Best Gifts For Seniors with Alzhimer's & Dementia to Increase Comfort & Reduce Anxiety.
- Rebecca Crapo OTR/L, FMT
- Apr 28, 2022
- 6 min read
Updated: Dec 9, 2024
So what are the Best Gifts for Seniors with Dementia
These Useful gifts can help mom (or anyone else) make daily tasks easier, reduce anxiety, use the brain, and provide comfort. Is your loved one in a nursing home, assisted living facility, or maybe you are the caregiver providing eldercare for your loved one.
So wondering WHAT DO YOU GET THEM?. Getting a gift of comfort is the best gift of all. A lot of us have loved ones, parents, mothers-in-laws, aunts, and friends who are elderly and don't need a thing.
As an Occupational Therapist, working with elderly people, I am always thinking of ways to make life easier, increase comfort, reduce pain, and decrease anxiety. There are so many products that make life easier that not many people think or know about.
Great practical gifts to reduce anxiety & increase comfort for people with Alzheimer's and Dementia.
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Disclaimer: Help me bring you caregiving information. With this post, I provide information on products I have used with my patients. If you click on the picture it will bring you to an affiliate site ( amazon). The way it works is I get a small portion of the sale if you go online from my blog post and purchase an item within 24hrs of coming from my blog ( or you can come back into my blog pick the item and purchase it through Amazon ). You do not have to pick the exact item, you can pick another related item as long as you came from my site. The portion of the sale helps support my efforts to bring as many supportive products and information to you from an occupational therapy perspective. Amazon or other affiliates do not add any extra price to you. They just keep it for themselves. I appreciate your support and keep caring for your loved one.
Gifts for comfort and reduced anxiety
These gifts for loved ones with dementia or Alzheimer's or memory loss can have high anxiety and difficulty sleeping. Besides people with Alzheimer's and memory loss, most people would enjoy these products for comfort.
Weighted blankets were first used by therapists to reduce anxiety, mostly with children. Then in the nursing home, OT's started using them with dementia patients. Honestly, I love mine. Weighted blankets use deep pressure stimulation, which is thought to stimulate the mood production hormone (serotonin), reduce the stress hormone (cortisol), and increase levels of melatonin ( a hormone that helps you sleep). This may help overall sleep quality.
This is a great weighted lap pad for baseball lovers. There are many other types of weighted lap pads. Some come waterproof which can be beneficial.
Weighted blanket guide for how much weight is needed.
This is a star projector that goes in the bedroom, with Bluetooth enabled for favorite music or it provides white noise with a lot of natural sounds for a calming night. There are many different types out there. Some do the whole galaxy system. Absolutely cool. Great for all ages.
These remote control light switches are the best. They allow you to plug lights into the same switch. Then you turn the light on with the remote control. This prevents you from having to walk into a dark room to turn it on. Removes reaching under the lamp in the corner to turn it on. It reduces falls, allows you to see ahead of time, and removes the bending and leaning to get between the couch or something to turn it on. My boyfriend's parents love theirs. They thought I was the best OT when I set these up. Easy to set up as well.
This is the system I have picked out for a couple of families. It is an indoor camera but looks like a tall lamp. So you don't feel weird with cameras in the house. 24/7 live video, 2-way talk, motion detection, no subscription, easy to set up. You can keep an eye on your loved one if you are out of the house for chores, or if they are living alone. You can make sure they take their medications and feel safe knowing they are ok.
This is a sensory fidget lap blanket for people with memory loss who fidgets with their hands. We use these in the nursing home to keep the mind and hands occupied. Allowing self-care memory.
It also comes with an activity book for Alzheimer's and memory loss.
This book comes with the lap fidget blanket above. A gift for you and your loved one to create time together.
This is a great tool to talk about memories and write them down. A perfect gift for grandma then eventually given to grandchild. It can be for a new grandma or the grandma of an older child. Each letter is printed with unique prompts. Here is a special story about our family. What I want you to know about me...The best advice anyone ever gave me was., My wishes for you are...
A large weighted pen is great for older people (frankly I find them easy to write with when doing all my daily notes). The grip gives more control, a squishy grip, a well-balanced pen that reduces hand pain, and hand fatigue, and reduces tremors while increasing hand strength.
This bottle is great for everyone. But especially for the person who does not drink enough water. I first saw this when a daughter brought it into the nursing home to convince her mom to drink more. (Which nursing homes are notorious for lack of keeping patients hydrated). She was my patient and she would hold it up and tell me how much she had drank and how much more she needs to go. She has poor vision so the bright colors helped her find it, and opening it was easy. I started recommending these to other patient families.
This swivel seat cushion is fantastic. It can be used to help turn in and out the door with greater ease. Makes it easy for the other person to help the elderly out of the car. It can also go on the dining room chair. People with poor leg strength or poor mobility love this, and their caregivers too.
These two items are wonderful. We use these during a car evaluation in OT. We suggest them for increased ease of getting out of the car. The handle is a non-slip grip, latches on a hook inside the door. The other latches around the window. Small and versatile, No tools needed.
This is also great. Of course, anything that makes life easier. This sets right under the cushion, and it helps people place their arms to push up off the couch or chair. Allowing people to continue to use their favorite couch without having to compromise.
Adaptive pants. Easy to change underwear without having to take off pants. There are a ton of different adaptive clothing. Shirts with zippers in the back. Shirts with magnetic buttons.
There are so many more products I would love to discuss and will continue to spread the word. Join my Facebook group and learn more about caregiving tips and techniques.
Please Remember: Help me bring you caregiving information. With this post, I provide information on products I have used with my patients. If you click on the picture it will bring you to an affiliate site ( amazon). The way it works is I get a small portion of the sale if you go online from my blog post and purchase an item within 24hrs of coming from my blog ( or you can come back into my blog pick the item and purchase it through Amazon ). You do not have to pick the exact item, you can pick another related item as long as you came from my site. The portion of the sale helps support my efforts to bring as many supportive products and information to you from an occupational therapy perspective. Amazon or other affiliates do not add any extra price to you. They just keep it for themselves. I appreciate your support and keep caring for your loved one.
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