Stress affects everyone occasionally, and it’s a natural part of life. However, when stress becomes constant or when someone doesn’t know how to handle it, it can impact every aspect of their well-being. Seniors, in particular, may feel overwhelmed by stress, which can negatively affect their health and wellness. Home care services can play a vital role in reducing stress by providing support and creating a more relaxed environment for seniors.
Because stress is so common, every April is recognized as Stress Awareness Month, encouraging conversations about stress and promoting healthy coping strategies. For seniors, home care providers can make a significant difference by offering personalized assistance, companionship, and help with daily tasks, which can alleviate stress and improve overall quality of life.
By addressing stress directly, home care providers can support seniors in managing their emotions and reducing the physical and emotional toll that stress can take.
Seniors often keep their feelings of stress buried until they manifest in physical or emotional challenges. This makes opening up the conversation and exploring healthy ways to manage stress even more important. Home care services can help by offering tailored support, creating a calm and reassuring environment, and promoting healthier choices to reduce stress levels.
With the right care, your elderly loved one can enjoy greater peace of mind and improved well-being.
Unhealthy Ways Some Seniors Cope with Stress
For your senior, he may have grown up being taught unhealthy ways to deal with his stress. These techniques might include avoidance, denial, or burying his stress levels by partaking in a harmful activity (such as overeating or drinking too much alcohol). While your senior might feel like he’s momentarily taken control over the negative feelings associated with stress by using these techniques, stress often then reappears as a serious health issue or a failed relationship.
In many cases, you cannot eliminate the stress in your elderly loved one’s life, so helping him find healthier tips to manage his stress is the first step to better stress management.
Four Healthy Stress Coping Techniques for Seniors
1. Be physically active.
Your loved one should talk to his doctor first if he has any health conditions that may restrict his activity, but most seniors can find some type of physical activity that is safe and will help reduce stress. It can be walking, riding a stationary bike, or learning some mind-over-body exercises like yoga or tai chi.
2. Talk to someone about it.
Opening up can be difficult, but having a supportive listener can be a great way for your loved one to release some of his pent-up anxiety based on the stresses in his life. He might find comfort in talking to his home care provider about any stress he is feeling or joining a support group where he can openly discuss his feelings without fear of judgment.
3. Get better sleep.
Poor sleep habits only make stress worse by not allowing the body the time it needs to slow down and rebuild important healthy levels in the body. It can be a double-edged sword where stress keeps your loved one up at night, and then the lack of sleep makes them more stressed.
4. Fix the things that can be fixed
If your loved one is stressed for multiple reasons, help him fix the areas that he has control over. While he might not have control over his health condition, he can control his home or his eating. A home care provider can help relieve the stress in those areas by stepping in and providing assistance with cleaning and cooking. By having someone else, like a home care provider, manage those aspects of his life, he’ll be able to focus on the personal stresses he has to deal with.
If you or an aging loved one is considering Home Care in Point Loma, CA, please contact the caring staff at Aaron Home Care. (619) 880-5522
A Trusted Home Care Agency Serving La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Point Loma, San Diego, UTC, La Mesa, Chula Vista, Coronado, Bonita, Eastlake, and the surrounding areas.
In 1999, Aaron was named Residential Program Manager of a group home for disabled adults in Arlington, Virgina. Here, he built a reputation for being compassionate with his clients and efficient in company operations. In the years that followed, Washington DC’s human services field went through unprecedented reform when the city was fined $11 million for the previously unchecked abuse, neglect, and exploitation of the very population it was supposed to protect. In 2005, Aaron was selected by a watchdog company to co-create and implement a monitoring system to safeguard and advocate for the system’s most vulnerable residents. This system is still in use today.
Aaron is now using his unique gifts and profound experience in the human service field to provide San Diego County Seniors with dependable, compassionate caregivers through Aaron Home Care.
He currently serves on the board of the San Diego Regional Home Care Council and is an active member of the Senior Advocate Network of San Diego.
Aaron Home Care is a member of the American Board of Home Care and is accredited by the Better Business Bureau.
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