Tips to stay warm and healthy throughout the cooler months.

Winter can be a beautiful time of year in many ways, but colder weather also brings a greater risk of a range of health issues – especially for the elderly. Older people have a reduced ability to control and regulate their body temperature, which means they are at greater risk of hypothermia.

Here are some simple things to help stay warm this winter:

1. Make sure your home is warm enough. Close blinds and curtains of a night and doors to rooms that are not in use.
2. Wear several layers of thin clothes to retain heat better instead of one thick layer, so layer-up in winter, especially when going outside.
3. Have regular medical check-ups and get your flu vaccination. Influenza and many rhinoviruses replicate quicker and more effectively in colder weather.
   
   Loss of nerve endings to the skin increases as we get older, which means an older person’s body has a decreased ability to register changes in temperature. Additionally, the elderly have a lower metabolic rate and less body fat, so generate and retain less heat.
   
   Blood pressure is generally higher in the winter, as cold temperatures cause blood vessels to narrow.

4. Eat nutritious food and have regular hot drinks. Make sure you eat at least one hot meal per day and maintain lots of hot drinks throughout the day.

Finally, make sure you stay in touch with your loved ones more over the cooler months. We tend to stay at home more which means we see less of people. A phone call to a loved one can always brighten a cold day.