Our parents and grandparents are living longer, and more and more are often in need of family support from their children and grandchildren that requires taking care of them or paying the costs for such needed care. According to a recent study, 25% of Americans either consider themselves a caregiver to someone who is very aged, ill, or with special needs. Most caregivers feel that it is satisfying and rewarding, but do feel that it is stressful and often leads to serious burnout.
Many of these caregivers did not plan for the caring of an aging family member and did not foresee the high financial costs and extensive time involved with providing such support to their loved ones. As an adult child who has been through many years of caregiving for a parent, it truly is very time consuming and very expensive to care for an aging parent(s), especially as they get older, because they have more serious medical conditions, and become more dependent on others for their activities of daily living. The expense for the caregiver increases further when the financial assets, medical coverage and financial assistance of their loved one is exhausted or no longer available. According to a study, experienced caregivers spend an average of 26% of their monthly budget on care-giving costs, but does not include the time spent for care-giving, which could result in lost wages and lost benefits for the caregiver. Sadly, if you are a caregiver of a person with dementia, a uniquely devastating disease, then the caregiver’s out-of-pocket costs for dementia person averages 81% more than for a person without dementia.
If you are a primary caregiver to an aging loved one, to a younger child needing full-time grand-parenting, or for your own loving spouse, you are prone to stress and burnout. Caregivers have unrelenting and overwhelming responsibilities. There are stress conditions of a caregiver which could exist such as changes in family dynamics, household disruptions, financial problems, and of course, added workload at home, but with possible continued work at your employment. Sometimes you have little control over the situation or are just over your head on the type of care that is needed, which can add to depleting you both physically and emotionally over time, leading to more and more stress … then burnout. Some common signs of caregiver burnout include:
- You have much less energy that you once had and feel very tired and run down
- You tend to easily catch a cold or flu or your own health conditions worsens
- You have difficulty in sleeping, but even after sleeping, you feel exhausted
- You neglect your own needs, the needs of other family members, and your job performance
- You feel little satisfaction on the care provided to your loved one
- You have trouble concentrating and often neglect responsibilities
- When you have assistance, you cannot relax and constantly want to be involved
- You lose your patience with the person you are caring for and are more irritable
- You feel helpless and hopeless which may tend to you to drink, smoke, or eat more
Some suggestions to reduce stress and avoid caregiver burnout include:
- Seek situations that make you laugh like watching a funny movie or looking a funny family photos
- Look for ways to save energy and time on needed tasks. Consider ordering and having items delivered via online sources or do the grocery shopping at none peak hours of the day
- Eat nutritious meals along with those served to your loved one
- If your loved one has a daily exercise routine, exercise with him/her
- Seek support from local area caregiver support groups or visit online caregiver support group websites for valuable information to solve your troubles or concerns. Support groups offer the opportunity for you to share your problems and gain their advice on solving caregiving problems
- Make use of relaxation techniques, such as listening to music, mediating, or just closing your eyes and thinking of peaceful scenes
- Discover a new hobby or re-establish an old one to allow these creative pastimes to help fight the stressful situation of caregiving
- Ask for help with family members and friends to regularly or occasionally relieve you on some of the regular caregiving tasks and responsibilities. However, be willing to relinquish some control by such delegation to another rather than giving orders or constantly calling them to check on the care that they are providing.
- Seek professional caregivers when necessary. There are numerous home care providers, home health agencies who have well-trained and experience health care professional that can assist in providing care to your loved one for a few hours a day to all day. Often, there exists adult daycare centers, where your aging loved one can be taken to a facility for a few hours a day for needed care and supervision. These health care professionals can allow you to have respite to give you a break and to reduce stress and burnout.
Caregiver stress is typically chronic and long-term, so it may take many months or even years to lead to the significant burnout stage. Accordingly, studies have found that older caregivers who experience severe stress and have their own chronic health conditions have a 63% greater chance of dying prematurely than people of similar age. When you as a caregiver are at the burnout stage, it puts your own health at risk, and the ability to provide needed care is diminished. You need to take action immediately to reduce stress and avoid caregiver burnout as soon as possible.
Originally written by,
Gary Calligas
Source: