4 simple tips for remembering to take your medication
One of the most common reasons for people not taking their medication or daily vitamins is because they simply forget.
It might sound like an easy thing to do, remembering to take your medicine every day, but in practice, it can be surprisingly tricky. If you’ve ever found yourself wondering if it was this morning or yesterday morning you had your medication then you’re not alone. A bit like driving to work every day, when we repeat the same activity, individual memories can become blurred together.
Accidentally missing a dose of medication often has no immediate consequences and you may not realise for some time, but forgetting to take a prescribed medication can have a significant impact on your health and wellbeing. For anyone regularly forgetting to take their daily pills, it’s vital to find a strategy that works for them. Often what is helpful for one person may not work for another, so its good to try several different techniques to see what works best for the individual.
We’ve put together four tried and tested strategies for remembering to take daily medication that can be tried at home today.
1. Plan a routine
Do you always start your day with a cup of coffee or tea? If so, this could be a good time to start taking your medication. Before long, taking your medicine will become just as much a part of your daily routine as popping the kettle on first thing in the morning. If you are not a morning coffee person or you have your medicine before bed, try taking it before brushing your teeth.
Whichever daily task you choose, over time, taking your medication will become part of that routine. You will soon find yourself as likely to forget to take your medicine as you would be to forget to have your morning cup of coffee or to brush your teeth.
2. Set an alarm
Setting an alarm on your phone is a practical way to ensure you remember to take your medication every day. The benefit of using your phone as an alarm is that it is usually always with you, so even if you’re away from home, you won’t forget to take your dosage. If you don’t want to use your phone, both tablets and computers can be used to set alarms.
If you prefer to use a more traditional method, then consider using a digital pill reminder (Like this one). It’s a small digital alarm designed for reminding you when to take medication. Having a separate alarm with a different tone is an excellent way to ensure you associate that alarm with taking your tablets. Some digital pill reminders conveniently fit onto pillboxes, making it less likely that you will get distracted after hearing the alarm and forget to take the medication.
3. Keep in the same place
It sounds simple, but keeping your medication in the same place can help you remember to take them. Bedside tables, the bathroom sink or by the kettle are some convenient places you can try storing your medicine. By keeping them in your eye-line through-out the day, you are more likely to remember to take them, rather than forgetting about them in the back of a cupboard and cabinet.
If you have small children around the home or visiting, remember to store your medication somewhere little hands can’t reach them.
4. Weekly pill organisers
A weekly pill box can not only help you organise different medications but also remind you which days quota you have already taken. A glance is all you need to reassure yourself you have taken today’s medication, or you are due another dose. For those who are often on the go, a detachable travel pillbox is ideal. The daily section easily comes away, allowing you to take a day or twos worth of medication with you. Or if you need to take medication morning, noon and evening there are pillboxes with sections for organising what you need to take throughout the day. Whether you take medicine once a day or four times a day need easy-to-open lids or braille for days of the week, there is a vast selection of pillboxes available, for every requirement.
Whether you take medicine once a day or four times a day need easy-to-open lids or braille for days of the week Safe and Sound Health has a vast selection of pillboxes available, for every requirement. Click here to see their full range.
