One of the challenges in caregiving for seniors is being aware when there is something wrong. This often isn’t as easy as it seems, because seniors may be dealing with one or more physical health issues and may also be on multiple different medications.
Likewise, people vary from one another in what is considered to be normal.
Because of these factors, the process of caregiving often involves looking for changes in a senior’s behavior along with any physical changes. These can often act as an indication that there is an underlying issue.
But, there are also some issues that often go unnoticed. One of these is dehydration. In most cases, people don’t really think about dehydration in seniors as being an issue. After all, people are normally pretty good at managing their own dehydration in most situations.
Despite this, dehydration in seniors is actually a significant issue – and it’s a problem that is far too easy to overlook. In fact, the symptoms of dehydration tend to be subtle, so caregivers will often not realize that dehydration is even occurring.
To make matters worse, even mild dehydration can be associated with significant health issues – especially for people already experiencing health problems. For example, dehydration means that the body has less fluid, which places greater pressure on the heart. That can be a major issue for seniors who already have heart problems.
In fact, dehydration is a common cause of hospitalization in seniors, partly because it is not recognized immediately.
As such, it’s very important to be aware of dehydration in seniors and to take active steps to fight this issue.
Seniors are at Increased Risk
As I mentioned earlier, the concept of dehydration in seniors is often overlooked. This is partly because people simply don’t imagine that dehydration might be a risk in this group. Yet, seniors are actually at a greater risk for dehydration than many other groups.
There are a number of factors that put seniors at increased risk of dehydration. Some of these are true for all seniors, while others may be true in only some cases.
Medications
There are a number of medications that can increase the rate at which people lose water, contributing to dehydration in seniors. For example, many seniors may be on a diuretic, while other medication can increase how much a person sweats.
Decreased Thirst
As people age, their sense of thirst gets less acute. This can make them less likely to drink water and less aware of when they are at risk for dehydration.
Changes in Kidney Function
As people age, kidney function also decreases. This change in function means that seniors will conserve less fluid than a younger person.
Because of this, seniors will often need to be taking in more liquids than they did earlier in life. However, in many cases, seniors do not do this and may even be drinking less than they used to.
Memory
Many seniors experience memory issues. These can make it more difficult for seniors to remember whether they have had enough fluid. Likewise, a senior may simply not remember to drink or may assume that they have had more to drink than they actually have.
Challenges with Mobility
Seniors who experience issues with mobility may be less willing to get up to get something to drink. Instead, they may wait for someone else to solve the problem or plan on getting something to drink next time they get up.
This can be an especially significant issue when coupled with memory problems as this means that seniors might not remember to get fluid when they do get up or when there is someone there that can get them water.
Illness
Some illnesses can also contribute to dehydration. This is especially true if seniors are experiencing diarrhea or vomiting. This makes it important for caregivers to watch out for signs that seniors are experiencing these issues – as people are often unwilling to tell others are issues that are so personal.
Symptoms of Dehydration in Seniors
At the best of times, dehydration is difficult to spot because many of the symptoms are subtle. This is even more significant in seniors, because some of the symptoms of dehydration don’t show up in seniors.
For example, one symptom of extreme dehydration is skin that is sagging or wrinkled. However, this symptom would not be noticeable in seniors.
One of the most effective ways to keep an eye on dehydration is regularly monitoring body weight. If a person loses more than 2 pounds from one day to the next, this is an indication of mild dehydration. If they lose more than 4 pounds in the same period, then this is an indication of severe dehydration.
Other key indications of dehydration include a senior feeling thirsty, especially first thing in the morning, and waking up with a headache. There is also a range of other symptoms associated with dehydration, including dry mouth, rapid heart rate, low blood pressure, constipation or low urine output.
You can also test for dehydration by looking for a decrease in skin turgor.
Doing this involves pulling back the skin on the back of the hand. If a person is not dehydrated, the skin will go back to normal almost immediately. If it doesn’t, then this is an indication that they are dehydrated.
You can also check urine color as an indication of dehydration (although, whether this is practical will depend on your caregiving relationship).
Making Sure Seniors Get Enough Liquid
There is a common myth that people need to be drinking 8 glasses of water per day. People often argue that having less than this will leave you dehydrated, while having more than 8 glasses is too much water.
Yet, there is no evidence that this number is accurate.
Instead, the amount of water that we need varies from one person to the next. Our water needs are also influenced by a wide range of factors, such as the amount of water we lose, the medications that we are on, our activity level and our biology in general.
Likewise, we don’t just get liquid from drinking water.
For example, many foods also act as a key source of liquid, such as soup or watermelon. For some seniors, it may even be easier for them to get enough liquid if much of it comes from their food.
There is also a common idea that tea and coffee aren’t good sources of water, because they are caffeinated and caffeine dehydrates people. However, the dehydration aspect of coffee and tea is relatively small, so people do end up more hydrated than if they hadn’t had the beverage.
In theory, simply drinking glasses of water is probably the healthiest and most effective ways to stay hydrated. However, when it comes to preventing dehydration in seniors, this approach may not always be enough.
One reason for this is simply that many seniors are stubborn. Another reason is that some people may find it hard physically or emotionally to drink glasses of water in a day. If this is the case, options like tea, coffee and foods high in water are good ways of making sure seniors stay hydrated.
Another approach is to vary the types of liquids that the senior has access to. Taking this approach may them more likely to drink, which helps to fight the potential for dehydration. Using filtered water can be helpful too, especially if the tap water in your area doesn’t taste good.
It can be challenging to make sure seniors get enough liquid, especially as the signs of dehydration are not always evident. But, simply being aware of the potential for dehydration and keeping an eye on the liquid that a senior gets can play a key role in reducing the risk of dehydration.
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