Caregiver Health: Have you ever heard that writing things down helps to make your life more organized and less stressful?
Well, the same thing could be true when caring for your elderly loved one. Having a journal can make family caregiving easier and. Many family caregivers lose sight of themselves when caring for their elderly loved ones. Having a journal can help you to stay in control over your life while providing the care that your elderly loved one needs. Keep reading here to find out more about how having a journal can help you as a family caregiver.
Improving Your Health
As a family caregiver, you are likely focused on the health of your elderly loved one most of the time. What about your own health? Yes, you need to help your elderly loved ones maintain or even improve their health. However, this doesn’t mean that your own health should be suffering. Having a journal can help you to improve or at least maintain your health in the following ways:
- Writing about your feelings and emotions
- Making a list of doctor’s appointments you have
- Writing down your medications (when you need to take them, etc.)
- Tracking your exercise and weight
If you haven’t been doing so great at maintaining or improving your own health while caring for your elderly loved one, having a journal can help. If this still doesn’t help or you just need a break, don’t be afraid to hire home care providers in the meantime.
Improving Your Family Caregiver Skills
When was the last time you took a look at how you were caring for your elderly loved one? If it has been a while, a journal might help you to do this. For example, you can take some time to think about the disagreements that you and your elderly loved one get into. What are they about? Is there something that you could be doing differently or improving? If so, you can write down a plan in your journal on what you can change.
Understanding Your Own Needs
You are constantly focused on the needs of your elderly loved one. What about your own needs? You must remember that family caregiving can’t take over your own life. If you let it, family caregiving can take over every aspect of your being. However, this doesn’t need to happen. If you keep a journal, you can write about your own needs. You can make a list of what you need and understand more about why you need those things. Many people find that writing their needs down helps them to fulfill these needs much better.
Caregiver Health: Conclusion
Caring for your elderly loved one shouldn’t take over your entire life. It is important that you are also taking care of your own health and well-being. Having a journal can help you to not only provide better care for your elderly loved one, but better caregiver health for yourself, as well.
If you or an aging loved-one is considering Homecare in New York City, NY, please contact the caring staff at Home Care For Adults, Inc. today. (929) 205-5558
Sources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2791523/
https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/basics/info-2021/family-caregiver-journal.html