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Shoppers Drug Mart Home Healthcare played host to an amazing event for Home Instead Senior Care. The event was put together to help raise money and build awareness about the Alzheimer's Society. With the population over 85 expected to more than triple between 2008 and 2050, old-age health is definitely a high priority in our society today.
Luckily, there are organizations out there like Home Instead that can help families deal with worry, reduce stress and reinforce personal freedom. Home Instead works with Alzheimer's and dementia patients to help them get the care they need and live the life they want as well as providing many other in-home care services. The event was a great time for many to come out and learn something new about Alzheimer's, knowing that the first step through anything is knowledge on the subject. This provided the opportunity for many people to learn.
Source: SnapSouthMississauga.com
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Home Instead Senior Care Tips for Caregivers
Work Out: Exercise and enjoy something you like to do - walking, dancing, biking, running, swimming, etc. for a minimum of 20 minutes at least three times per week. Consider learning a stress-management exercise such as yoga or tai-chi, which teaches inner balance and relaxation.
Meditate: Sit still and breathe deeply with your mind as "quiet" as possible whenever things feel like they are moving too quickly or you are feeling overwhelmed by your responsibilities as a caregiver. Many times you will feel like you don't even have a minute to yourself, but it's important to walk away and to take that minute.
Ask for Help: To avoid burnout and stress, you can enlist the help of other family members, friends, and/or consider hiring a professional non-medical caregiver for assistance. There is no need to feel guilty for reaching out.
Take a Break: Make arrangements for any necessary fill-in help (family, friends, volunteers or professional caregivers). Take single days, a weekend, or even a week's vacation; just make sure you line up your support system so you can be confident that your loved one is safe and happy. And when you're away, stay away. Talk about different things, read that book you haven't been able to get to, see a movie. Only a real break will renew and refresh you.
Eat Well: Eat plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, and proteins - including nuts and beans - and whole grains. Indulging in caffeine, fast food and sugar as quick "pick-me-ups" also produce quick "let-downs."
Take Care of Yourself: Just like you make sure your loved one gets to the doctor regularly, make sure you get your annual check-up. Being a caregiver provides many excuses for skipping your necessary check-ups, but you cannot and should not compromise your health.
Indulge: Treat yourself to a foot massage, manicure, nice dinner out or a concert to take yourself away from the situation and to reward yourself for the wonderful care you are providing to your aging relative. You shouldn't feel guilty about wanting to feel good.
Find Support: Find a local caregiver support group, which will help you understand that what you are feeling and experiencing is normal for someone in your position. This is a place to get practical advice from people who are in your situation and to bounce off those feelings of stress, since everyone is likely to be in the same situation and can empathize.
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The new generation of seniors are living longer, and their children often are still raising families. They are not prepared for their older parents' needs, and the dynamic between adult children and aging parents is not a simple one.
In an effort to better prepare the social workers they train, Volland and her team commissioned a study, released late last year, entitled "Squeezed Between Children and Older Parents: A Survey of Sandwich Generation Women". The poll, which surveyed women ages 35 to 54, showed that more than 60 percent of women concerned about an aging relative's health said they have difficulty managing stress, compared with 48 percent of women for whom an aging relative's health was not a concern.
Women concerned about an aging relative's health were about three times more likely (34 percent) to say they worry "a great deal" about having enough time for family than those who were not responsible for the care of an aging loved one (12 percent).
"Working through the maze of helping an elderly loved one can be more than a full-time job," Volland said. "Social workers are uniquely trained to provide comprehensive care coordination. This begins with a comprehensive assessment, which includes identifying resources, managing the complexity of the relationships between the many care systems people encounter such as health, payment, and formal and informal supportive services, as well as dealing with family dynamics."
Social workers and other senior care experts often recommend resources like Home Instead Senior Care to help the elderly remain independent and their family caregivers manage stress. Home Instead CAREGivers provide older adults companionship and assistance with meal preparation, light housekeeping, medication reminders, shopping and errands - thus providing a valuable respite for weary family caregivers, as well.
"Our services can be just what harried family members need to help fill in caregiving gaps they may be experiencing, as well as to alleviate the stress and worry that caregiving can bring to their lives," said Hogan. "Most family caregivers agree that there are many rewards associated with this job, and that additional support can make all the difference."
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Stress Takes a Dramatic Toll on Those Caring for Older Adults. The following stories are examples of the stress that family caregiving plays on lives. If you can identify with any of the following, reach out for help by calling Home Care Mississauga at 905.276.2273.
She awakens in the morning still exhausted after a fitful night of sleep and immediately feels overwhelmed. There's the report due at work today that she hasn't had time to prepare, her son's afternoon soccer practice and a school board meeting that night.
And, she's also a family caregiver for a senior - meaning she has to find time for her mother, who's 84-years-old and lives at home alone.
Her mother can't drive anymore, or reach into the cupboard to pull out a cereal box, or even see well enough to take her correct medication dosages. And today, just like yesterday, there are no easy answers about how to fit her mom into the never-ending juggling act that, for her, is just a typical day.
This is the life of the family caregiver - who totals one in every four Canadians, according to various studies. New evidence and interviews with long term care family caregivers reveal a disturbing trend of the debilitating stress that often accompanies this role, although most still say that, in spite of the challenges, the job also comes with many rewards.
A recent stress test conducted by Home Instead Senior Care demonstrated that of the 8,000 family caregivers who participated, more than three-fourths (76 percent) reported their aging loved one's needs to be overwhelming, 91 percent said they have episodes of feeling anxious or irritable, 73 percent have disturbed sleep patterns and 56 percent seem to become ill more frequently.
"Every day we encounter these family caregivers who love and want the best for their aging family members, but don't know how to fit it all in," said Paul Hogan, CEO of Home Instead Senior Care. "For these people, stress is a constant companion."
These examples each illustrate how extremely important support is to the overall equation - it's one of the key survival tools for any family caregiver.
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Ancoli-Israel conducted a study five years ago that exposed patients with dementia living in nursing homes to either morning or evening bright light in an effort to adjust the body's circadian rhythms. These rhythms help determine when we sleep, and they change as we age. Both techniques improved nighttime sleep.
But although research is helping to identify solutions, statistics indicate that more seniors are seeking medical remedies to their sleep problems. Between 2000 and 2004, use of prescription insomnia drugs rose by 16 percent among people 65 years and older, according to an analysis recently released by the prescription management firm Medco Health Solutions.
While there are certainly any number of sleep aids on the market, sleep medications might not be the best answer for all older adults, according to Dr. Sharon Brangman, professor of medicine and division chief, geriatrics, at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY. They may make seniors confused and disoriented - symptoms that, in particular, should not be exaggerated in seniors who already suffer from them due to Alzheimer's disease or other dementia's. And those symptoms can wreak nighttime havoc in the lives of both seniors and their family caregivers.
While the issues of older adults with dementia-related illnesses are very different from those faced by seniors with sleep disorders and physical ailments, all of these factors contribute to psychological anxiety seniors may experience at night.
"Many seniors undoubtedly are anxious because they know it is harder to reach help at night," Ancoli-Israel said. "There is also more time to think about all of the things that might be going wrong."
This is one of the most important reasons why companionship for seniors can be such a help in dealing with these nighttime anxiety problems, according to Hogan.
