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I hope you’re enjoying my series of articles on the five senses. When we understand how senses change with age, we can take steps to provide a better quality of life for our residents.
In case you missed the previous articles, you can find information on the sense of smell in August’s post. I also wrote about the sense of hearing in this post from September.
Today I’m focusing on two significant areas of touch: temperature sensitivity and pain perception. We’ll also consider how we can help prevent something known as touch deprivation among our residents.
Temperature sensitivity
I’m sure you know older people who always feel chilly no matter what the temperature. We’ll have sweat running down our foreheads—and the resident is asking for a sweater.
Changes in temperature sensitivity (to either hot or cold) occur for several reasons. These include decreased blood circulation, a slowing in metabolic rate, and thinning of the skin.
Besides causing discomfort, these changes in temperature sensitivity become a safety concern. An older person may be at higher risk for scalding themselves in hot water, dressing inappropriately for the weather, or developing heat stroke.
Pain perception
Older adults often experience decreased blood circulation to their nerve cells. This results in a reduced ability to feel discomfort or pain through their skin.
Besides the normal aging process, medical conditions may also decrease a person’s pain sensitivity. These include diabetes, stroke, and pernicious anemia.
Not being able to feel pain sounds like a good thing, right? Not necessarily. It also increases a person’s risk for injuries, especially injuries to their feet. Also, skin problems may go unnoticed and untreated because the resident doesn’t feel them.
On the flip side, some conditions cause the skin to become overly sensitive to touch. One example is diabetic neuropathy. I recall one of my residents describing the sensation as “walking on a bed of nails.” This often affects a resident’s mobility and mood.
Residents living with dementia may also perceive touch differently. This is because their brains lose the ability to identify what they feel correctly. As a result, they may become overly sensitive to being touched. Or they might feel pain but not know what it is or how to communicate that they need help.
Touch deprivation
Everyone needs to be touched. Yet, many older people rarely experience physical touch except as part of routine daily care. Eventually, this lack of contact can lead to what we call touch deprivation. (Also called skin hunger.)
This lack of touch results from a variety of issues:
- Loss of a spouse or close friends
- Society’s negative perception of the aging body
- Family members that live far away or rarely visit
- Poor body image because of the effects of aging
- Our concern that touch could be misunderstood
Research shows many adverse effects because of touch deprivation. These include lowered pain tolerance, depression, and increased difficulty in coping with stressful situations. On the other hand, studies show that hugs result in the release of “feel good” hormones.
These are a few ways we can help prevent touch deprivation:
- Offer a warm handshake when greeting a resident.
- Encourage visits from babies or toddlers that residents can hold and rock.
- Provide massages (hands, feet, shoulders). Check with the nurse first to ensure there are no contraindications.
- Bring animals that residents can hold or pet.
- Give a hug (with the resident’s permission).
- Hold a resident’s hand during a conversation if they feel comfortable with this.
- As appropriate, provide therapeutic dolls or stuffed animals for residents to hold.
- Brush a resident’s hair
- Offer dance as a social activity
Do you have other suggestions? Please share in the comment section! Also, please be sure to come back next month when we explore the sense of taste.
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