Do You Feel That? Three Ways Caregiver Stress near Greer, SC Can Affect Your Life

Stress is real. Whether or not you want to admit it, stress affects everyone at some time or another. As a caregiver, you are going to experience a significant level of stress. Taking care of an elderly individual, regardless of whether it’s a family member or someone else, is going to put pressure on you in various ways.

Caregiver stress can affect people in many different ways. For some, it can feel like a minor nuisance while for others it can be overwhelming. Let’s talk about three ways that caregiver stress can affect the average individual and what you might be able to do to remedy the situation.

1. Forces you to give up sleep.

Sleep is important for people of all ages. While you may think you can function well enough on three or four hours of sleep per night, the truth is people need an average of 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night. If you don’t get the proper level of sleep, you are not going to be functioning at your highest level.

Caregiver stress will generally force you to get less sleep during the night. You might be worried about the elderly patient, overwhelmed by all of the things you need to do, and much more.

2. Giving up time with friends and loved ones.

The more overwhelmed you are, the less time you seem to have for personal relationships and interests. Stress can force you to give up the things you enjoy most, which might be spending time with your friends or loved ones.

3. Quality of work diminishes.

If you have a full-time job or other responsibilities, you may notice that the more caregiver stress you experience, the lower quality work you produce. This is common with many people.

None of these things really have to happen. The most important thing to do right away is to acknowledge the caregiver stress you are feeling. Once you acknowledge that you are under a significant amount of stress with regard to the care you are providing, you can then take steps to remedy the situation.

Caregiver stress is not going to go away on its own. If you try to ignore the situation because you assume there is nothing you can do about it, it is simply going to get worse over time. Asking for help or talking to the patient about hiring another caregiver for some amount of time during the week can help alleviate a significant amount of the stress you feel.

If you or an aging loved one are considering an in-home caregiver, contact Heart of the Carolinass Home Care at 864-991-3116. Providing Home Care Services in Greenville, Simpsonville, Greer, Anderson, Spartanburg, Mauldin, Seneca, Laurens,Charleston, Columbia and the surrounding areas.

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Edward Harrison

Founder at Heart of the Carolinas

Edward Harrison founded the Heart of the Carolinas Homecare in 2007 when he saw there was a need for caregivers that provide non-medical home care services, at a price that most people could afford. It was standard in the industry to require hourly minimums and it was common to be assigned a caregiver, not matched with one based on your individual personal needs. Edward understood that to make a successful relationship between caregiver and client, skills were not enough, personality and compatibility plays as much a role as do skills.

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