Who cares what day it is?

“Who cares what day it is, I’m retired.”

“I don’t care, my son handles my appointments.”

“I don’t need to worry about it anymore.”

We hear this constantly. Why does keeping track of days and time matter anymore?  Who cares if you’re not sure exactly sure what the date is or what day of the week it is? 

It’s like that sensation when you’re on vacation and suddenly someone asks what day it is and you’re not sure if it’s Thursday or Wednesday. It is actually kind of disorienting as well as surprising how quickly you can lose grip of the construct of time. 

I’d like to argue for the importance of orientation to temporal concepts to the senior population and how critical it can be to maintaining independence regarding cognitive communication status, engagement in one's environment, and health management. Losing track of the day leads to losing track of months which slips into losing track of years. That old saying of “use it or lose it” is very applicable when it comes to our minds - if we don’t exercise our ability to be engaged with our environments and the passing of time, we will fall out of it.

Unfortunately, this can contribute to the development of things such as cognitive impairment, memory loss, and dementia- all ailments that lead to losing our independence and increasing our need for caregiver support and supervision.

Losing track of the date and days means losing the ability to effectively manage our medication safely. Losing track of appointments, social events, birthdays, and anniversaries socially isolates us, and also requires a heavier lean on our caregivers/family members for support. 

There’s a simple solution for holding on to these critical skills and that’s daily engagement in active participation in orientation. I always recommend an orientation clock. They’re one of my favorite tools for seniors and there is a link included in our products page. These clocks automatically update with the time and the date keeping us on track effortlessly. I recommend keeping one in the most utilized spaces in the household (i.e. the living room, in the bedroom or if you keep your calendar in the kitchen, etc.) 

Wearing a digital watch that has the date and time is also a wonderful way of staying in touch with temporal concepts.

I suggest at the beginning of each month, seniors and a trusted family member/caregiver have an orientation meeting where they sit down with their calendar and pencil in the events of that month, such as appointments, birthdays, social events, and important things to remember to support independence and engagement.

A single large desk calendar placed next to the orientation clock is ideal for recording these events and keeping track of time. We recommend a routine after waking up and completing your activities of daily living (ADLs), grabbing a cup of coffee or tea, going over to your calendar, looking at the date, slashing out the day before, and looking at what today is bringing to orient yourself the time with your watch on snug.

Encourage yourself to take an active part in today and tomorrow by engaging in and holding an active place in time. 

Written by Dina Holland, MS-CCC SLP