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Caregiver

 

In recognition of National Caregivers Month, we want to bring awareness to key issues that affect caregivers and health sitters. As a caregiver, it can be overwhelming to take care of everyone else and yourself. It’s crucial to make time for your own health with the physical and emotional demands that health sitting requires. While it may seem counterintuitive, your companion needs you to feel your best for them to feel their best. This means getting enough rest, eating healthy, and exercising regularly. Whether you are health sitting for an adult or child, you need a little care, too.

If you are new to caregiving, it is normal to feel stressed by the responsibilities. While caregiving and health sitting is rewarding and can help to strengthen connections with loved ones and companions, it brings on many new challenges. Here are some examples of the types of tasks that are part of caregiving:

• Helping with daily tasks like bathing, eating, or taking medications
• Doing household chores and cooking
• Food shopping and running errands
• Driving a loved one to appointments or driving to visit them in a medical facility
• Making important decisions about health and finances
• Providing emotional support
• Arranging activities and taking care of medical needs

We all want to be able to drop everything and offer loved ones 24/7 support, but that’s not realistic. If you need to work or care for your own family, the constant needs of caregiving can take a toll on your mental and physical health. So, you need to make sure that you are not ignoring your own needs. To help you feel your best, we can help relieve some of the burdens. Our professional health sitters can provide company and emotional support, plan fun activities, and help with non-medical tasks to help your loved one feel more comfortable on the days you need to take care of yourself.

Almost everyone will experience a feeling of loneliness at one time or another—for example, when our family members are away on a trip, when grown children go off to school, when a social group disbands, or when a good friend moves to another city. There are many circumstances that can trigger a sense of loneliness.  This is known as situational loneliness, and these feelings are generally temporary and pass after a short time. There is another kind of loneliness called chronic loneliness.

an old man in a public space

Chronic loneliness is a feeling of persistent sadness that can last indefinitely.1 This is a much more serious problem, and it affects people in care homes at more than twice the rate it affects people living in the community.2 An unmet need for meaningful relationships combined with a sense of having lost their self-determination due to having been moved to a residential facility play a crucial role in the development of feelings of isolation and loneliness.2 

Chronic Loneliness & Health

If left untreated, chronic loneliness can lead to serious medical and emotional problems including:

Chronic loneliness has even been associated with a shortened lifespan.2,3

Identifying Chronic Loneliness

There are no formal criteria for diagnosing chronic loneliness, but because the condition is closely associated with depression and depressive disorders, the signs and symptoms are usually very similar. If you suspect a loved one may be experiencing chronic loneliness, watch for any of the following:1 

The appearance of these indicators of chronic loneliness signals the need to consult a healthcare professional.1

Preventing Chronic Loneliness

Preventing chronic loneliness in people living in residential facilities is just as important as seeing to their personal hygiene.2 This involves fostering a sense of social connectedness, and that means engaging with others in a positive, healthy way.3 This can be particularly difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic when residents must be protected from the risk of infection, and family member may hesitate to visit for fear of transmitting the virus. 

One answer to this dilemma could be professional care sitters who are trained in the methods necessary to keep everyone safe and protected from infection. For more information on this valuable service that can protect your loved ones on multiple levels, click here

References

1. Nelson JA. Chronic Loneliness: Causes, Symptoms, and Health Risks. eMediHealth. Available online at https://www.emedihealth.com/chronic-loneliness.html.

2. Simard J, Volicer L. Loneliness and Isolation in Long-Term Care and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. 2020 Jul;21(7):966-967. Available online at https://www.jamda.com/article/S1525-8610(20)30373-X/fulltext.

3. Signs and Symptoms of Chronic Loneliness. Cigna. March 2019. Available online at https://www.cigna.com/individuals-families/health-wellness/chronic-loneliness

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