Question 3: Carers on the forums talk about burnout and fatigue, and this is something so many people here can relate to. Self care can be one way that we slow the impact of burnout.
What ideas do you have to prevent burnout and fatigue? What can we put in place to prevent getting to a point of breakdown?
Caregiver Burnout Prevention
here are some tips to help you pre-empt caregiver burnout.
- Ask for help! Needing help doesn’t make you a bad caregiver. It simply means you can’t do it alone (no one can do it alone).
- Give yourself permission to take breaks. Get out of the house. Visit with friends. Pamper yourself with a massage. Take a long bath.
- Take care of yourself. Don’t skip your own doctor’s appointments because you’re too busy. Exercise, eat well and get enough sleep.
- Get up 15 minutes earlier and use the time just for you. Sit with your coffee or tea and enjoy it. Journal about your struggles and feelings. Meditate, pray, stretch. . . . Do whatever you want to do.
- Make a list of your daily activities and tasks. See if you can delegate any of them. Perhaps your spouse can make dinner twice or a week. Maybe a friend or relative can run errandsor help with laundry. People often want to help—take them up on it!
- Check into family-leave benefits from your place of work. Take a huge weight off your shoulders by giving you more hours in your day.
- If your loved one is receiving hospice care, ask your hospice provider about local support groups. Communicating with others who are in your situation helps immensely, as does opening up and sharing your frustrations—and your joys!
- If an opportunity comes along for a brief getaway for you, consider hospice respite care for your loved one. Your hospice program should offer short-term inpatient admission for your loved one (meaning more than 24 hours and up to five days and nights maximum) to relieve family members or other persons who are caregivers.
