How Personal Alarms Can Help Seniors Achieve Their New Year’s Resolutions

The New Year is such an exciting time, and New Year’s resolutions are a significant reason why. They represent an opportunity to make a new start, begin a new habit or better your life in ways small or large.

It’s common to make resolutions about improving health, learning new skills or strengthening social connections. That’s true for seniors as much as anyone – but older people may find some roadblocks in their way.

For elderly people with long-term medical conditions, difficulties with mobility, or anxieties about being independent, safety worries can make it harder to keep a New Year’s resolution.

But there are ways to get peace of mind while still achieving your goals. A personal alarm for the elderly can make all the difference. In this post, we’ll explain how personal alarms can enable seniors to confidently follow through with different kinds of resolutions.

Resolutions about getting active

Being active is important for older people for so many reasons.

Firstly, taking appropriate exercise is good for the body. It can reduce weight and blood pressure – two issues that seniors can struggle with. In addition to strengthening the heart, it can increase muscle all over the body. This combats muscle wasting, which is also not uncommon in older people.

Moreover, exercise can improve balance. Together with increased strength, this can lower the risk of falls. Since falls can be so dangerous to seniors, working to prevent them is a great move.

On top of all this, being outdoors or active can help improve mental health. Depression and anxiety are conditions that are sometimes overlooked in the elderly, but they can have a significant effect, so exercise is really important here, too.

In fact, walking is a highly recommended activity for many seniors because it can provide all of these benefits. The beauty of nature and the mild or moderate exertion of walking can be a fab combination for improving an older person’s overall wellbeing. (That being said, if you’re thinking of starting an exercise programme, you should check with your GP to ensure it’s safe for you.)

Overcoming activity barriers

Where’s the catch? Well, older people can feel anxious about going on walks outdoors. They may wonder what would happen if they suddenly became ill while they were by themselves. And while lovely green spaces, parks and fields can be perfect places for a walk, they also don’t tend to have people around who could help in case of a crisis.

The upshot of all this is that an elderly person who wants to be active and go on walks might be deterred because of their fears. Those exercising specifically to help improve their heart health might worry about what would happen if a heart attack occurred while they were alone. And, of course, falls are a risk too, particularly when it’s icy.

In this situation, a personal alarm for the elderly can offer the peace of mind a senior needs in order to enjoy going for walks and being more active in the New Year. That’s because a personal alarm with GPS tracking is designed to get help to its wearer fast even when they’re away from home. This type of alarm includes a GPS tracker that connects to an app, so family and friends can be kept informed about an older loved one’s location.

An elderly personal alarm’s primary purpose is generally to allow its wearer to call for help fast. But when a fall or emergency occurs outdoors, this function alone might not be enough. What happens if family know that their elderly relative has fallen down, but they don’t know where to find that person?

A personal alarm with GPS tracking ensures that when the call for help goes out, helpers know exactly where to find the older person and will get there as soon as possible.

Resolutions about cooking or other hobbies

Another common type of resolution involves someone resolving to do more of a valued activity. This might be a hobby, such as sewing. Or it could be a task like renovating a home. And sometimes people who’ve been informed their weight is too high decide to spend more time cooking at home.

All of these scenarios can be great ways to approach a New Year’s resolution. After all, being active inside the home is important too. Every little step helps!

And these kinds of pastimes can also help keep an elderly person’s mind focused and sharp. They can potentially help address depression, too, by providing a sense of purpose.

All this being said, being up and about inside the home can also increase risks of falls and dangers, particularly when new objects from hobbies or activities are in the space. A trip over an extension cord can so easily lead to a fall, for example. And a slippery kitchen floor can be a risk, too.

There are some great and simple steps that you can take to fall-proof your home or that of an older loved one. But you’ll also want a second layer of security – a personal alarm.

That peace of mind – knowing there’s a way to get help in case of an accident – can give an elderly person the boost they need to really get started with their New Year’s activities.

Resolutions about staying independent

An older person’s first serious fall can be a major turning point in their life.

Firstly, a fall can, of course, have serious physical consequences like a fractured hip. But can also have psychological impacts – particularly if the older person wasn’t able to get up and had to lie on the floor for some time.

Some seniors who have fallen experience a great deal of fear about falling again. They may be anxious about walking and unable to walk unassisted.

Others aren’t so severely affected, but still find themselves unconsciously limiting their activities out of a fear of falling again.

It’s no surprise that some elderly people take falling as a prompt to make changes in their lives. They may dedicate themselves to avoiding another fall in the future and avoiding a move to a care home. After all, it’s well known that the majority of older people want to age in place within their own homes.

A personal alarm can be great in addressing this type of crisis in confidence to allow an older person to keep their resolution. Its one-touch button and automatic fall detection features provide a way to get assistance to seniors who live alone – or those who may be alone at some times of the day, even if they live with others.

Because the alarm is designed to be worn at all times, including in the shower, it’s always at hand if needed. The one-touch SOS button is a simple way to call for help immediately, while fall detection aims to sense falls and call for help without any input from the alarm wearer at all.

While falls risk assessments and similar actions can help to prevent falls, they can’t eliminate the risk entirely. That’s why a personal alarm is needed to prevent a ‘long lie’ – a situation where an older person has to lie on the floor for more than an hour because they can’t get up.

With the help of a personal alarm, older people are empowered to keep their resolutions about independence. Just as importantly, the alarm gives them the peace of mind they need to go about their daily lives.

Protection indoors and out with SureSafe

An older person who’s made a New Year’s Resolution to get exercise, to do treasured activities or to remain independent has made a smart decision. The next smart decision is getting a personal alarm, the device that offers a layer of safety as the resolution is being achieved.

So, if you’re looking into a personal alarm for yourself or an older relative, talk to us at SureSafe. We’re a leading provider of elderly personal alarms in the UK, and we’ve got the easy-to-use personal alarms that seniors need in order to maintain their independence and agency. Just take a look at our glowing reviews to see the stories of seniors who we’ve helped with safety and peace of mind.

If you’re ready to start looking into getting a personal alarm, we’d love to help. Just call us on 0808 189 1671 or try our live chat. You can also request a call back.