5 Ways to Help an Older Parent Who Is Recovering after a Stroke

The stroke recovery process varies from senior to senior. Some individuals recover within three, six, or eight months, while others take more or less time to recover. By developing a solid care plan, you can help your aging loved one overcome secondary effects while regaining his or her independence. Keeping your parent comfortable, fully engaged, and healthy can be challenging, but it can be easier if you follow some of the tips mentioned below.

1. Develop a Healthy Diet Plan

Minimizing brain damage and maintaining healthy blood pressure levels are vital to stroke recovery. Therefore, you should develop a nutritious diet plan that promotes neurological and physical healing. Foods with omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial because they contain the EPA acid that helps during stroke recovery. Salmon, tuna, olive oil, flaxseed, and avocados are popular foods with omega-3 fatty acids that promote neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to form and reorganize connections lost due to injury.

Serve foods that contain inflammation-reducing flavonoids, such as blueberries, cherries, and leafy green vegetables, and help your loved one avoid red meat. Try to incorporate lean meats like chicken or healthy fish options into your loved one’s diet.

2. Monitor & Balance Exercise Routines

Reducing joint stiffness, lowering the risk of muscle shortening, and staving off joint contractures are essential goals of exercise plans for aging stroke survivors. However, monitoring workouts helps seniors avoid overexerting their muscles, which could prevent regression. If your loved one pushes his or her body too hard, it could lead to post-stroke fatigue.

Walking, stationary cycling, and stability ball exercises are appropriate activities that keep the heart pumping and the brain working. Speak with your parent’s primary care physician or physical therapist about what to avoid.

A professional caregiver can help your loved one follow a safe, effective exercise plan during recovery. Families looking for top-rated homecare providers can reach out to Assisting Hands Home Care. From Fremont respite care to specialized Alzheimer’s, dementia, stroke, and Parkinson’s care, there are many ways we can make life easier for seniors and their loved ones.

3. Encourage Rest

Another key to boosting neuroplasticity during stroke recovery is getting adequate rest. When your loved one is sleeping, his or her brain can relearn its functions and make new neural connections. Poor sleep quality can lengthen the recovery process.

The best ways to ensure your loved one gets plenty of rest include following a daily schedule that encourages consistent sleeping habits and providing a comfortable resting space that’s free of loud noises and bright lighting.

4. Take Advantage of Help

Staving off complications following a stroke is important, and that starts with assistance from family caregivers. However, busy schedules could prevent you and your siblings from providing the consistent care your parent needs, so you should take advantage of home care services.

Having someone there to monitor your loved one’s health and promote ways to boost the stroke recovery process is crucial. Another benefit of home care providers is that they’re trained individuals who understand stroke recovery, and they can provide your family with tips for helping your loved one recover in healthy ways. 

In Fremont, home care service agencies can be a great boon to seniors. With the help of the caregivers at Assisting Hands Home Care, your aging loved one can lead a happier and healthier life. Our caregivers encourage seniors to eat nutritious foods, exercise and socialize regularly, and focus on other lifestyle factors that increase life expectancy.

5. Promote Positivity

Promoting positivity includes setting realistic goals and encouraging your loved one to keep striving, even if those goals go unachieved. Help your parent understand that every day is an opportunity to boost his or her health and return to normalcy and that he or she has to keep trying. One of the best ways to keep your loved one positive is to customize the recovery steps according to his or her abilities, and only increase them when your parent can go forward or if a physician has encouraged it. 

Certain age-related conditions can make it more challenging for seniors to age in place safely and comfortably, but Fremont elderly home care experts are available to help seniors manage their health. Whether your loved one is living with dementia or recovering from a stroke, you can trust the professional caregivers from Assisting Hands Home Care to enhance his or her quality of life. Call us at (510) 270-4948 to create a customized in-home care plan.