Elder Care in Roseville CA
November 4th brings us National Stress Awareness Day. As a family caregiver, you’ve heard, many times, that you need to make time for yourself. You’ve scheduled a girl’s luncheon on Saturday 
and a book club gathering on Thursday evening. You’ve even penciled in a night with just you and your favorite movie and a bowl of popcorn. But stress has a way of sneaking up on you. If you find your shoulders parallel to your ears, water leaking out of your eyes on a regular basis, or angry outbursts that make you wonders where the easy-going, quick-to-laugh woman you use to be has gone, consider stress as a probable culprit.
Effects and Cause of Stress
Stress has been shown to be a contributing factor in several diseases including diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease. Prolonged stress can lead to insomnia and chronic headaches. Fatigue, irritability and depression can follow. Sometimes stress is the result of having too much on your plate. Other times, it is created by our minds. Your elderly parent recently fell while taking a shower. Every day since then, you have a terrible, repetitive vision of another fall, this time with more drastic consequences. Fear has reared the insistent mental negative programming, resulting in stress. When faced with this type of stress, remember the wise words of Zig Ziglar, “Fear has two meanings. Forget everything and run, or face everything and rise.” Do what can be done—put grab bars I the shower and close to the toilet. Make sure there is a non-skid mat in the shower. Please the towel rack in an easy to reach location. If your concerns still haven’t abated, consider hiring an in-home elder care provider. These professionals help with all the activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, meal preparation, light housekeeping, shopping and running errands. Taking a few days off, knowing your loved one is in good hands, can do wonders to ward off the stress monkey.
Tools
Once you’ve found a way to create space in your life, consider a few of these tools designed to decrease stress.
- Enjoy a hobby. Make sure this is a hobby you thoroughly enjoy. There is nothing worse than scheduling time out for yourself and finding your mood becoming increasingly agitated as you try and solve the darn crossword puzzle. What do you really love? Reading a good book? Sitting in a park and watching how the sunlight filters through the trees? Maybe enjoying a glass of wine combined with your favorite cheese, savoring each bite and sip. Choose something that makes you smile just by thinking about it.
- Relax. Again, what relaxes one person will annoy another. Get a massage, take a nap, enjoy some yoga or tai chi—the key is to disengage the ever-present mental chattering and do something that allows you to enjoy the here and now.
If you or an aging loved one needs elder care in Roseville, CA, remember Senior Home Care Services. Call us at (916) 514-7006 for more information.
Resources
www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress-symptoims/art-20050987
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