December 20, 2023
Providing care for an elderly loved one is a wonderful opportunity to have. If your loved one has cared for you in the past, it’s a blessing when you get the chance to return that love by caring for them in their later years. But caring for a loved one is also a lot of work. It can involve medical care, social care, home care and so much more. Caregivers are likely to suffer from burnout at some point along the journey if they don’t add in some caregiving of themselves along the way.
There’s no timeline as to when you should take a break and refresh your energy and attitude while caring for a loved one. For some people, they may decide they need a weekly break or a monthly break. Others will go longer before they request the help of family or senior care service to provide them with the respite they need.
How do you know if you need to take some respite care for yourself? Here are four key indicators that you might need a bit of a break to rejuvenate your spirit.
Feeling angry, sad, or frustrated occasionally is normal when caring for a loved one. Many things can cause these emotions, but if you are finding you cannot shake your anger or frustration and it’s carrying over into all parts of your life, you might be overwhelmed and need a bit of a break to breathe and relax. Having a senior care provider come to the home and relieve you of your duties even just for an evening might help you regulate your emotions.
Repetitive stress can have negative effects on your health. It weakens the immune system, making it easier for you to succumb to the germs and viruses you come across in everyday life. It can also make it more difficult to recover from them. Building respite care into your schedule, such as having a 24-hour senior care team come on the third weekend of each month so you can have a full 24 hours away or more, can help your body repair any damage that it has sustained.
Caregiving for an elderly loved one is a balancing act. If the scale is tipped too heavily toward your loved one, other areas may suffer such as your work or your other family members. A daily service of a senior care provider to help with chores or meals might help you tip that scale back into balance.
You might have been able to do it all before, but if your loved one now has added medical needs, you might need to reevaluate if you can still do it all yourself or if you need some help so that you can find respite occasionally.
Taking care of yourself will, in turn, help you care for your loved one to a greater degree so don’t neglect yourself. You’re too important to your loved one to not take care of yourself.
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring Senior Care in Fox Chapel, PA, please contact the caring staff at In-Home Quality Care today. Serving the Greater Pittsburgh Area since 1990! Call 412-421-5202
