Activities of Daily Living (ADL's)
What Does 'Activities of Daily Living (ADL's)' Mean?
Activities of daily living (ADLs) are learned activities that each person performs to live a normal life.
More Information
Activities of daily living (ADLs) include our most basic learned tasks and abilities. There are six key activities of daily living.
These six ADLs are:
- Bathing
- Continence
- Dressing
- Eating
- Toileting
- Transferring
You may be familiar with most of the activities on this list, but here’s a quick overview of the lesser-known ADLs.
Continence is the learned ability to control the bladder and bowel.
Transferring is the ability to move from standing to sitting positions and vice versa.
Long-term health care centers around helping people with ADLs. In fact, to receive Long-Term Care Insurance benefits, a doctor must confirm you need either stand-by or hands-on assistance with two or more ADLs.
Hands-on assistance means a health care professional may need to physically help with ADLs. This can include physical help dressing or a hand to hold or lean on while moving from standing to sitting positions.
Stand-by assistance means a health care professional needs to be in the room or nearby while performing ADLs. Stand-by assistance is also common for individuals with cognitive decline or impairment. These individuals may need to be monitored in case they get confused or begin to endanger themselves.