People caring for a close family member, who can no longer care for himself or herself, need to care for themselves also. The consequences of caring for another person for a long time can be devastating both physically and mentally on the caregiver, who can sometimes end up with more health problems than the person being cared for.
Caregivers manage the care of a dependent person at home, normally with the aim of keeping them in a familiar environment, close to the people they know, as far as is possible. However, it must be remembered that the caregiver possibly did not foresee this situation and may not be sufficiently prepared for it.
Such people have to dedicate a good part of their lives to caring for another person; and this can wear them down and end up leaving them depressed and feeling isolated. Therefore, caregivers should take into account the following series of recommendations so as not to reach this point.
- Ask for help:
- Ask for help from other family members or friends.
- Do it in a clear manner.
- Bring caregivers together to organise their time better and be more effective.
- Be thankful for help.
- Go to support services, institutions and associations.
- Time management:
- Make a list of tasks completed and the time spent doing them.
- Classify tasks in order of priority and check if the person being cared for can do any of them.
- Impose limits on the help given.
- Establish rest times between tasks and stick to them.
- Maintain healthy habits:
- Try to sleep 7-8 hours a night.
- Do some relaxing activity before going to sleep.
- Find moments to rest.
- Maintain hobbies and friendships and get out of the house.
- Exercise on a regular basis.
- Take care of your diet.
- Be aware of the body's alarm signals:
- Tiredness and feeling sleepy.
- Feeling isolated.
- Increased consumption of medications, tobacco or alcohol.
- Palpitations, tremors, digestive discomfort, bone and joint pain, etc.
- Increase or decrease in hunger.
- Mood changes and increased irritability.
- Difficulty concentrating and making decisions, etc.
- Financial problems.
- Repeated delays in work, taking time off, difficulty performing usual tasks, etc.
In short, people who care for close family members also need to take care of themselves, both to feel well physically and mentally and to be able to carry out the task of caring for the family member correctly.
