A garden in full bloom can be extremely delightful to one’s eyes and nose. Most importantly, tending to that garden can also significantly improve your overall wellbeing, evident by many older individuals making this a hobby. However, aging can come in their way of continuing the activities they love, which is why we came up with a list of how you can make gardening for seniors easier.
Benefits of Gardening
A few ways gardening can improve one’s life are as follows:
- Maintaining physical activity
- Creating small successes that can build confidence
- Adopting new skills that can improve cognitive health
- Relieves stress, anxiety, and negative feelings
- Ability to be self-sufficient in growing healthy edible produce
Common Issues Faced When Gardening
Gardening is a common pastime that nurtures one’s mind and body. When individuals are tending to their garden, even the simplest activities like digging can be taxing on their bodies. Thus, there are various safety considerations to take note of since people are more prone to sunburn, insect bites, falls, and accidents due to poor vision. However, these common issues should not prevent your loved ones from enjoying their hobby as there are steps to mitigate them.
Making Gardening Easier
If you want to ensure your loved ones are enjoying their time gardening in safety, you’ll be happy to learn that with a few adjustments and precautions, safety in the garden for older individuals is not difficult.
- Preventing sunburn: Other than slathering on sunscreen, putting on a hat, wearing long-sleeved tops and bottoms, monitoring your loved ones for heat exhaustion is important too. Take regular breaks, especially during the hottest parts of the day to prevent sunstrokes, too.
- Preventing accidents due to poor vision: If your loved one has reduced eyesight, items needed for gardening needs to be brought closer to their eye level. Remove all clutter to ensure paths are flat, keep all drinks entirely separate from chemicals, and have solid benches, raised garden beds, and lightweight tools with good grip placed within easy reach.
- Preventing falls: Most elderly individuals have issues with balance, so make sure that proper footwear is worn while gardening. Having benches or tables to lean or rest on can offer great support.
- Preventing wounds and insect bites: Your loved ones may not notice when it happens, so do check for any insect bites, scratches, or cuts on them.
Since gardening requires physical activity, you may want to consult your doctor to understand any limitations you may have. As a general rule of thumb, some physical therapists and doctors suggest that older individuals carry out warm-up exercises or stretching before they begin gardening.
Why Choose SummerHouse Grayson Valley?
At SummerHouse Grayson Valley, we are a community that elicits feelings of closeness and familiarity. What’s different about us is the home-like atmosphere we’ve fostered, and that’s something you can only find here.
If you have any inquiries about the range of services we offer, don’t hesitate to contact us today.
