Mindfulness

Ca it help me as a caregiver?

Photo by Ravi Pinisetti on Unsplash

When I was caring for Dan, worry was my constant companion. Was I making the right decisions? Was he safe or causing trouble? Where would he go? Should we get in-home care? How can I handle this? How will we survive? The questions and doubts were endless.

My family calls me a worrier - even an excessive worrier. I can find a way to worry about every angle of every situation.

The Talkatry website suggests tips to stop excessive worrying. They are

1. Take a mindful relaxation break.

2. Write down your worries.

3. Learn your triggers.

4. Practice breathing techniques.

5. Adjust your diet - watch the caffeine.

When I read that article, the tip that caught my eye was mindfulness - a time-tested technique that encourages attention and acceptance and helps ease stress and anxiety. I would adopt it if I were a caregiver - and plan to adopt it as a way of being healthier.

Jon Kabat-Zinn’s books, public and professional talks, and retreats describe mindfulness so compellingly that its practice has become a way of life for people worldwide. Here’s how he explains it.

Mindfulness is a form of meditation that can calm anxious feelings, especially if we are caring for others, be they children, older parents, or a partner with health issues.

1. It allows us to feel and acknowledge our worries and painful memories, which can dissipate them.

2. It accepts what’s happening rather than fighting and lets us create the opportunity to gain insight into what’s driving our concerns.

3. It emphasizes the underlying causes of our apprehension, opens the door to freedom, and focuses on solutions. As Dr. Phil’s Life’s Law Strategy says,” You can’t fix what you don’t acknowledge.”

Here’s one way to do it. In case you were wondering, DBT stands for dialectic behavior therapy and is a form of counseling.

The National Institue of Health says

After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, prevalent disease, and subclinical cardiovascular disease, participants who were providing care and experiencing caregiver strain had mortality risks that were 63% higher than non-caregiving controls.

The article, Five Ways Mindfulness Helps You Age Better, explains how mindfulness can help caregivers and those who wish to age well. It seems like a critical tool - I’d like to have known about it sooner.

For the reluctant cooks who are reading.

I got the Air Fryer Cookbook - 600 Recipes for Christmas. I’ve made two recipes: chicken thighs with tomato, garlic, and tarragon and pork chops with mustard apricot glaze. Both were super easy and delicious. I added a small quartered, already-cooked potato to the fryer, cooked it for about 15 minutes, made a side salad, and had a great dinner. Next is Southeast Asian pork chops.

P.S. Thanks for reading Aging Well News! If you know someone who might like this article, please forward it or share it below. 

If you want to contribute to my work,  consider donating to the Alzheimer's Association. This link takes you to their website. The choice is yours.