ADLs and IADLs - What Geriatricians Would Say About Your Parent’s Everyday Well-Being
Memory is one part of the picture when it comes to evaluating your aging parent’s well-being. You also need to ask: can Mom or Dad also manage the practical tasks of daily life?
In mid-life we take for granted the ability to multi-task: writing a grocery list while cooking breakfast and thinking about making a doctor’s appointment for later in the week.
But as people age, they may start to lose the ability to accomplish some of these tasks, which require both cognitive and physical well-being.
Geriatricians call tasks like cooking, grocery shopping, paying bills and keeping track of medications IADLs or “instrumental activities of daily living.”
More basic tasks, like getting dressed, showering, and using the toilet independently, are called ADLs or “activities of daily living.”
If you notice your parent doing struggling with IADLs or ADLs, don’t delay in taking action. This is often where the earliest red flags appear, long before a formal diagnosis.
Here are some examples:
ADLs:
Mobility: Are they steady on their feet? Can they get up from a chair without help? Have they had any recent falls?
Nutrition: Are they skipping meals or losing weight?
Hygiene and grooming: Are they no longer styling their hair or putting on makeup the way they used to? Can they shower/bathe the way they normally do?
IADLs:
Medication safety: Are they taking prescriptions as directed, or is there confusion about what to take and when?
Shopping: Can they shop for clothing and food they way they normally would in the past? can they pay and track purchases?
Communication: Can they use communication tools (phones, email, etc.) roughly the same way they always have?
Healthcare: Can they make and attend doctor’s appointments without a struggle?
Finances: Are they able to handle bills and financial management the way they normally would in the past?
It can feel easier in the moment to brush aside a feeling that your parent’s ability to manage daily tasks has changed. But intervening early can save lots of time, stress and potentially safety issues down the line.
If you’re starting to worry, the next step isn’t panic—it’s planning.
You can’t solve everything at once, but you can start gathering information, talking with siblings, and thinking ahead.
If you’ve noticed any of the above in your parents, feel free to reach out and we can talk through what next steps might look like: https://www.guidinggenerations.co/contact
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