One of the battles you and your senior might have had could revolve around her ability to continue to drive. If her mobility is challenged and she’s lost some of her strength, then driving might not be the safest activity for her. Exercise could help many areas of her life, including driving.
Driving and Mobility Are Interrelated
Driving, like other activities, becomes more difficult as your senior’s mobility becomes more challenging. Whether she’s trying to see over her shoulder or just get into the car, if your senior’s mobility is hampered, so too are those activities. Talk to your senior about what isn’t as easy to do behind the wheel anymore. You’re looking for things like controlling the car easily or being able to see what’s happening around the car.
Her Body Functions Better
Exercise helps all of this because when your senior moves her body more, her body functions better. The human body likes to move, regardless of age. But it’s important to remember that when you’re talking about exercise, you’re talking about moving more, in fun ways. This doesn’t have to involve anything that she doesn’t enjoy or that is difficult or impossible for her. This is all about helping her to maintain her muscles and move as well as possible.
Talk to Her Doctor about a Plan
Any time you and your senior are thinking about starting an exercise plan, you need to bring her doctor into the discussion. Her doctor can help you to craft a plan for moving more that helps your senior with her fitness goals, including continuing to drive safely, while also being safe for her to do. It’s important that your elderly family member doesn’t overdo it, because that’s just going to lead to injury and bigger problems.
Keep up with Results and Changes
Tracking your senior’s success is really important. It’s hard to see those changes when they’re happening slowly, and exercise brings slow changes. Talk to your elderly family member about whether the things that she was finding challenging about driving are still a problem or whether those issues have resolved. If she’s not getting results quickly enough to be safe behind the wheel, it might be a good idea to even temporarily have senior care providers drive for her. This ensures that she’s safe and mobile.
The main concern is that your elderly family member is as safe as she can be if she’s still driving, of course.
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