A Guide to Staying Healthy at Home When You Are Disabled
Anyone can become disabled throughout their life without any warning. If this has happened to you, you might be daunted by the prospect of living with your disability and ensuring that you stay healthy, especially while you are within the four walls of your home. As such, here is a quick guide to staying healthy with a disability and ensuring that your home matches your new needs.
1. Adapt Your Home
You might wish your entire life to stay the same after you have become disabled. However, this is not always a possibility. There are positive changes that you can make to your life, though, that can support you. These include adapting your home. Home adaptations are incredibly varied, meaning that there is likely to be one that suits you and your family. For instance, if you are in a wheelchair or you find it difficult to get up the stairs, you might look into home elevators. Home elevators can allow you to get up and down to each floor of your property in no time at all, ensuring that you do not have to move or that parts of your home are no longer off-limits to you without somewhere being there to help. This can give you your independence back and can prevent injuries.
2. Enjoy Home Exercise
It can be difficult to find the right exercise for you – or to find an exercise that you love. However, exercise is important for a healthy body and mind, boosting your physical and mental health. Luckily, there are many home exercises that have been created especially for disabled people and which can allow you to make the most of your current abilities. This home exercise can meet you where you are at and can enable you to enjoy exercise no matter where you are, as well as how mobile you are.
3. Look After Your Mental Health
Your mental health can suffer when you have a disability, especially if this limits your ability to go out and about very often. You may feel trapped and isolated within your home. If this is the case, you should make the effort to care for your mental health and mind, even when this feels like a struggle. For instance, you might decide to enjoy meditation exercises, as well as journalling or creating a video diary. Other people decide to place flowers and plants around their home, as well as call their friends for a chat or invite them round. If you are really struggling with your mental health and self-care does not improve the situation, you should speak to a professional about the opportunities that are available to you for therapy and medication.
Your home should be a safe place where you feel safe, comfortable, and supported. There are many tools that can help you to do this, with kitchen and bathroom equipment available, but you also need to be proactive yourself when it comes to checking in with your moods, signing up for adaptations, and seeing what is out there for you and your home.
