caregiver stress
Stress for a Family Caregiver Is a Given. Overcome It with These Tips
If you’re a family caregiver, it’s important to manage stress.
Stress for a family caregiver is inevitable, and actually, not necessarily always a bad thing. After all, as the saying goes, “A diamond is just a piece of charcoal that handled stress exceptionally well.” Yet especially for family caregivers, the level of stress can quickly escalate and become overwhelming, and if not managed effectively, lead to serious health concerns.
Try these tips to minimize stress and achieve a healthier and more relaxed lifestyle – both for yourself and those you love:
Change your self-talk. Throughout the course of your day, you may find yourself entertaining thoughts such as, “I can’t do this!” or “Everything is going wrong!” Pause when negative thinking begins to intrude, and say to yourself instead, “I can handle this, one step at a time,” … Read More »
The Impacts of a Stroke on Brain and Functionality
Understanding the impacts of a stroke can help caregivers create the most appropriate plan of care.
A stroke is a difficult experience to encounter, and no two individuals are impacted in the same way. While some stroke survivors will have few, if any, lingering effects post-stroke, for many, a stroke will be a life-altering event that results in weakness, numbness, or paralysis on one or both sides of the body. The impacts of a stroke can be evident in the individual’s coordination and balance, as well as result in changes in behavior and judgment.
Comprehending why a stroke survivor is acting a certain way or experiencing particular symptoms can often help caregivers create the most appropriate plan of care. Below are just a few ways that having a stroke might impact a person’s brain and level of functionality.
A stroke in … Read More »
When Stress Impacts Alzheimer’s Care
Learn ways to ease stress when providing Alzheimer’s care for a loved one.
Some of the busiest people working today are providing Alzheimer’s care for a senior loved one, but that’s not all. Although Alzheimer’s caregivers have their hands full with that role alone, many also work long hours at full-time jobs, shuttle the kids to school and other activities, run errands and take care of the home, and prepare dinner for the family on top of their caregiving duties. When do they have time to just relax? When providing Alzheimer’s care, it can often feel like your day never ends, and stress and poor sleep can wear down your body as well as your mind. Caregiver burnout is a real and serious condition that can result in, among other things, physical health problems, depression, feelings of being isolated, … Read More »
Family Caregivers: Need a Resolution You’ll Actually Want to Keep? Try These!
New Year’s resolutions: we love to make them, and can’t help but break them. Perhaps you’ve been energized to eat better, lose those stubborn five pounds, quit a bad habit, or exercise more; but life has a way of interfering with our best intentions, and this is especially true for family members providing senior care for a loved one.
To make a real difference in quality of life for both yourself and the senior for whom you provide care, and to discover a New Year’s resolution you’ll actually want to adhere to in the months and years to come, try one of these suggestions, courtesy of Hired Hands Homecare:
Be thankful – to yourself. Recognize the tremendous selflessness required in caring for another, and make a point to treat yourself to regular, small rewards as a thank-you: a favorite treat from the … Read More »
Tips from Hired Hands Homecare to Ease Cancer Caregiving
When someone you love has cancer, it’s natural to want to drop everything and help that person, but taking on the role of a caregiver is not without challenges. Cancer treatments and the resulting side effects can be especially difficult for both the patients themselves and their loved ones, and sometimes caregivers may feel overwhelmed.
As a caregiver, it’s crucial to know and accept your own limits, and to know that reaching those limits does not mean that you have failed. Having a support system in place is an important part of taking care of your loved one and yourself. Determine which tasks you will do yourself, and which ones you will need help with.
Try these tips, courtesy of Hired Hands Homecare, to help set yourself up for success as a caregiver:
Build your support system. Talk to friends, family members, members … Read More »
Avoid Caregiver Burnout: Finding a Healthy Balance When Caring for Senior Parents
You plan for a career. You plan to buy a house. You plan for a family. Life, however, often has other plans and can throw some unexpected curveballs. Caring for an older loved one is not often a job most people plan for, and many underestimate the financial burden, the amount of time it takes to provide care and the emotional toll it can take.
To help keep a healthy balance and avoid caregiver burnout, remember these tips:
Take time for a phone conversation or a visit with a friend or family member every now and then. Too often family caregivers throw themselves full force into caring for their loved one that they lose track of other healthy relationships, which can lead to feelings of isolation and depression. Remember to surround yourself with supportive friends and family.
Set personal limits. Don’t be afraid … Read More »
Caregiving Stress and Its Effects in the Workplace | California Senior Care
Even when you love your job, the workplace can be stressful. Now consider how stressful it can be for those who have a second fulltime job caring for an elderly or disabled loved one. For many family caregivers, it can be nearly impossible to find balance between work, caring for a family, and caring for a senior loved one, which can lead to extreme stress and anxiety, and that stress oftentimes carries over into the workplace.
Approximately one in four households is involved in the care of a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member, and just over 50 percent of family caregivers also work full time. There are some telltale signs of caregiving stress for which California employers should be on the lookout. If you notice the following behaviors in your employees, it might mean that they are experiencing caregiving … Read More »
5 Unselfish Ways for Caregivers to Reduce Stress over the Holidays
The holiday season can be a whirlwind of fun, celebrating with family and friends, but it can also take a toll on an already overstressed family caregiver. Caring for another person often takes center stage over caring for yourself, but at Hired Hands Homecare in California, we want to provide you with some encouragement to make self-care a priority. After all, a relaxed, healthy caregiver is able to provide a higher quality of care than a frazzled one! Take these five recommendations to heart, and in doing so, help both yourself and those in your care:
Eat a well-balanced diet
When you’re stressed out, you may tend to overeat. When you’re exhausted, it’s easy to resort to whatever is handy; quick snack foods, tea and toast, cheese doodles and soda. You need high quality food to perform well.
Get regular exercise
Exercise is the … Read More »
