Vital Self-Care Tips for Caregiver Stress
The caregiver role contains a range of responsibilities based on the level of care your loved one needs. Whether it is short term or long term care, it typically makes our life unbalanced. Caring for a loved one has its challenges and can become too much, which takes its toll on the relationship as well as our health. Caregiver stress can kill.
The big concern is stress which leads to caregivers burnout. When it gets to that point, you need to help to yourself. Understanding the symptoms of stress will support you manage the effects to reject succumbing to burnout. The list below presents some symptoms of stress, but it is not all-inclusive.
- Feeling tired or run down
- Difficulty concentrating
- Trouble sleeping
- Irritability
- Depression
Knowledge is power, so understanding more about anxiety and how to deal with it is the first step. Use the tips below to give the self-care needed to maintain your well-being in your role as caregiver.
Your needs
Determine what is it that you do now or have done in the past to get rid of your stress. There are many ways to decrease or get rid of stress. Some general activities include – physical & mental exercises, deep breathing, meditation, 7-9 hours of sleep per night, massage and petting cat or dog. Think about what you do to tone it down when faced with a tense situation.
Let your emotions come out
Realize that caregiving is hard work, and most are recipients understand that as well. When you give care for someone else, you can feel overwhelmed, sad, angry, frustrated and many more bad feelings. We have a tendency to try to keep these bad feelings inside, so we don’t disturb our care recipients. It is real we don’t want to upset them, but even though you try not to let it show, it will. When you realize a bad feeling is coming on, I advised that you go someplace out of earshot to let out your emotions. You need to get it out of your system in some way. Sometimes just discussing with another friend or family member helps. There are also support groups for caregivers that truly understand what’s going on.
Get help for caregiver stress
No one can, or should take on the job of caregiver alone. We all have busy lives, and this will add to a full schedule of activities. Because of this fact, we need support to fulfill our role as caregiver, not just for us but also for the care recipient. Elderly care services at home are the best option for you. The type of help you need will depend on the level of care needed. If you have other family members for support, that is remarkable.