October is Emotional Wellness Month, a time to consider how well you’re taking care of your emotional health. If you’re caring for a senior with Alzheimer’s disease, your stress level can be at an all-time high. It’s time to find ways to de-stress and focus on self-care, as well as how Alzheimer’s care can play a role in respite time for you.
What Is Self-Care?
Some people are more familiar with the concept of “me time,” a practice where you spend an hour or two doing things for yourself. You do things you enjoy, whether it’s reading a book, going for a walk, or playing video games. It’s a time when no one else can interrupt you.
Self-care extends beyond this with a focus on healthy eating and habits. You’re learning to take care of yourself inside and out. Emotional wellness plays a big part of this. If you take care of yourself emotionally, you feel better. When you’re caring for a parent with Alzheimer’s, it takes a toll on your emotions.
What Are the Self-Care Essentials You Can’t Ignore?
Start by making sure you have a quiet place to curl up or do something on your own for at least an hour each day. You might not be able to leave the house, but an hour of quiet reflection is enough to help you get started with self-care.
Think about what makes you happiest and decreases stress. It could be knitting, reading, or meditation. You want to do that for an hour. Have a speaker nearby to stream your favorite music or podcast. Sit and relax.
You might find that aromatherapy helps you relax. A calming scent like lavender and vanilla works well at helping soothe you. An aromatherapy mister isn’t expensive, and you can purchase the oil drops and use them sparingly.
Stock up on healthy snacks like nuts, fresh fruit, and chia pudding cups. A diet that’s full of processed foods and sugar isn’t going to make you feel good, so start self-care with healthy snacks.
Comfortable clothing is also important. If you’re not comfortable in the outfit you’re wearing, it’s hard to relax and de-stress. When you’re caring for your mom, dress comfortably as much as you can. Loose shirts and yoga pants or leggings are going to be far more comfortable than jeans and a dress shirt. If you don’t have to go to work and can dress down, do so.
Arrange Alzheimer’s Care Services to Have Time for Self-Care
At the same time you’re helping your mom, you have to take care of yourself. This means handing over your mom’s care to someone else. Have caregivers available to help out.
Family caregivers helping a parent with Alzheimer’s have a challenging role. Your mom may forget who you are and become very argumentative, which is difficult to take. Make sure you spend time taking care of yourself by having Alzheimer’s care aides help out.
Alzheimer’s care is a service where your mom has caregivers trained in dementia care assisting with everything from showers and dressing to meal preparation and eating. Talk to a home care agency about Alzheimer’s care services and make sure you have time for self-care.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Alzheimer’s care in Cleburne, TX, please contact the caring staff at Clear Path Home Care today. Call (817) 631-7710.
Clear Path Home Care provides compassionate, high quality home care in Parker County, Tarrant County, Johnson County, Hood County, Somervell County, Erath County, Bosque County and Hamilton County in Texas.
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