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5 Ways to Ease the Stress of Caring for an Aging Parent
March 10th, 2010 | 
Author:
It’s hard enough managing the to-do’s in our own lives. Add to that the responsibility of in home care – managing every aspect of someone else’s life too – and it can be overwhelming. Yet that is exactly what millions of people do each year providing senior services for their aging parents, and it is taking its toll. According to a study by the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, more than 50 percent of those providing assisted living services for their parents experience increased levels of stress and strain, often to the point of being detrimental to their health.
In other words, it does your aging parent little good if you run yourself down to the point of exhaustion while providing for their personal care, companionship or homemaking needs. It is critical that while looking after the mental, emotional and physical health of your loved one that you take precautionary steps to preserve your own.
Follow these 5 steps to ease the stress of caregiving in your life:
- Maintain a healthy diet. You know how important eating well is to your aging parent. Well, it is equally important to you, so do yourself and your loved one a favor – make it a habit of eating at least three balanced meals a day.
- Exercise. You need all the strength you can get when caring for an aging parent, especially if they need assistance moving around, so staying physically fit is critical. Equally important, physical activity is a great stress reliever – the perfect way to re-energize yourself so you can be at your best, for your loved one and for yourself.
- Get plenty of sleep. As exhausted as your body may be from running around all day caring for yourself and caring for your loved one, that often doesn’t stop your mind from working overtime, especially at night. Worry is inevitable, but find a routine that helps ensure you get plenty of rest, whether that means a hot cup of chamomile tea before bed or taking naps throughout the day whenever you have an opportunity.
- Go in for regular medical checkups. When you’re caring for someone else, it can be easy to dismiss signs of your own ill health. Or there may be things going on that you’re not even aware of. Just to be safe, it’s important that you see a doctor on a regular basis, as stress is one of the number one causes of physical illness.
- Consider professional in home care. Whether you’re helping your aging parent just a few days a week or 24/7, you and your loved one can benefit from in home care with a professional caregiver. For instance, Synergy HomeCare is widely known as the most trusted name in home care, providing senior services throughout Arizona, including:
- Personal care services
- Homemaking services
- Companionship services
In home care can be especially beneficial to those whose aging parents are living with Alzheimer’s or dementia, as helping a loved one with these conditions can be particularly challenging. You not only need help for them, but respite care for you so you can get away for a while to avoid burn-out.
Patrick Tourian
http://www.articlesbase.com/customer-service-articles/5-ways-to-ease-the-stress-of-caring-for-an-aging-parent-730394.html
Posted in Stop Emotional Eating
Girlfriend and family problems. What should I do?
my gf and i are in our mid/late 20’s and she is pregnant. it was unplanned and my parents never met her before i broke the news to them, so imagine their reaction. even to this day, they’ve only met her once.
i was raised with strong family values. i have a strong bond with my parents and siblings and vice-versa where we should help each other and look out for one another whether it’s financial, emotional, etc. my gf on the other hand, was an only child, had a very rough childhood, parents who didn’t show enough support/love, and has very different concept of what a family should be. she wants to start a family (as do i), but she wants all my attention and focus on her and the baby. but i try to explain that family means so much more than that. she’s used to being by herself and not relying on family, but i’ve had that type of support all my life. her concept and values of family is obviously different from mine, which has caused countless arguments and stress.
my parents don’t see any good qualities about her and view the fact she moved out of her parents place at a young age makes them think that she wasn’t raised right, her parents don’t love/care enough about her to help her out, and don’t hold the same values as we do. since she was on her own, she’s been doing whatever she wanted whenever without anybody telling her otherwise for nearly a decade. as a result of this, she gets upset/angry when things are out her control or if things don’t go her way and has problems controlling her temper, flipping out, even in public. my parents see her as a selfish person only looking out for her own interests which will cause me to be miserable because of her temper tantrums i’ll have to do whatever she tells me to do and if ever a time comes where my family needs my support, she either won’t allow it or will give me hell about it. i can already see this kinda happening because i’ve financially helped my siblings a couple times with things such as gas or food and she wasn’t happy about it.
in order to ease my parents fears and help my gf, i felt that maybe if she moved into my parents place with me it would hopefully accomplish the following:
- gf would have a better understanding of the family concept
- create some kind of relationship w/ family members
- save money to move out later and buy a home
- having to find a babysitter would not be a problem
gf is afraid i won’t put enough attention on her and the baby since we’ll be living with my parents and be preoccupied with them as well.
my question is is this a good idea? does living with parents affect the relationship? are there other advantages/disadvantages? is this idea going to just worsen the situation where my parents and her won’t get along? is her train of thought selfish? am i being selfish?
my relationship w/ parents and gf has become very strained. i’ve been stuck in the middle for quite some time and i’m emotionally and physically drained. i really don’t know what to do at this point.
I’ll be frank: I don’t see your proposed living arrangement working out well for anyone involved, including you. Your girlfriend and your family do need to come to some kind of understanding and accord with each other for your sake, but you can do that more effectively if both sides have breathing room and safe spaces they can retreat to when it’s necessary. Living together won’t allow for that. If anything, it’ll make the tension worse, and you’ll have nowhere to go when they start warring with each other over your girlfriend’s parenting techniques or your mother’s cleaning habits or any of the other innumerable issues that come up in a shared household even if the two parties aren’t looking for excuses to pick a fight with each other.
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Your girlfriend is a very independent person. However this does not give her the excuse of being childish. She needs to understand that this baby cannot be an object of affection for her to get more attention. When the baby arrives all focus needs to be on that child. Though you have strong family values you have to give a little in order for this to work out as does your family. Your family needs to understand you love this girl and you are about to have a child and they need to understand that it will take time for your girlfriend to adjust to a loving home. Your girlfriend also needs to make some changes the temper tantrums have to stop and she needs to learn to share you with your family. She is clinging to you because she has never had someone focused on her before and it is going to take time for her to realize you can be there for both sides. I think living with your family will put to much strain on your relationship being the stress that is already there and I think it will only complicate things more. I do think that you should make it a point with your girlfriend to spend more time with the family together so they can work out there differences. You need to talk to your girl and try to explain the situation that you love her but you love your family too and she needs to calm down. I think her emotions are out of wack being with child makes this worse with hormones, but in all boils down too I think she maybe feeling a little insecure and afraid of losing you and just needs to know she is as equally important to you.
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Use to be that kind of girl