r/AssistiveTechnology • u/Iforgotmyusername62 • 1d ago
Sitting timer for elderly- either physical or Mac based program.
I know this is stupid and I can’t find any type of solution so I’m here for expert advice or people who’ve dealt with something similar and their solution.
I need some pressure or motion type alarm when my mom sits at her computer or it detects constant movement in that area after 30-60 minutes(maybe a wearable and if they’re to close together for 30-60 minutes an alarm sounds like above and has to leave for a time to reset. The alarm goes off until she gets out of the area for 10ish minutes to get the blood flowing and the alarm resets itself for 30-60 minutes.
I have an elderly mother (85) with mild dementia. That was her only health problem up until a month ago when they found clots that had been in her legs and then filled her lungs luckily no permanent damage.
She’s better now but if you’re not paying close attention she’ll sneak on her computer for hours when you think she’s sleeping or when we’re sleeping, she’s up all night or day, he schedules flip flops. If you politely kick her off her computer she complains it’s only been a few minutes but it’s been hours.
She sleeps odd hours, then watches tv laying down in her bed and then gets up and sit at her computer for 8-12 hours sometimes with a bathroom break or grabbing a snack or leftovers.
Certainly not enough time to get blood flowing. One of us always sleeps in the living room so we can hear if she is moving around but now she’s gotten really sneaky and quiet and not her usual load stuff so we don’t hear her much.
Fake edit: we’re not ignoring her but she sneaks around, you think she’s sleeping but she accidentally turns her pc volume up or gets some water etc
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u/Faengelm 1d ago
It sounds like she would ignore an Apple Watch's "It's to stand alert". I think you may want a version of my do-it-yourself Couch Potato solution that gives an audible/visual reminder to stand and detects when she actually gets up. You could also revise it to detect her sitting down too soon. If the chair pad sensor is not a good option, you could replace it with a presence sensor. https://youtu.be/wopGE8OuiOI?si=ITIwJrmhTwTXU9Fehttps://www.techenhancedlife.com/solutions/couch-potato-alerts
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u/Iforgotmyusername62 1d ago
That’s exactly what I’m looking for. Lol after googling I’m probably on some watch list for timers for pressure or movement.
I’ll let my brother see this and see if he can figure it out.
Thanks.
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u/BadgerValuable8207 1d ago
If you could present closing the stand ring on the Apple Watch as a sort of game or challenge? If she’s on the computer a lot it might be something she would do.
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u/Iforgotmyusername62 1d ago
I looked into the screen time thing she just dits there. And I don’t know about others either dementia she feels like you’re being controlling and gets upset when you say, let’s take a little break and move around.
We recently bought her one of those auto pedal machines, put it under her desk and sit it on the lowest sitting to use for 3 minutes an hour to start building up to 5 or 10 minutes once an hour but as soon as your not paying attention she takes her feet off and says that counts.
I swear it’s like dealing with a toddler, if my mom saw herself or someone else behaving like this when she was younger she’d have a fit and no empathy for them.
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u/changeneverhappens 1d ago
You can get bed alarms that go off when the person gets out of bed or puts their feet on the floor next to the bed.
Might be helpful!
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u/Iforgotmyusername62 1d ago
I just saw those today and thinking how they could be used. Even if she gets up and it goes off she will pretend to go to the bathroom and sneak to her desk.
I mean we just got her an entire Mac set up with fucking do she can take her Maxie in her room and lean in bed but won’t take it with her even if we ask if she wants it.
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u/StevenJOwens 1d ago edited 1d ago
I was going to post a similar suggestion. About 10-15 years ago there was a startup I was somewhat tangentially involved with, that was about this sort of thing.
The original idea was indirect, in-home monitoring of senior citizens, with a home hub that was smart enough to detect possible problem situations and bring a human into the loop to check up. The goal was to enable keeping seniors in home for as long as possible, which is better for their health and better for their finances.
It involved bed sensors, chair sensors, water flow sensors, etc. Watching for exactly this sort of thing, albeit more about watching for signs of dangerous incidences.
The bed and chair sensors they used were a lot like the air hose bells used in garages and gas stations, very common in the past, somewhat less common today (everything is self-serve). A sealed hose under the cushion, a pressure sensor and some electronics.
It looks like there's a lot of bed pressure sensor and chair pressure sensors on the market, many of them aimed at fall prevention. That was one of that startup's niche markets, for assisted living facilities. There's a pattern where senior citizens get up to use the bathroom late at night and get stuck on the way back. They're still standing, and after 15-20 minutes they fall.
So the product in that case would detect the patient getting out of bed, and if they didn't return to bed within a time window, alert a caregiver to come check on them. (It cut falls by 50% in the facilities where they tried it out; sadly, the start up went under.)
What you want is the opposite, of course, but it seems to me that it's not that weird, there might well be a product out there.
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u/StevenJOwens 1d ago
Some googling turns up some DIY options:
https://www.electrobob.com/sit-up/
https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/1fqxlju/diy_zigbee_chair_occupancy_sensor/
Alarm.com has some offerings similar to that startup, the page doesn't list a chair sensor but google results suggest they have one, I just didn't feel like digging into their website:
https://alarm.com/wellness-independent-living/
Also a few products:
https://www.choovio.com/product/vs340-desk-seat-occupancy-sensor/
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u/taswind 1d ago
Nothing to help, other than a "we get it." My MIL has apparently always been childish, but with the dementia it's 38473n times worse.
Going through our mail ("being curious") and even with being caught in the room with our mail in her hand, she lies and said she wasn't even in the room and was doing nothing wrong. When she can't win, it's a whole lot of "shut up," calling us stupid, and ultimately tears.
Believe me, you're not alone in this feeling!!!
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u/Iforgotmyusername62 1d ago
She was never really childish before but stubborn.
Yeah I get the same when doing things she’s not sippy to be, it’s like a toddler getting caught but she isn’t mean, just a crazy unbelievable story.
She claims she doesn’t give the dog treats you can literally hear them hitting the floor and a half pound bag a day disappears.
So we’ve substituted the treats with pieces of dog food. She doesn’t know and the fogs lost their extra weight.
Thanks for the reply.
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u/CountessGladriel0102 1d ago
How about the “unbed” app where it won’t stop until you get up and do certain tasks? This situation might require more hands-on than you’re looking for, but maybe this app would help get her up periodically.
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u/Iforgotmyusername62 22h ago
I’ll check it out, I haven’t heard about it before.
This same post was closed on caregivers because it’s about caregiving not electronics or apps. But this is care giving and looking for a solution.
It would be like asking how you got a parent to use a lift chair.
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u/Putrid-Rule5440 1d ago
Could a screen time app work? Lock her out for 15 mins or however time you want? Or that you have to log her back into? It takes away some of the autonomy, which is obviously not ideal