Five Tips for Relieving Stress While Caring for a Senior with Alzheimer’s Disease
When family caregivers spend a lot of time and energy caring for a senior with Alzheimer’s disease, they often find that they use up a lot of their own physical and emotional resources. This adds a great deal of extra stress to daily life. As Alzheimer’s patients face increasing needs, the stress that family caregivers are under increases as well. Working with 24-hour home care services is a great start in finding a solution.
Signs of Caregiver Stress
Often family caregivers experience significant stress that grows steadily and they don’t realize it. It’s vital for family caregivers to start recognizing the signs of caregiver stress. These can include symptoms like increasing irritability, fatigue, sleep changes, and feelings of isolation. Noticing these signs is an indication that family caregivers need to make some changes in what they’re doing.
Learn as Much as Possible
Education is an incredibly helpful tool for family caregivers. Understanding how Alzheimer’s disease progresses and how to manage those changes is crucial. There are lots of valuable resources, including books, courses, and seminars about Alzheimer’s disease and caregiving. It’s also helpful to rely on other resources, like healthcare providers and home care services. The more information family caregivers have, the better able they are to anticipate changes and better care for themselves and the seniors they love.
Consider 24-hour Home Care Providers
Caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease is an around-the-clock responsibility. It’s essential for family caregivers to recognize when they would benefit from extra help. Because Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive illness, eventually the patient’s needs are going to surpass the family caregiver’s ability to offer the right assistance. Having help from 24-hour home care providers ensures that seniors with Alzheimer’s disease are as safe and happy as possible on a daily basis.
Join a Support Group
Joining a support group specifically for Alzheimer’s family caregivers can be an opportunity to share experiences, talk with other family caregivers, and receive emotional support. This is a big factor in helping family caregivers to learn how to manage the stress of caring for someone who has Alzheimer’s disease.
Practice Self-Care Tips as a Family Caregiver
Family caregivers often think about self-care as a luxury or something they’ll practice when they have some extra time. But in reality, self-care is vital for maintaining overall well-being. If family caregivers aren’t in a healthy space themselves, it’s difficult to keep up with the demands of caregiving. They need to have the time, space, and assistance to be able to care for themselves as well as for the Alzheimer’s patient.
Caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease is a huge challenge, but it’s something that family caregivers approach with a lot of love and compassion. They also need to make sure they’re taking care of themselves and reducing their stress levels along the way. Working with 24-hour home care providers and finding other tools for making caregiving easier does a lot to help family caregivers to be there for their seniors with Alzheimer’s disease.
If you or an aging loved one are considering 24-Hour Home Care in Marblehead, MA please contact the caring staff at Uniting With You Home Care today. Call (781) 593-1682
Uniting With You Home Care is a Trusted Home Care Agency serving Marblehead, Nahant, Salem, Danvers, Lynn, Saugus, Revere, Beverly, Malden, Peabody, Melrose, Chelsea, East Boston, Middleton, Andover, Lynnfield, Somerville, Swampscott, Everett, Winthrop, all of the North Shore, and Essex County.
Our staff includes nurses (RNs and LPNs), Home Health Aides (HHAs) and Personal Care Attendants (PCAs). We also offer Homemaker/Companion Care and other supportive services, available to our clients 24/7. All staff members are bilingual (English/Spanish). Through continuing education opportunities, we ensure that all staff members employed by Uniting With You Home Care maintain their professional development and exceed industry skill standards.
We recognize that welcoming caregivers and companions into your home requires a high level of trust and confidence. To ensure this trust, all staff members are carefully screened through extensive background checks.
Uniting With You Home Care provides services to clients on the North Shore and Greater Boston area; payment for services is accepted through Medicare or private pay.
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