What Do You Need to Know about Energy Conservation?

If your elderly family member isn’t practicing the necessary skill of energy conservation, now is the time for her to start doing so. You might not realize just how effective conserving even a little bit of energy can be for your senior.

Energy Conservation Defined

So, what is energy conservation? It’s a deceptively simple concept, really. It’s related to the spoon theory in a way, because both deal with the amount of energy your elderly family member has in order to get through her day. When your senior is being a wise steward of the energy that she has, she’s able to accomplish what she wants to accomplish in a given day.

The Core Concept Involves Rest

At the core, energy conservation is about knowing when to rest and when to spend the energy she has. So, if your elderly family member is properly budgeting her energy, she’s going to be able to expend energy when she truly needs to while allowing herself to rest. The trick sometimes is in getting the right amount of rest.

Work on Ways to Reduce Stress for Your Senior

Sometimes people push themselves to do more than they can or than they should because they’re stressed emotionally about getting things done. Dealing with that stress also saps your elderly family member of energy that she needs in lots of other areas of her life. Determine where the majority of her stress stems from and develop solutions to help her reduce that stress.

Incorporate More Sitting into Activities

One big answer is to incorporate more rest into activities. Preparing meals can be easier if she’s sitting at the table chopping vegetables rather than standing at the counter, for instance. Showering can be exhausting, but when your senior uses a shower bench or a shower chair, she’s able to use less energy while she showers.

Help Her Get Used to Letting Other People Help

Probably the biggest answer to conserving energy is for someone else to help with a task. That’s a tough pill for lots of people to swallow, though, and your senior might be one of those people. Home care providers can handle routine tasks for her, like cooking and housekeeping, which allow her to spend her energy elsewhere. They can also assist while she does tasks that sap her energy.

Conservation of energy is something that will serve your senior well, but she has to make a conscious effort at first. As she reaps the rewards, that can become easier.