Cooking and baking have been shown to be great activities for people in assisted living; it allows them to explore the senses, provides a creative outlet, helps to spark memories, and encourages conversation. Explore the benefits of cooking for those living with dementia:

1. It Engages the Senses

Cooking provides an excellent activity for sensory stimulation exploring touch, sight, smell, sound, and taste. For someone living with dementia, sensory activities provide platforms for reminiscence, socialization, and help to improve mood. Engaging the sense of smell as part of a cooking activity can be a great way to reduce agitation and aid with relaxation, as familiar scents incite feelings of comfort and evoke memories.

Try asking your loved one what their favorite meal was as a child and re-create it together. Involving your loved one in cooking processes, such as kneading dough and using cooking utensils, are great ways to engage their sense of touch. Doing these can help to improve hand-eye coordination while providing light physical exercise.

2. Creates Reminiscence

Cooking is a familiar activity for many and taking part in activities in the kitchen can help trigger positive memories for someone living with dementia. Meals are often cooked within a family home shared with loved ones, therefore creating a familiar meal, which has a familiar smell or taste, can help stir those memories.

If your loved one used to bake, why not try making biscuits together. Select a simple recipe that involves kneading. Baking biscuits is known to provide a homely familiar smell which may also help spark memories and conversations of when your loved one used to bake. The smell of food cooking has proved to be a powerful reminiscence tool. Familiar scents can help to take someone back in time, triggering memories and eliciting feelings of positivity.

3. Provides Socialization

Living with dementia can sometimes cause someone to withdraw and become less forthcoming as they may be experiencing memory or communication difficulties. Taking part in familiar activities such as cooking or baking is a great way to increase social interaction by working together.
Socializing through activities can have a profound impact on someone’s mood. Simply taking part in something together or having conversations surrounding the activity can significantly reduce loneliness and help improve your loved one’s mood.

4. Increases Appetite

Many people living with dementia can experience a loss of appetite and therefore lose a connection with food. By introducing cooking as an activity, the enjoyment and social interaction can provide a useful tool for increasing appetite. Try to create food that looks or smells appealing; the aroma can help stimulate appetite.

5. Provides Relaxation

Cooking has many stress-relieving benefits and can help those living with dementia relax. Repetition in baking and activities such as kneading dough have been shown to be an effective way to reduce agitation and create a calming environment.

With a multitude of benefits, cooking and baking are brilliant ways to help those living with dementia reminisce and create connections with both people and food. Try introducing small cooking activities in a safe way with your loved one to explore the benefits.

Dementia Statistics

A study published in the January 2010 issue of the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia, finds that symptoms of cognitive decline can be experienced some 20 years before an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. According to the long term study led by Dr. Barry Reisberg director of The Fisher Alzheimer’s Disease Education and Resources Program at NYU Langone Medical Center, healthy older adults with subjective memory loss are 4.5 times more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment and dementia.

In 2012, Alzheimer’s Disease was the third leading cause of death in San Diego County and an estimated 60,000 San Diegans are currently living with this disease or another form of dementia (per the San Diego Health & Human Services Department).

Learn more about San Diego Dementia Statistics

Home is where the heart is. Unfortunately for seniors, it’s also where most major accidents occur. In this guide, our senior care experts discuss some of the inherent difficulties that come with senior living and provide suggestions for 8 ways to improve senior safety in the home. At guide’s end, we also provide resources on our very own senior living communities — excellent choices for San Diego seniors in need of extra care, comfort, and wanting a safe place to live.

1. Invest in Proper Apparel, Footwear, and Other Assistive Accessories

No matter where you are, the last line of defense between you and accident or injury is your own body. Investing in the right clothing, footwear, and assistive gear (when necessary) can help you keep your body safe in the home and elsewhere. For seniors with aging bodies and health concerns, this is especially important. Wearing clothing that keeps the body comfortable and adequately warmed can help prevent illness like pneumonia, which can be devastating for seniors. Wearing properly-fitting shoes without heels can help prevent falls and keep the feet from developing bunions, hammertoes, and arthritis. Likewise, investing home-friendly, properly-measured walking aids can help prevent falls and other accidents in the home.

2. Use Ample Lighting

Poor lighting is one of the leading causes of accident and injury in the home. Low visibility can lead to trips, falls, and a host of other unforeseen collisions that can easily be prevented by ample lighting. For seniors, many of whom struggle with diminishing eyesight or sensitive eyes, proper lighting is especially important. When it comes to home lighting for seniors, “proper” doesn’t necessarily mean bright. Overly-bright lights can lead to visibility issues and eye irritation for seniors, making them nearly as bad as inadequately low lights on the other end of the spectrum. For ideal home illumination, we recommend using only non-glare 100 watt or greater incandescent bulbs (or their fluorescent equivalents). To ensure that seniors always have light when they need it, we also recommend retrofitting easily-reachable light switches at the entrances to every room and the top and bottom of all staircases where needed.

3. Take Care of Trip Hazards

For seniors, many falls and accidents in the home occur due to the interference of everyday objects. While not every obstacle in your home can realistically be removed, there are several common trip hazards that can be partially dealt with or done away with altogether. These include:

• Scatter rugs. The corners and edges of these rugs are major trip hazards. Try tacking them down as much as possible — though the best solution is to remove the rugs altogether.
• Electrical cords. The electrical cords connected to appliances double as trip wires. Remove them from highly-trafficked areas by tucking them behind furniture or by relocating your appliances altogether.
• General clutter. Boxes, bins, hobby objects, shoes, clothing, and a host of other items can become trip hazards if not properly stored. The key is to keep them off the floor as much as possible. Utilize closets and shelves to keep clutter away from your feet and stay safe in your home.

4. Stop Slips at the Source

Next to trips, slips are one of the tops causes of accidents for seniors in their own homes. What’s the difference between trips and slips? You trip when your feet collide with another object. You slip when something underneath your feet causes you to lose balance. The main culprits behind slips include spills and slick floors. For seniors, the list of slip culprits is more numerous than it is for younger adults. This is because many seniors struggle with balance — thus, even the slightest minimization of friction can lead to major falls. To prevent accidents due to slips in the home, you’ll want to start by cleaning up any spills until your floors are spotless. Even the smallest water, oil, or other liquid spill can lead to a slip-and-fall. Speaking of spotless: clean floors are good, but overly-waxed or polished floors can be too slippery for seniors. Avoid using slippery wax or finishes on your floors. In the bathroom, it’s a good idea to skid-proof the tub and make sure your bath mat has a non-slip bottom.

5. Follow Bathroom Best-Practices

With water, smooth fixtures, and a number of other potential hazards, the bathroom presents perhaps the biggest accident risk for seniors out of all rooms in the home. Take the following steps to stay safe in your bathroom:

• To help with visibility, leave a light on in your bathroom at night or opt for plug-in night lights.
• Always use recommended bath aids. Be sure that they are securely installed on the walls of the bath/shower stall and on the sides of the toilet.
• Skid-proof your tub and invest in a bath mat with a non-skid bottom. Alternatively, add non-slip stick-and-peel applications to the bottom of the tub.
• To avoid scalds, turn your water heater to 120 degrees Fahrenheit or a cooler temperature.
• Mark your cold and hot faucets clearly.
• Use door locks that can be opened from both sides.
• If possible, bathe only when help is available.

6. Keep Your Kitchen Under Control

Bathrooms aside, kitchens are one of the most common zones for accidents in the home. By nature, kitchens contain a number of potential hazards — including large appliances, sharp and/or heavy objects, slick surfaces, and more — all of that can compromise the safety of those who use them (especially seniors). Follow these steps to stay safe in your kitchen:

• Keep your floors clean and free of clutter.
• Adequately illuminate all work areas.
• Clearly mark “on” and “off” positions on appliances.
• Store knives and other sharp object in a rack.
• Use a hot water kettle with an automatic shut-off.
• Store heavy objects at waist level.
• Keep hazardous items separate from food.
• Avoid wearing long, loose clothing when cooking.
• Make sure all food is rotated regularly, and routinely check expiration dates.

7: Mind Your Medication

The majority of seniors take at least one form of medication to deal with an ailment, injury, or chronic condition. Practicing drug safety and taking medications in the proper dosages at the right times is instrumental in maintaining medical care and well-being, both in the home and elsewhere. To ensure that you are taking your medication the right way, it’s a good idea to review your medicines frequently with your doctor or pharmacist. In your home, you’ll want to clearly label all medications you are currently taking and throw away any expired or defunct medications. Always read your medication labels in good light to ensure that you are taking the right medicine and taking the correct dose — and never borrow prescription drugs from others.

8. Consider Assisted Living

While following the above recommendations can significantly improve safety in the home, accidents can still happen. Worse, for many seniors — especially those living alone — following the above steps can prove to be difficult. Decreased physical capabilities, the onset of memory-related issues, and a host of other factors can make staying safe or in home care a challenge for many seniors. In these cases, making the move to assisted living is often the best choice.

At assisted living communities, seniors live in residences specially designed to meet their needs. Hazards are minimized as much as possible, and comfort is emphasized. Assisted living communities are also staffed with care professionals who help seniors with daily activities and work to maintain a safe and enjoyable living environment at all hours of the day. Assisted living communities give seniors a level of care and attention that often can’t be achieved in the home. In many cases, assisted living is the safest choice for seniors.