One of the biggest fears for family members is worrying about whether their mom or dad will wander away from home and get lost. Since dementia affects the memory, thinking and reasoning parts of the brain, this is not an unreasonable fear. Here are some tips to help keep your mom or dad safe. […]
Caregivers entering Stage 2 are normally providing more than 10 hours of care per week. As mentioned last week, the caregiving duties are starting to turn into a ‘job’ and your time is getting limited. This is where the stress typically starts to set in. The major emotions associated with Stage 2 are guilt, frustration, […]
Simply put, caregiver burden is an all-encompassing term used to describe the physical, emotional, and financial toll of providing care for a loved one. The causes of caregiver burden are complex and result from the intellectual, social, financial, and spiritual challenges caregivers face.
As a caregiver, you may notice a pattern of increased agitation or impairment in the late afternoon or evening when natural light begins to fade. Your mom or dad may seem more upset or distressed at this time of day.
Preliminary research out of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA is linking prolonged sitting in middle-age to the thinning of the medial temporal lobe of the brain.
With dementia care, you are trying to help the person maintain as much as possible for as long as possible. But sometimes things don’t always work out the way you expect them to.
During a business meeting my colleague received one of those dreaded phone calls: his Dad had been rushed to the hospital. When your parent is in his 80s, it is the type of phone call that you can expect. But the reason his Dad had to go to the hospital is also common. He had […]
Individuals who pray or meditate regularly report that they feel more relaxed and at peace with the world. They indicate that their stress levels are reduced, and they have more resilience to respond to challenging situations. Not surprisingly, scientists have started to look at the brain and religious experiences. Research shows that meditation and prayer […]
In my last post, I looked at symptoms of caregiver burnout. In this post, I want to look at five causes of caregiver burnout. When we think about caregiver burnout we all imagine that happens because caregivers don’t take time for themselves. And that is true. But there are four insidious causes that can wreak […]
There are almost 40 million Americans caring for an adult loved one and yet caregiving can be an isolating and lonely experience. And because it is often done out of sight of other people, it is easy to get burnt out.
