Coffee Consumption by Seniors

We at Compassionate Hearts Home Care of PA have had a lot of different people as clients of our care senior services in Pennsylvania. Most of our clients were once working people – white-collar and blue-collar workers. During their working years, most of them consume one thing in common to keep them up – coffee.

Why coffee is the beverage of choice for working people is simple – it helps keep them awake. The reason for this effect is caffeine. Caffeine is a naturally-occurring psychoactive drug. It works by stimulating the nervous system and keeping people awake. The chemistry is pretty simple, but the effect is nothing short of a miracle.

As people grow older and finally retire, the habit of drinking coffee can never really disappear – or at the very least, difficult to overcome. Even people who are already in home care still consume coffee. This behavior, however, needs to be monitored closely by the care provider. As people grow older, it takes longer to metabolize caffeine – meaning it stays longer in the nervous system.

Consumption of coffee by seniors can cause jitters, stomach ulcers, sleep issues, hypertension, and dehydration. It can even affect the absorption of certain drugs. For this reason, as providers of in-home services in Yeadon, Pennsylvania, we strive to keep our patients off caffeine and provide them with alternatives.

There are a lot of alternatives to coffee that we can certainly recommend. Yes, some of them do still contain caffeine – but not as much in coffee. These alternatives include flavor-infused tea, coffee-flavored smoothies (with no caffeine), lemon-infused water, and others. The idea is to help seniors find their new drink of choice and help them avoid coffee.