Personal hygiene

Serena Zucchi

Administrator
Staff member
Table of contents
  1. Technological Device
Keywords
  1. Personal hygiene
  2. Safety at home
Do you know?
Getting up during the night time to go to the bathroom can be very stressful

If you are a person living with dementia getting up during the night time to go to the bathroom can be very stressful! Also having a bath and taking care of personal hygiene could be challenging.
The home environment specifically designed for you offers advanced accommodations helping to feel better oriented and safe.

Here you can find some examples.


Apps


1) Toilet seat light

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What is the idea of this gadget?

If you are a person living with dementia this can be an useful gadget. It is a motion-activated toilet night light. It doesn’t just illuminate the bowl as it dimly lights up the whole bathroom. It is easy to be found and to be used during the night.



2) Snoezelen tube

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What is the idea of this gadget?

The Snoezelen tube provides a range of sensory stimulation that may be tailored to meet the your needs in order to heighten awareness. This special tube and the Snoelezen environments could provide a pleasant experience and turns bathing and personal hygiene care into a relaxing time. It is also an experience focused on the residual sensorimotor abilities of people with dementia, and it provides a multisensory stimulation.



Recommendation

A design like this is harmless to use. People with dementia can feel comfortable and safe.

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And you, how do you improve home environment?
Discuss it with the community members


Do you know?
Getting up during the night time to go to the bathroom can be very stressful

Older people or people living with dementia may need more help in body care, washing and dressing. The ability to carry out daily hygiene activities is limited by memory problems, temporal disorientation, difficulties in planning and organizing complex activities, the loss of practical skills and the ability to make decisions.
Regardless of the disease's progress, it is necessary to pay close attention to the person's need for privacy. Staying present while they are washing, either for simple surveillance, or to help them could be stressful and embarrassing. If they are still able to take a bath or shower on their own, it is still a useful precaution to remove the bathroom key.
It is also important to respect the habits of the person: some prefer the tub for washing, others the shower.
Considering the number of difficulties that body care activities may generate, it is important to try to make this activity enjoyable, first of all by working on the environment, creating comfortable and warm rooms, forcing the person as little as possible, avoiding treating them like a child or scolding them. People living with dementia are often still able to appreciate a good smell, talk, or good music...



Specific activities

For males, shaving can be a delicate time. In order not to be too intrusive, but at the same time avoid cuts and health risks, the use of an electric razor may be recommended. Encouraging him to shave keeps his interest in self-care alive and keeps his spirits high.
The same goes for shampooing and getting a haircut. However, it is advisable to keep a short cut style for practical reasons. It can sometimes be helpful to have a hairstylist at home.



Safety

It is good to fix handles to hold in various places in the bathroom, so that older people can move easily and enter and exit the tub. It can be useful to have a seat and a shower device in the tub, or simply put a chair in the shower. It is a good idea to remove all unnecessary items from the bathroom and avoid carpets that can present a risk of stumbling.



Dressing

Dressing and undressing every day may be challenging for a person living with dementia: they may no longer know how to put on their clothes and in which order. They struggle to choose clothes according to the season and weather conditions or do not realize the need to change.
It is therefore useful to simplify the choice of clothes, avoid buttons (favor closures with zippers or velcro), avoid showing clothes that are not suitable for the season or the context, and in general, favour practical, comfortable and sufficiently large clothing.



Incontinence

A person living with dementia may at some point experience urinary incontinence. Fecal incontinence can sometimes occur, but it tends to be more common in the later stages of the disease.
In cases where the cause is not curable, it is important to prevent episodes by recognizing their causes and maintaining some good rules such as avoiding fluid intake before going to bed, facilitating urination and orientation to the bathroom with specific aids, and using clothing that is easy to remove.
If the problem of incontinence becomes more serious, the use of diapers should be considered.



SITOGRAFIA
https://demenze.regione.veneto.it/come-assistere/igiene-cura-e-sicurezza-della-casa
https://www.alzheimer-schweiz.ch/fi...ukte/163-24I_2020_Curare_igiene_personale.pdf
http://www.alzheimer.it/igiene.html
http://www.alzheimer.it/incont.html#:~:text=L'incontinenza%20pu%C3%B2%20essere%20causa,abbia%20indumenti%20puliti%20da%20indossare.
1650619001029.png
And you, how do you improve home environment?
Discuss it with the community members
 
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