Retirement should be the time in your life when you can slow down, relax, and really enjoy the things you’ve always wanted to do. Whether you are living at your own home or at one of our residences at Sarasota Bay Club, here are some handy household items that can make life easier, safer, and more productive.
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1. Fitness Trackers
Staying active is important for your health, and a fitness tracker is a great tool to help you monitor that. There are many types of fitness trackers on the market, and they serve a wide range of functions, including pulse and heart rate monitors, activity monitors, and tools to help you manage your diet more responsibly. For an older generation, especially those living alone, this tool can be a physical exercise mentor that you can use to maintain an active lifestyle in your later years. The next generation of fitness and activity trackers will even interact with caregivers or family members to help those with mobility or memory concerns.
2. Digital Assistants
A personal digital assistant, or the more specialized digital companion, makes an excellent tool to help keep you on schedule. Not only can it remind you of appointments, it also does a lot more than that. Program your PDA to remind you of your medications in order to help prevent you from missing necessary dosages. Smartphones often have PDA software available, which means concentrating more usefulness into a single device, as well as expanding the capabilities of the PDA to include things like ordering grocery deliveries, calling a cab, or keeping in touch with loved ones through social media outlets.
3. Handheld Shower Head
Bathing is essential to good health, but it can become difficult as you get older. A handheld shower head attaches directly to the existing shower outlet pipe, and includes a hose long enough for you to shower sitting down. In addition to making life easier, handheld showers have many different comfort settings, including pulse and massaging water flow. This means that as showering can become much easier for older people, it can also become a lot more luxurious. And since they are easy to hook up, your favorite handheld shower head can even go with you when you visit relatives or move to a new location.
4. Food Processors
There are two major benefits to a kitchen appliance that chops, dices, and purees. The first one is a matter of making life easier and safer. Dropping some carrot pieces into a dicer saves a great deal of time, and eliminates the time consumed chopping vegetable when cooking for a single person. It also reduces the risk of personal injury due to cuts, and this can be especially helpful for elderly people suffering from nerve or muscle problems.
The second reason is that using a food processor can make foods easier to chew and digest. For seniors, this can have a huge impact on the nutritional value of meals, and appeals to those who suffer from medical conditions. Food processors can help you eat healthier and require work less.
5. Microwave Ovens
Just as chopping and dicing can be tedious for the elderly, cooking is also problematic. Not only is standing over a hot stove uncomfortable and time-consuming, it can be physically painful for someone with arthritis, suffering from nerve of muscle damage, and could even become dangerous for a senior who has memory or concentration impairment. A microwave oven is a common kitchen appliance that can quickly cook raw foods such as potatoes, pasta, or soups. And with a plethora of microwave ready entrees and side dishes on the market, having a microwave has the potential to increase the likelihood of eating a nutritious meal as well as offering a great deal of variety to daily mealtimes.
We understand that aging in place is not always possible, and these 5 household items were chosen as useful devices for everyone, including those with memory care or mobility issues. Whether or not you are looking for luxury independent living, most of these devices will be just as useful no matter where you retire.
