Have plenty of caregiver stress relief options at hand.
When you’re caring for an older adult, caregiver stress is part of the job.
To combat feelings of overwhelm, anxiety, and frustration, it helps to have a long list of ways to cope and get relief.
You’ll always be able to find something that works for the situation you’re in at the moment.
The Rising Spoon has a great article that shares over 30 helpful stress relief tips.
From these, we selected the top 15 stress relief tips that are most useful and realistic for busy caregivers.
We’ve also added extra ideas and resources especially for caregivers to make it even easier to benefit from these stress relief strategies.
15 quick tips for managing caregiver stress.
1. Take slow, deep breaths
One of the fastest ways to calm down and relieve anxiety is to breathe deeply and mindfully.
Taking slow, deep breaths quickly shifts your body out of stress mode and allows you to relax.
Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. This gets more oxygen into your blood and gives you something concrete to focus on.
We recommend a free mobile app called Breathe2Relax that uses visual cues to help you breathe at a slow, steady rate.