe and healthy, it’s time to talk to them about senior care.
Not every senior needs the extra help, but it can be one of the best ways to help your parent age in place instead of moving to a senior home.
Senior home care can help your mom or dad stick with their regular routine, which can help them live much longer while remaining comfortably at home. If your mom starts feeling cold all of the time, they need to work on staying warm, but they may forget or not know how. This is when having help at their home can benefit their health. If a senior becomes too cold and can’t warm up no matter what, they will also need to find a way to go to the doctor.
There may be tons of reasons why your mom keeps the heat cranked up and why she always feels cold. This can be a serious problem, and there are a few medical conditions to keep in mind when caring for a senior. It’s time for you to understand why your seniors may always feel colder than they should.
Why Does Your Senior Feel Cold?
Aging individuals are more vulnerable to low temperatures for a number of reasons, including thinner skin and heart problems. These explanations may be divided into two categories: general aging and underlying health issues. But how do you know which category your senior falls under? The truth is you will need to spend time and observe your seniors or have senior home care analyze their everyday lives.
When Aging Is The Problem
The truth is as your body ages it can be exceptionally hard to control body temperature. It’s just how the natural aging process occurs. You will want to try to keep your seniors as warm as possible and may need to help them make appropriate outfit choices. Why does aging affect how cold a person feels? For these reasons:
- Seniors will naturally have thinner skin and less fat to keep them warm.
- As a person ages their metabolic rate decreases which affects how they can maintain body temperature.
- Their circulation may slow down impacing how cold they get.
Even during the summer, a senior may head towards the toastiest room to warm up. They are impacted by a mixture of things that they cannot control.
When Underlying Medical Conditions Are The Problem
You may be wondering what kinds of medical conditions can impact a senior and the truth is there are a lot of problems a senior can develop later in life. It is crucial to ensure your senior is going to their primary care doctor regularly. Here are a few underlying conditions that can make a senior feel colder than normal.
- Hypothyroidism
- Anemia
- Atherosclerosis
- Diabetes
- Cardiovascular disease
- Medication side effects