The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is a great time for tying up loose ends from the past year and getting a jump on getting organized for the upcoming year. In addition to cleaning up after the busy days spent with family and friends, the days between the two holidays are a great time to catch up with our loved ones that were unable to travel to the festivities. Staying connected with Seniors is more important than ever during the holiday season, as this time of year is tough for many people who may be unable to travel to their holiday gatherings.  Those who may feel isolated at home often benefit greatly from loved ones taking extra measures to ensure that they don’t get lost in the shuffle of holiday activity.

Research has shown that staying connected with loved ones, particularly in the winter months, provides significant health benefits. By checking in with a phone or FaceTime call, family members can take inventory of their loved ones physical and mental health. These calls can be a way to identify health concerns and get a better understanding of everyday limitations that seniors may be hesitant to offer up on their own.  Similarly, asking questions like “how are you planning to celebrate the upcoming holiday?” or simply “how are you feeling?” is a good way to take stock of the state of mind our senior family members are in and to let them express any concerns they may have at the time. Additionally, when checking in with family it is important to make the effort to catch up with a phone call versus a text message or email. This personal touch can give those that live alone a way to feel less secluded than they may normally feel.

For many families this may be an opportunity to reinvent their holiday traditions in a way that includes those that can’t travel to take part in the celebrations. An example being instead of baking holiday treats together, it could be arranged that treats from a local bakery are delivered to the loved one’s home. If one of your holiday traditions is to go through photo albums together, maybe these photo albums could be uploaded to a shared iCloud account (or even on Facebook) and can be flipped through while on FaceTime. If possible, it is good to space these activities out to give those participating something to look forward and to avoid overloading the time spent together. It is important to keep in mind that these calls are a great time to remind your loved ones you care about them, and that even if they can’t make the holiday gatherings in-person they are still an important and valued member of the family.  

For more information on Smart Rehab and home-based physical therapy, please visit our website at thesmartrehab.com. Or give our experts a call at 314-403-0492 to learn more! Smart Rehab would like to wish all our patients, friends and family a happy holiday season. We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and have a joyful New Year!