Water keeps your residents healthy, but can you be sure they’re drinking enough?
Dehydration can be a critical problem in the elderly, and keeping seniors healthy can be a challenge, particularly when serving populations with dementia. Residents can forget the importance of drinking regularly and forget whether they have had a drink recently. Here is why hydration is so essential, and 17 hydration tips for seniors to encourage you, residents, to up their daily intake.
Water is Vital for Life: What is Hydration?
Water keeps every part of the body working properly. Harvard Medical School highlights just how vital water is to bodily functions. Here’s what water does:
- Carries nutrients and oxygen to your cells
- Flushes bacteria from your bladder
- Aids digestion
- Prevents constipation
- Normalizes blood pressure
- Stabilizes the heartbeat
- Cushions joints
- Protects organs and tissues
- Regulates body temperature
- Maintains electrolyte (sodium) balance
It’s easy to understand why hydration for seniors is essential, but not always so easy to help them stay hydrated.
By the time you notice you’re thirsty, you’re already a little dehydrated. Healthy adults need to drink at least four to six cups of water per day, and as we age, our bodies need more water to maintain good health. Many older people take medication that causes dehydration, so it’s vital to ensure each resident is drinking enough water.
The Dangers of Dehydration in Older Adults
Dehydration sets in quickly, particularly for older adults. Between 17% and 28% of older adults in the U.S. are estimated to be chronically dehydrated. It can cause serious problems, and many conditions make it harder for people to recognize their thirst or remember the last time they drank anything. For example, conditions such as dementia or UTI cause memory loss and hallucinations, which are much worse when a patient is dehydrated.
Symptoms of Dehydration in Seniors
Those who can verbalize their thoughts and feelings might complain of being sleepy or having a headache or cramped muscles. Because not everyone can easily express themselves, it is hard to recognize dehydration unless you know what to look for. Signs of dehydration will present differently in everyone, so watch for any of these symptoms:
- Headache
- Delirium
- Confusion
- Irritated
- Anxious
- Sleepiness
- Extreme quietness
- Shouting in fear
- Groaning
- Dizziness
- Weakness
- Light-headedness
- Dry lips and mouth
- Deeper, “cracked” voice
- Dry cough
- High heart rate with low blood pressure
- Loss of appetite
- Craving sugary food
- Flushed skin
- Swollen feet
- Muscle cramps
- Heat intolerance
- Chills
- Diarrhea
- Constipation
- Dark-colored urine
- Lack of urination
Since some symptoms of dehydration in older adults are hard to spot and quite severe, the best course of action is to make sure your residents are hydrated throughout the day.
How Much Water Do Seniors Need Each Day?
Each individual will have personal water intake requirements. The patient’s doctor or nurse should weigh the patient and use knowledge of their medications and conditions to determine their ideal water intake. Their water intake requirements should be noted on the patient’s medical chart and then monitored by your staff.
13 Hydration Tips for Seniors to Help Keep Your Elderly Residents Hydrated
1. Put it on the menu
Serve foods with high water content, like soups, stews, Jell-O, fruit, Italian ice, and vegetables.
2. Put it on the schedule
Nurses and orderlies should encourage residents to drink each time they make contact.
3. Make it convenient
Put water stations with fresh, cold water everywhere – a nook in the hallway, in the rec room or music room, on the porch; anywhere people might gather.
4. Personalized bottles
Give each resident a personalized water bottle that hooks onto walkers or wheelchairs. Check to see that residents have them and offer a refill frequently.
5. Jazz up plain water
Water is great, but it can get boring. Flavor it up with fruit or cucumber slices.
6. Add bubbles
Offer carbonated water as an alternative. There are all kinds of carbonated and flavored waters on the market today, and seniors may appreciate an old-fashioned drink like seltzer water with a squeeze of lemon.
7. Serve water with every meal
Have water available as part of every meal, in addition to other drinks like juice and coffee. Have your staff be vigilant in refilling water glasses and encouraging residents to drink water during meal times.
8. Serve hot drinks
Coffee and tea aren’t supposed to substitute water intake, but some refuse to drink plain water. Offering a variety of hot beverages, including different types of coffee and tea, malt drinks, juice, or broth, encourages those who prefer a warm drink.
9. Serve juice
If an older resident is struggling with water intake or needs extra nutrition, offer fruit or vegetable juice.
10. Make smoothies & milkshakes
Smoothies are excellent for providing tasty nutrition. Blending various fruits and vegetables makes delicious smoothies packed full of nutrition. Extra nutrition can also be added to one’s diet with homemade milkshakes, especially with added protein powder. Offering fun options like milkshakes and smoothies can get residents excited about a healthy snack. Make an event out of it, where residents get to “make their own” smoothie or milkshake for a special treat.
11. Offer freezer pops as a treat
Frozen juices or smoothies make great snacks on warm days and help increase fluid intake. Serve freezer pops as a dessert or as a cool-down treat on a hot summer day.
12. Protein drinks & Electrolyte drinks for the elderly
If gaining or maintaining weight is an issue, a doctor might suggest their patient try a protein drink such as Ensure.
Sports drinks are full of electrolytes that help replenish minerals such as potassium, sodium, magnesium, and calcium. These will help combat dehydration, replenish glycogen stores, and combat fatigue. Electrolytes are essential to help seniors with poor appetites maintain their health. Drinks like Gatorade and Propel are loaded with electrolytes, but the strong flavors may not appeal to some seniors. Try mixing electrolyte powders into fruit drinks, soda water, or smoothies.
13. Offer a variety of snack and beverage options
Offering a wide variety of options is key to encouraging anyone to get enough to drink; the elderly are no different. Take note of favorites so they can appear more often on the menu.
While hydration for older adults is critical to keeping them fit and healthy, the amount of water and other nutrients they can tolerate can be influenced by medical conditions, medications, body weight, and other factors. Get medical advice for each resident from their doctor before adding or removing dietary supplements such as Ensure or Gatorade. Make comprehensive notes on their charts and seek their doctor’s approval before substituting water for other liquids.
Keeping residents healthy can be quite a challenge, but these hydration tips for seniors should help!
