Dementia is the loss of cognitive abilities or skills including the ability to think, remember, and to reason out. It also affects a person’s behavioral functioning to a certain extent that it meddles with his or her daily activities.
It varies in severity and asperity from the mildest phase up to the most serious stage, where a person must completely rely on others for essential activities of living. It is alarmingly common these days, but people often ignore it until someone close to them or even you has one.
According to the 2017 Alzheimer’s Statistics, approximately 44 million people have related dementia. The numbers are quite alarming. Hence, it is vital to give those with dementia a comfortable, and guided day-to-day experience.
And that is where reliable and helpful technology, either low or high tech, comes in. For a little help, listed below are five gadgets that can potentially improve the lives of those with dementia.
Global Positioning System (GPS) Tracking
Sure, people most likely use GPS to steer unknown places in their automobile, making driving anywhere and everywhere easier. However, GPS trackings do not only function as a high-technology map because they can also be a big help towards finding people with dementia in case they go out.
There are plenty of choices for tracking people with dementia through a GPS. For example, footwear with “clever soles” that tracks location through a mobile application. Another example is a smart pendant armed with an emergency alarm button such as MindMe.
With the help of these GPS tracking devices, locating or finding people with dementia will be much more convenient. These devices will, of course, lessen the time required for locating them, and may boost the autonomy, freedom, and independence of some individuals living with dementia.
Smart Clocks
As the signs of illness progress, those people living with dementia usually lose the capability to monitor and oversee time, which makes keeping up with a daily routine challenging and strenuous. Thus, leaving them with anxious feelings.
For those individuals with dementia, analog clocks can be tough to decipher. The best time gadget for them is those with large-scale digital clocks with day and month information. With this type of clock, it will be much easier to decipher the numerical time.
Also, you can opt to choose clocks that show the time of the day, the day of the week, and if it is morning, afternoon, or night. Be sure to provide them clocks that give more information about the day, to give them more comfort in their day-to-day experience. You can buy clocks of this type in any online store like Deal Wiki.
Specially Designed Tablewares
Because of the loss of the sensory and cognitive functioning correlated with the people with Alzheimer’s, they usually throw their food on the floor. They get confused and mixed up by the complicated patterns of the tableware. As a result, they eat less out of dissatisfaction.
Fortunately, there are dinnerwares specifically designed for people with this kind of disease such as Eatwell dining sets. This tableware can certainly hold back those frustrations. From tilted bowls to appetite-enticing colors people living with dementia will less likely spill out their food.
Motion-sensor Lights
Commonly utilized in any workplace to help save energy, monitor-sensor lights are also helpful for people with dementia. Motion-sensor lights can help them from wanting to monitor the light switches, which can be a staggering task.
These monitor-sensor lights are also convenient at night, minimizing the risk of falling which is a prevalent case among people with memory issues. But make sure the lights are not too intense before installing one into your home.
Labeling
Though labeling is something low-tech, such as a marker and a piece of paper, it can certainly deliver a positive effect, even though it does not seem that innovative. By labeling various rooms and some items in the house, it can direct and guide people with dementia through their day-to-day tasks.
Writing labels or posting photos of things such as refrigerators or toilet can greatly help people with dementia on what to expect in those specific areas.
Takeaway
Dementia is an incurable, widespread disease. It is the seventh leading cause of death in the whole world. So, if you know a person living with dementia, it is of the utmost importance to give them the best and comfortable day-to-day experience. You can even improve their lives through some tech gadgets such as GPS tracking and smart clocks.
