Use It Or Lose It !!

● Aged Care is a system designed to help people.

● It does so by assisting with a Residents activities of daily living such as hygiene, cleaning, cooking etc

● As a result Residents tend to do far less than what they were before entering an Aged Care Facility.

● This leads to people de conditioning:

1. Muscle Weakness
2. Reduced Heart Lung Function
3. Reduced Balance
4. Reduced Co ordination
5. Cognitive decline (exercise helps the brain as well as the body)

● This tends to happen slowly over many months and may not be noticed by the Resident themselves which doesn’t allow them to be proactive about dealing with it.

● To help prevent this de conditioning it is very important that

1. The Resident does as much as they can to help themselves (showering, walking, cleaning etc)
2. The Resident does as many of the activities provided by the Facility
3. The Resident stays involved with community activities as much as possible
4. The Resident stays involved with Family and Friends as much as possible

● The old saying definitely applies here to body and mind