Helping an older person at night could be the hardest for caregivers. But a little thing you know is that there are specialties you can do to lessen the stress and the things to ponder when caring for seniors. We all know that most injuries, falls, and accidents happen at night. So for someone who takes care of their elderly, we should know how to keep our loved ones in bed at night.
As we age, our body doesn’t cope anymore with our previous lifestyle, activities, and sleeping patterns like we used to. A good night’s sleep helps our body maintain concentration and focus on what we do to function within a day. Lack of sleep may cause seniors to develop anxiety, depression, and memory problems that affect their lifestyle because they’re always sleepy during the daytime and may experience insufficient sleep at night.
To keep seniors in bed at night, you must improve their sleep quality and make lifestyle changes. The following are some of the best tips for caring for older people at night in their beds that could benefit both of you. This article will tackle only the best possible things you can perform with your loved one. So without further ado, let’s continue.
How do you keep seniors in their beds at night?
Seniors tend to overreact because of their old age or someone that has dementia or Alzheimers. It would help if you had a list of things you need to do or remember to manage them effortlessly and without stress. So here is what you should be doing to help your seniors to stay in bed at night.
- Have a toilet organizer.
Before going to sleep with your senior, you must have organized things to settle all of them when things go south. Have a bathroom or toilet organizer because seniors, when in bed, sometimes look for nutritional food and drinks and medications that will satisfy them and for them not to throw tantrums at you. So when you’re free and they’re asleep, for example, in the morning, set up foods, medicines, water, and lotion or oil so that you don’t need to leave your bed at night if you’re with them.
- Prepare incontinence products all the time.
This one is one of the most important things you need to remember. Storing incontinence products in your cabinets or close to them, like drawers or tables, is essential because untimely leaks may occur. Prepare adult diapers or incontinence pads to ensure that if leaks ever happen, you are ready to help them and are accessible. Prepare personal hygiene kits like adult wipes and disposable gloves so you can help them without soiling your hands and arms in the process. It is safe, clean, and advisable for professionals.
- Install safety bathroom
If things get nasty and you badly need the bathroom as your last resort with your senior, you better install bathroom safety to have a fast, safe, secure trip with them. One of these bathroom safety aids is high toilet seats, commodes, and transfer benches that will aid seniors and make the job easier for you. Instead of having difficulty transferring your seniors from their bed to the bathroom, make them use a wheelchair, and the trip would be two times faster when done manually.
- Install safety rails alongside the bed
You should install bed rails alongside the bed of your seniors to make them feel safe all the time. Bed rails will help seniors not to fall from their bed at night even without your provisions. Not only does it provide safety to seniors when they’re in bed, but it also offers support to seniors when climbing into or out of bed. Seniors won’t be afraid anymore when leaving out of bed because they know that they’re safe with these bed rails with or without the help of their loved ones or caregivers.
- Set up the room in a soothing environment.
Make sure your environment with your client is soothing and relaxing for them not to leave the bed anymore because of boredom or uneasy feelings. Set up the mood with a clean and relaxed environment, set up soothing music, and should have a dark, quiet environment to promote good sleep. Make sure the lights are dim if they don’t want a dark room. Put decorative plants that will help the room to have some life and color. Ensure that the plants you install will not cause an allergic reaction. Ask their doctors before doing any of these because they know how and what your senior needs.
- Talk to them
Talking with your seniors will help them to get some sleep in their beds. Talk about their sleeping pattern and things that will help them to sleep, like stories, happy memories, and good experiences from your life. Not only do you talk to them to make them sleep, but you also build a foundation of trust and care for them. Try this for people living with dementia. It also helps. All they need is some attention and distraction from the illness they’re going through. So employing talking, not only do you help yourself by learning more from them, but they also learn a lot from you and make them feel comfortable with you all the time.
Final Thoughts
Make sure you clearly understand the situation before engaging in any of this. Talk with your patient’s doctors and family members about what or what your patient shouldn’t be doing. Understanding seniors’ nighttime needs is essential to know what support and help they need because you don’t want them missing out on the help and support they need from you.
Some think that medications or drugs are enough to push them to sleep the seniors on their beds every day. Not only do some drugs damage the liver, but they also cause the bladder to become irritated, causing it to leak more. It is essential to know what things you should do by going to a doctor or with our help here at AvaCare Medical. We offer various services, from incontinence products to daily living aids that can help you to manage your client. For more information about AvaCare, please get in touch with AvaCare’s hotline at 1-877-813-7799 or email us at info@avacaremedical.com.