How to Remind Elderly Parents to Take Their Pills
No matter your age, it’s easy to forget things from time to time.
Sometimes you don’t remember until the last minute that you were supposed to be visiting a friend one day after work. Other times, you’ll find yourself scouring the house because you’ve forgotten where you’ve placed your car keys.
As we get older, one of the most common lifestyle changes that we’ll encounter is a growing need to take more medication. Pills for everything from angina to arthritis can be crucial to maintaining a consistent quality of life. However, it’s not always easy to remember when to take your pills – particularly when you’re trying to continue living an active lifestyle.
The question is, how do you remind your elderly parents to take their pills, without being overbearing?
How to Remind Elderly Parents to Take Their Pills – Simple Routine Changes
Sometimes, the simplest solutions are the best.
Something as basic as asking your elderly patient to use a pillbox so that they can track which medicines they’re supposed to take each day can make a world of difference. This way, your senior relative is less likely to double up on drugs, because they know which they’ve taken, and which they haven’t. You can also try:
- Combining medication with daily tasks: If you tell your elderly parents to take their pills after brushing their teeth each night, they’ll start to combine the two tasks in their mind. That means that whenever they brush their teeth, they’ll remember to take their pills too.
- Set an alarm: Basic alarms set either on your parent’s clock or phone can be enough to jolt them into taking their pills if they forgot to do it before. The only downside is that if your parent doesn’t know how to use their smartphone and read the reminders, they may forget what the alarm was for.
- Ask for updates: Ask your parents to send you a text every day after they’ve taken their pill. This way, you’ll be able to keep track of whether they’re using their medication properly. At the same time, your parents will be broken out of autopilot because they’re texting you.
How to Remind Elderly Parents to Take Their Pills – Taking Advantage of Technology
While basic routine changes can be helpful to a certain extent when it comes to reminding elderly people to take their pills, you may need a little extra help with some seniors. If your parent has issues with their memory, then an alarm going off at the same time each day won’t necessarily get them to take their pills – particularly if they can’t remember what the alarm is for.
On the other hand, a tool like the personal reminder device from SOFIHUB home could give Seniors a more intelligent way to track their routine. Built with the latest technology, the SOFIHUB home acts as an intelligent assistant for your loved one, letting them know when it’s time to take their pills, or when they have appointments booked each day. The SOFIHUB home even comes with a back-end system that family members can log into for insights into whether their parent is remembering to take each dose on time or not.
Try the more intelligent way to look after your elderly loved ones, with SOFIHUB.