Colorado Alzheimer’s Care: How Important is Routine for Your Loved One?
Routine is extremely important for a person with Alzheimer’s Disease. As the disease progresses and the individual begins to lose more and more memory, a routine is both comforting and familiar. If your loved one is still living at home, you can make everything you do within a day part of the routine or schedule. If the person attends an adult day care center or is in a nursing home, the schedule is set.
At home, you need to develop a routine for both of you. Rituals are also very important (a bedtime ritual, for example). If your loved one always checked the doors to make sure they were locked before going to bed, continue this ritual. If he ate a bowl of ice cream before bed, continue this. You want him to feel at home, and these routines and rituals help with that. If he is restless before bed or having a difficult time falling asleep, let him get up and do the ritual.
The routine for the day can consist of eating at certain times, taking medication at a certain time, going to check the mail at the same time every day, bathing on certain days, going to the hairdresser or barber on certain days, and anything else you want to add to your routine or schedule. Even drinking water at scheduled times each day is advisable. This adds to the routine while encouraging hydration at the same time. Making time in your schedule to sit down and relax is also important. You both need to do this so you can regroup.
Other examples of activities that can be included in your daily schedule are going for a walk, feeding the dog, folding towels, taking out the trash, reading the newspaper, drinking coffee, going tor a drive, getting ice cream.
Try to have fun with this, but avoid becoming rigid. Remain flexible so if the activity you had planned isn’t working for your loved one, don’t argue. Just go with the flow and move on to the next thing. If the previous activity needs to be completed, such as dressing, go back later and try again.