Activities to keep those with dementia engaged

Dementia patients need to be stimulated constantly, since memory, thinking and behavior are the most affected in this disease. Unfortunately, dementia or Alzheimer’s is a disease that progresses slowly, but progresses towards the worse. This is why it is extremely important that if your loved one struggles with such a disease, you should maintain him/her engaged through several beneficial activities and look into in-home Alzheimer’s care services as a long-term option.

• Activities that stir good memories are extremely precious for Dementia patients- This is why, you should often look through the family album together, tell stories and bring back good memories. As the disease progresses, there will be less and less involvement and interest from the part of your loved one, but you should still try to enforce this pleasurable activity.
• Listening to pleasant music while performing a task together- select a nice tune, and propose your dear one to perform a hobby. For example, you could cook something together. Choose a recipe that is not too demanding, and ensure your dear one is indeed involved in this task. Or, you can do crafts together, something easy and very low demanding (painting for example, or knitting in an easy pattern).
• Discuss pleasurable news- read out loud the newspaper to your dear one, but try to select those types of news that are pleasurable, funny, etc. Involve your dear one in a discussion on the topic, and you will notice his/her interest and willingness to open up. Instead of reading the newspaper you could also choose to watch a nice movie together, or select an episode from his/her favorite TV show.
• Do puzzles together- an extremely good brain trainer and dexterity developer. Choose a puzzle with a lower level of difficulty and encourage your dear one to build up the puzzle piece by piece. Offer your help if you notice your loved one is confused about how to build the puzzle.

There are plenty of such similar activities you can perform together with your dear one suffering from dementia. This disease is progressing towards the worse, so you should use all your forces and available resources to spend as much time as possible together.

Spend quality time, and spend it whenever an occasion arises. You should also have a great deal of patience, and take care of your aged and sick parent just like you would take care of your child- with a lot of tenderness, love and patience.