As we age, it’s important to both stay active and to minimize those instances where an injury could potentially derail our best intentions to maintain said active lifestyle. Investments may need to be made in order to make your home as safe as possible. Thankfully, a new report outlines some simple steps that can be taken to reduce the risk of an injurious situation.
There will come a time when getting around even your own home isn’t quite as simple as it used to be, and this is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, by making changes to your home that minimize the risk of a fall, you allow yourself to be active in a way that otherwise wouldn’t be possible.
Lighting is one of the first things you want to think about, especially if your eyesight isn’t what it used to be. You want every walking path within your home to be adequately lit so that you’re not in danger of tripping over something as seemingly mundane as a bunched-up rug or a piece of debris that mistakenly didn’t get cleaned up.
Motion sensors are a great idea for outside the home, especially at this time of the year when ice and snow could accumulate into slick patches that can compromise the safety of even the most surefooted individuals. For the inside of your home, you should think about night-lights that can kick on when you enter the bathroom or hallways around your bedroom, as these will enable you to see but won’t necessarily wake you up the way that flicking a switch for an overhead light would.
Make sure that everywhere you typically walk is reserved for foot traffic. Piles of anything encroaching upon floorspace ought to be picked up, and an effort should be made to ensure that you’re threading cords along walls rather than simply looping them across the shortest path. Rugs need to be fastened to the ground with tape so that they can’t be pulled out from under your feet.
Not only area handrails a great idea for all sets of stairs in your home, but you should get in the habit of using them. That way, you can take some of the weight off of your feet and catch yourself should you stumble in some manner.
Finally, protect your longterm health in the kitchen. The aforementioned precautions still come into effect, but you should keep objects that you use often within easy reach so that you don’t have to get in the habit of straining your body time and time again when you reach for something.
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