As a senior, you must protect yourself in your home and that means being cautious about objects that can make you fall and warning signs that something may be medically wrong. One of the most common reasons seniors are hurt in their home is because they trip and fall. Have you ever experienced an accident situation where you fell down?
When a fall happens, you may not suffer many injuries now, but another occurrence may not be as forgiving. Below are four ways that you can protect yourself from falls in your home.
Exercise to Build Strength
One of the best ways to prevent falls is to exercise and build your strength throughout your body. There are varieties of exercises you can do to help build your strength and improve your balance. You want to start slow at first and then work your way up. Before you know it, you will be able to perform what was once a difficult exercise flawlessly.
Once you feel comfortable with exercising and your balance, you can look into exercising groups with other seniors. This will keep you on your toes and you will meet new people.
Make Your Home a Safer Place
Your home may seem like a safe place, but 9 times out of 10, there is something that can cause injury. For instance, do you have a tub mat in your bathtub? If not, you could slip on a slick tub bottom and fall down. Do you have stairs in your home? If so, consider place a slip-resistant carpeting or other material over the stairs to prevent falls.
You can quickly look around your home and identify hazards. These hazards can be large or small and once you identify them, remove them from your path so that an accident does not occur.
Talk to Your Doctor
Talking to your healthcare provider can benefit you and help you understand what potential risks lie ahead. If you are taking medication that causes drowsiness or a loss of balance, then your doctor may be able to switch the medication for you. Many medications do cause balance problems and if you are already having trouble with your balance then you may fall.
Know Your Vision
If your eyesight is on the weak side, you may run into an object or trip over a piece of furniture because you could not see it. When this happens, you run the risk of seriously injuring yourself. Poor vision in your home can make your entire home a hazard to you. To protect yourself, you want to have your vision checked by a professional optometrist. You may need glasses and if so, have the pair adjusted to fit your face properly so that you are always able to see correctly.
To prevent falls in your home, study the above four ways to prevent them and implement the changes that you need to. When you begin working on your balance and removing obstacles from your path, you will soon learn that preventing falls is easier than you thought.
But accidents do happen, and once they do, it is important that help reaches you quickly. In fact, if care is provided within the first hour of falling, there is an 80% chance you’ll experience a full recovery. This critical timeframe is known as the golden hour. Pioneer medical alert buttons are designed to you get you the help you need, when you need it. Call us today 1-800-824-8844 and we’ll explain how.