When you feel stressed, angry, or overwhelmed, it’s important to develop life hacks to alleviate these negative emotions. Although you can’t eliminate caregiver stress completely, you can learn how to handle these situations with compassion, grace, and inner calm. Here are a few life hacks you can use to simplify your caregiving duties.
1. Host a Meal Prep Party
Invite family members and friends over while you prepare your senior loved one’s meals for the week. You can search for online recipes or create healthy meal options using foods in the house. The more help you have, the easier it will be to prepare meals in advance.
In Oakville, home care providers can benefit aging adults in a variety of ways. From cooking nutritious meals to offering timely medication reminders, the dedicated caregivers at Home Care Assistance are available to help your elderly loved one 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
2. Use Whiteboards
To stay organized and make your caregiving duties easier, post your daily schedule on a whiteboard in the house. Break tasks down into small steps to make each responsibility more manageable. Prioritize caregiving duties based on their urgency.
3. Listen to Music
When caregiving becomes too stressful, you can listen to music to calm your mind. Music is one of the best ways to relax and de-stress without exerting too much energy. You can listen to quiet classical music, or you can choose from your favorite artist and genre. Create a relaxing playlist on your smartphone and turn up the volume when you need a calming break.
Family caregivers need to care for their own wellbeing. If you are caring for an aging loved one and are feeling overwhelmed, consider hiring a professional caregiver to provide respite care. Oakville families who want to avoid burnout can turn to Home Care Assistance. One of our professional caregivers can assist your loved one at home while you take a nap, go to work, run errands, or go on vacation.
4. Read
Take your mind off of your caregiving duties by reading a good book or a popular magazine. Reading relaxes the mind and transports you to another world without doing any traveling. Try to read different books each time instead of focusing on the same story.
5. Focus on Peaceful Thoughts
When caregiving becomes too difficult, stop what you are doing, close your eyes, and picture a peaceful scene, which could be your favorite childhood park or a beach you love. The body is often unable to differentiate between a thought and a real event, so visualizing a peaceful scene may reduce anxiety and enhance your mood.
6. Take a Warm Bath Before Bed
One of the best ways to relax is to take a warm bath just before bedtime. Taking a warm bath can soothe your muscles, hydrate your skin, and relax your mind after a long day of caregiving.
7. Do Something You Can Control
Caregivers often feel stressed over the inability to control their loved one’s health. However, completing a controllable task could boost your mood and make you feel more accomplished. Some of the activities you can control include cooking, writing in a journal, or organizing the home.
Hiring a professional caregiver is one of the best ways to reduce your caregiving burden and make some time for yourself. In Oakville, senior care agencies can be a great boon to seniors. With the help of the caregivers at Home Care Assistance, your aging loved one can lead a happier and healthier life. We offer a revolutionary program called the Balanced Care Method, which encourages seniors to eat nutritious foods, exercise and socialize regularly, and focus on other lifestyle factors that increase life expectancy. To learn about our high-quality in-home care options, give us a call at (905) 337-1200 today.