By the end of this chapter, the learner should be able to:

Identify, and implement, a range of strategies to improve the health and wellbeing of clients according to the specific needs and capability of the client
Promote healthy eating and exercise.

Encouraging healthy lifestyle

A healthy lifestyle is important to preventing and managing many of the debilitating conditions associated with ageing. Social and recreational activities are vital to an individual’s general health and wellbeing as they help to keep them fit, active and ‘keeps the mind working.’

If your client does not already have social or recreational activities in place, it is your duty to find out what their preferences are and inform them of the activities available to them in their area. Social and recreational activities help to combat isolation that many elderly individuals or others in care can encounter. The client may have a network of individuals that either visit them or are available to help with the problem of isolation or general care when you are not around.

There are various strategies that older people can adopt to live a healthier lifestyle:

Taking regular exercise (even just walks)
Maintaining a healthy diet (eat at least three solid meals a day, with nutritional variety)
Mental stimulation (playing games, problem-solving activities, puzzles)
Hobbies
Embrace variety (maintaining the same routine and always doing the same things can affect you psychologically, causing a depression and monotony)
Engage with remaining family members
Learn new things
Take a class/join a club
Travel (if possible)
Get vaccinations for common infections.

Doing most or all of these will ensure that elderly people are physically and mentally stimulated enough to minimise the deterioration to their bodies.

They should also be tailored to the individual's interests and life activities, if possible. Forcing people to partake in things they are not interested in will only worsen their satisfaction levels with the care. Try and find things in common, if possible, between yourself and the elders or (if at a residential home) between the residents. If they have hobbies, see if you can accommodate them into their daily routine.

If dealing with home care, they may have activities and interests scheduled on a day-to-day basis and you should try and fit their care needs in around these things – if you force them to give up their life activities and interests to receive home care, then the whole advantage of living in the community disappears for them; consequently, they may become socially isolated and depressed.

Eating Healthily

Eating healthily is about ensuring that your diet is balanced – not having too much or too little of any of the five food groups.

‘The Australian Dietary Guidelines inform people of different ages, life stages and gender, the minimum number of serves from each food group they need to eat each day, to make sure they get the full amount of nutrients their body needs’ source: http://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/food-essentials (Links to an external site.)

The five food groups include:

Vegetables and legumes/beans
Fruit
Grain (cereal) foods, wholegrain and /or high cereal fibre varieties
Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs tofu, nuts and seeds and legumes/beans
Milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or alternatives, mostly reduced fat.

Exercising

Exercise is also important as part of a healthy lifestyle. Exercising gives your heart a workout and keeps you fit. It is important for preventing certain types of disease and has many other benefits.

The benefits of exercise are that it:

Makes you feel good
Can provide an opportunity to have fun/socialise
Helps to prevent weight gain that is unhealthy
Helps you to relax
Reduces risk of diseases such as:
- cardiovascular disease
- type 2 diabetes
- some cancers
Encourages healthy growth and development
Helps build strong bones, muscles and joints.

Like the recommendations for healthy eating, there are recommendations for exercise, including how much and how often you should exercise; these will, of course, depend on age.

National recommendations for exercise are contained in the following documents:

Australia’s physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines for adults (18-64 years)
Choose Health: Be Active – A physical activity guide for older Australians.

You can use these resources to recommend certain types of exercise for different circumstances, the duration recommended, how to fit exercise into daily routine or schedule, etc.

You may be able to open a discussion with clients about healthy eating and exercise, give out leaflets or point them to further information e.g. via the government website.