Why Is Sensory Stimulation Important In A Care Home?
In our care homes, we spend a fair amount of time focussing on sensory stimulation both around the homes and in our daily activities. But why is sensory stimulation so important in a care home setting? And how can you help your loved ones further?
Sensory Stimulation
Sensory stimulation is where we get our residents using one or more of their senses in a stimulating activity. This can include all five of the senses, sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. These activities are usually using the senses in a way that is out of the ordinary day to day activities that our residents usually take part in.
Aside from sense-based activities, we also work on cognitive activities, which have been designed to help improve the cognitive functions of our residents. This includes getting them thinking with puzzle and problem-solving activities, and reading.
Why Is It So Important In A Care Home?
As we start to get older, our senses start to degrade. This is particularly worse in a care home setting due to them typically being more clinical. Reducing the need to use our senses.
However, by using sensory stimulation, we can help our residents to maintain their senses, and improve their overall quality of life.
Sensory Stimulation With Dementia
Our brains and nervous systems are a hive of electrical activity, and they respond to the world around them. Interacting with the world around us is what we have been designed to do. However, people living with Dementia may not find this quite so easy.
As dementia progresses, a sense of fear, isolation, and confusion can prevent people with memory loss from experiencing sensory stimulation in their everyday lives. The more advanced stages of dementia bring with them challenges in communicating, as well as more physical manifestations of the disease like difficulty with mobility. Consequently, people with dementia, whose brains are slowly losing synapses, also begin to experience a loss of sensory stimulation due to the isolation and confusion, as well as physical limitations they face.
How Can I Help?
If you have a family member currently living in one of our homes, there are a number of things that you can do to help with their sensory stimulation, outside of the work that we do. Firstly, a great way to help is to continue to provide them with their favourite perfume or aftershave. This helps them o maintain their smell, with their favourite scent. If you’re sending in a care package, why not include their favourite treats, such as cookies, sweets, cake or even savoury snacks. Helping them keep their tongues sharp. You might also want to include a book from their favourite author, or alike.
If you have any questions on sensory stimulation or want to discuss our activities, please get in touch with a member of our team today, or contact your loved ones home directly for specific information or advice.
If you would like to discuss Dementia care within Lovett Care, please contact the team. We will be happy to discuss the process and the care regime with yourself or your loved ones directly.