Episode 55 -The Ultimate Guide To Mental Health Self Care For Caregivers
Welcome. Today's audio cast is on the Ultimate Guide to Mental Health Self-Care for caregivers. Imagine being the rock that supports others consistently providing care and emotional support, but for getting to care for yourself. Wow, for my caregivers, the risk of self neglect and self-care is all too real.
In this Audiocast, we'll explore the essential practice of mental health, self-care for caregivers, and provide you with tips and resources to help maintain your sense of wellbeing while caring for others. A short summary. Understanding mental health self-care is about creating a proactive routine to main, emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing.
Practicing self-care and having a strong support system are key elements in managing stress for caregivers. Establishing a comprehensive self-care routine involve making time for activities that promote wellness and accessing helpful resources like therapy or counseling. Understanding mental health, self-care. When we talk about mental health, we're referring to our emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing. Maintaining good mental health is crucial for everyone, but it's especially important for caregivers who face unique challenges. Practicing self-care is an essential part of maintaining good mental health.
It involves in engaging in activities that promote physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing, helping to prevent disease, promote health, and even help people better cope with illness. Organizations like Mental Health America recommend establishing a proactive self-care routine to improve personal wellbeing, work performance, relationships, and physical health.
So what does self-care look like and how can caregivers create a comprehensive self-care routine that addresses all the aspects of their wellbeing? Let's define self-care. The World Health Organization defines self-care as a set of activities and responsibilities for one's own health. This includes the ability to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and deal with illness or disability independently, or with the help of a health professional.
Self-care includes mental self-care activities like getting into a state of flow, pushing yourself mentally and picking up new skills. Practicing self-care means being proactive about your wellbeing, addressing your physical self-care, mental and emotional health to create a balanced and healthy life.
And self-care for family caregivers is so very important. The family caregiver is the single largest pillar of the long-term care industry. The negative health consequences for the family caregiver is devastating. That's why on caregiver relief, I have created multiple caregiver stress tests you can take.
I've also made available to you the caregiver stress and burden test that will help you identify if you are needing to improve or increase your self-care. I have a report on the site caregiver relief on is stress ruling your life.
And I think every caregiver needs to take care of themselves, and that's why I push it. I really encourage, strongly encourage you to take care of yourself. It's important to be selfish. It's not a bad thing, it really is not. So let's talk about the role of self-care in mental health for caregivers. For caregivers, self-care plays a crucial role in managing stress, preventing burnout, and maintaining the ability to provide quality care to their loved ones.
Self-care activities include such things as getting enough sleep, eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly, engaging in hobbies and taking time for oneself that can help caregivers manage their mental health and avoid caregiver burnout. We at caregiver Relief, strongly recommend you also build a group of care team partners to support you during your caregiving journey.
I address this in detail in the How to become a Patient Care Advocate course. The average caregiving journey is six to eight years, and some are actually providing care as long as 20 years. There is little to no affordable respite care. The majority of family caregivers are never given a break over their caregiving journey that's why I'm so strong about encouraging the team approach to care. This is a grassroots effort that has to start now. We are in a public health crisis. We have more seniors than youth as a result of low birth rates. With a growing aging population, this is only going to get more challenging. We must change how the family caregiver is viewed and treated.
Remember, the family caregiver provides over $600 billion of unpaid care, and the stress and burden of providing care is making our family caregivers seriously Ill. That is why a strong support system in the form of a care team partner group, can provide emotional and practical support, help reduce stress, and provide a sense of connection and belonging.
So let's talk about the components of a comprehensive self-care routine. A comprehensive self-care routine should address the various aspects of wellbeing, including emotional, physical, and spiritual health. By addressing these aspects, caregivers can ensure that they're taking care of their overall wellbeing and maintaining the resilience and energy needed to care for others.
Physical health is a key component of mental health self-care, especially when dealing with mental health challenges such as anxiety and depression. Regular physical activity can help boost executive function, reduce chronic stress, and improve body image. Emotional health, on the other hand, involves practices such as therapy, journaling, and mindfulness to manage emotions and stress, and finally, spiritual health
can be achieved through meditation, prayer, or connecting with nature to foster a sense of purpose and inner peace. At caregiver relief, we have a guided meditation that's available to you in our resource section. It was made specifically for the family caregiver. Take time to incorporate that into your activities of daily living for yourself.
So let's talk about emotional health. Emotional health is all about how we think, how we feel, and how we handle our emotions. People who are emotionally healthy usually have good coping skills, resilience, positivity, and self-esteem. Emotional self-care involves recognizing and managing your emotions in a positive way.
That's why I encourage an attitude of gratitude. And if you opt for our online care management system at Caregiver Relief, one of the first questions you get when you open up your system every day is what are you grateful for? When you change your attitude and perspective, you change your life, and it's important as a caregiver, you have a consistently positive attitude and it's not easy with the demands of caregiving. Physical health is not about being free, just about being free from diseases, but can also be about taking care of yourself through exercise, having a balanced diet, getting enough rest. And avoiding unhealthy eating habits, which is really hard for a family caregiver.
You're probably working, you're taking care of seniors in your life. You may even have your own children, and it's not easy because you just grab something to fast, to put in your mouth, to eat on the run, to give you energy. So exercising regularly can improve mental health, reduce stress, and help you sleep better.
Proper nutrition can lower your risk of certain diseases and enhance your overall wellbeing, as well as improve mental health and reduce stress. To maintain physical health, caregivers should prioritize regular exercise, proper nutrition, and addressing any health concerns. I can't tell you how many caregivers have things that go on in their bodies that they ignore.
Vaginal bleeding, that may mean cancer or a lump in their breast that may mean cancer. They ignore those things. That's why it's important that mental health self-care also includes getting regular checkups, managing stress, and avoiding unhealthy habits like smoking and drinking too much.
As I said earlier, so many of the family caregivers I work with neglect their own health. That is why developing a care team partner group will help you practice self-care, allowing you to take care of your own needs. So let's talk about the spiritual health. Spiritual self-care can be achieved through meditation, prayer, or connecting with nature, fostering a sense of purpose and inner peace.
Spending time in nature has been linked to lower stress levels, improved cognition, positive effect, and subjective wellbeing. Caregivers can easily make time for nature, but by combining it with activities they already do, like reading outdoors, eating lunch in the fresh air, or taking a walking meeting. To support those caregivers that once spiritual support, we have created a faith and caregiving area just for you. Please feel free to ask for support and prayers. We are here for you. Practical tips for mental health, self-care. To develop and maintain a self-care routine, caregivers should consider practical tips that can be easily incorporated into their daily lives. These tips include establishing a routine, overcoming obstacles, and finding activities that promote relaxation and wellbeing.
By incorporating these practical tips, caregivers can better manage their mental health and ensure that they have energy and resilience they need to care for others. We at Caregiver Relief have developed the stress buster course specifically for caregivers, and it has a variety of different techniques because one technique may not be of interest to you where it might be for another. So take the course, learn some different stress management techniques and utilize and incorporate them into your daily lives.
These tips include establishing a routine, overcoming obstacles, and finding activities that promote relaxation and wellbeing. By incorporating these practical tips, caregivers can better manage their mental health and ensure they have an energy and resilience needed to care for others. Remember that self-care is a personal journey and what works for one person may not work for another.
It's important to experiment with different self-care activities and practices to find out what works best for you and your unique needs. One valuable self-care tip is to remain open to trying new approaches and new techniques, and I'm going to encourage you all to take a deep breath when you feel a crisis or stress coming on, and really just focus on your breathing.
Taking in a breath for a count of five or six. Letting it out for five or six and just breathing. When you focus on your breathing, you can't focus on anything else. So practice, stress management technique of relaxation breathing. How do you establish a self-care routine? Creating a self-care routine involves setting aside time for activities that promote mental, emotional, and physical health, making it a priority in daily life.
When it comes to self-care, the key is to start small. Pick a few activities that can easily fit into your daily life, such as exercise, healthy eating, or mindfulness practice, and then add more as you get used to the routine. In doing so, you will effectively practice self-care. Remember, it takes 28 days to create a habit, so you wanna stay consistent with your self-care routine, and it's important to set achievable goals and break tasks down into smaller pieces.
This can help make the routine more manageable and ensure that you're taking the time to prioritize your own wellbeing. Let's talk about overcoming obstacles to self-care. Overcoming obstacles to self-care may involve setting boundaries, asking for help, and recognizing the importance of taking care of oneself.
Some common obstacles to self-care include not having enough time, feelings of guilt and negative emotions, and being overwhelmed. To tackle these challenges, it's essential to prioritize self-care, set realistic goals, and be grateful and positive. Additionally, it's important to reach out to loved ones or your care team partners for support and assistance in managing self-care tasks.
Now let's talk about those supports and systems and resources. Supports systems and resources are essential for caregivers to maintain their mental health and wellbeing. By having a strong support network and accessing helpful resources, caregivers can better manage their mental health and provide quality of care for their loved ones.
Monitoring progress and adjusting your self-care plan. Monitoring progress and adjusting self-care strategies is crucial for maintaining mental health and wellbeing. By keeping track of daily habits, mood and mental health changes, caregivers can identify areas that need improvement and adjust their self-care routine accordingly. That's why I've created several different tests made available to you. Several caregiver stress and the caregiving burden test as well because you need to keep on top of your stress levels, and I encourage you to take a test weekly and there's times when you just need to take them daily to help you get in the mindset of I need to take care of myself so I can continue to go on this journey.
Remember, you are the most important part of the caregiving journey. Without you, it all falls apart. So it's important that you practice self-care every day. This can help ensure that caregivers are taking care of their overall wellbeing and maintaining the resilience and energy needed to care for others.
In conclusion, mental health self-care is crucial for caregivers to maintain their wellbeing and provide quality of care for their loved ones. By understanding the importance of self-care, establishing a comprehensive routine, and utilizing support systems and resources, caregivers can better manage their mental health and face the challenges that come with caring for others.
Remember, self-care is a personal journey and it's essential to remain flexible and adapt strategies based on your unique needs and circumstances. Keep prioritizing your mental health and wellbeing, and you'll be better equipped to care for others. Now I'm gonna address some frequently asked questions about mental self-care.
People wanna know an example of what is mental self care. An example to me is mental self care is taking time to read a book, learning a new hobby or skill, or practicing mindfulness. It may be going out to have coffee with friends and doing something that feels normal. That's so important to caregivers because they let the outside relationships vanish or, here's what I tell my caregivers.
You have to look at your outside relationships like a garden and a garden needs sunlight and watering to nourish it and grow just as your outside relationships do. If you don't feed those outside relationships with attention and care and yourself, they die and wither away, and you want to have something to look forward to when your caregiving journey ends.
That's really important. So what are the four basics of self-care? Taking care of yourself involves four key dimensions, your emotional, physical, psychological, and spiritual health. Self-care is all about attending to these areas to ensure you're looking after your overall wellbeing.
So what are the five key areas of self-care? Caring for yourself is essential to maintain your physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual health. Finding the balance that allows you to attend each of these five key areas is a vital part of mental health self-care. Self-care is an important part of living a healthy and balanced life.
It involves taking the time to nurture yourself and trust me, you deserve it and prioritize your own needs. This can include activities such as getting enough sleep, and people always ask me, so give me some self-care activities. What are some examples of self-care activities for caregivers? While self-care is vital for caregivers, getting enough sleep, eating well, exercising, doing hobbies, and taking care of yourself, taking time for yourself are all important activities.
Taking care of yourself is essential for being able to provide care for others. It's important to make sure you're getting enough rest, eating the right foods, taking your vitamins and engaging in activities that bring you joy. Exercise is also important for physical fitness. So how do you create a comprehensive self-care routine?
Creating a routine that encompasses activities that promote mental, emotional, and physical health. Prioritize them and adjust them. Adjust your schedule as needed. Take the time to reflect on what is important to you and how you can best achieve it. Make sure to include activities that bring you joy and relaxation.
Adjust your routine as needed to ensure that you are taking the right steps. And remember at caregiver relief, we are here to help you. You are not alone on this journey. This has been brought to you by Caregiver relief. I'm Diane Carbo.
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Diane Carbo
