How can you prevent caregiver burnout?
These are some ways to practice tips for self-care!
Make sure you’re eating a healthy diet and drinking plenty of water, joining a caregiver’s support group,
including regular exercise into your schedule,
ensuring you are getting enough sleep,
reaching out to faith-based supports (if that helps you),
most importantly: ask for help when you need it! You need support too, and you deserve it.
I couldn't agree more. From my experience caring for both my mom and my aunt, I'd also add that it is useful to remember to find small moments for yourself throughout the day.
For a long time, I thought that I needed to be there 100% of the time, and I noticed that I get irritated easily. I have never said "no" to anything they wish for, and I thought I was a bad person if I didn't fulfill all their wishes. One day, I started crying for no reason and thought to myself, 'What's wrong with me?'
So, when they took their daily nap, I decided that that was my time. I don't need to clean, prepare food, and do other chores instantly. I can make myself a coffee and just relax for half an hour.
Those moments are now what I wait for every day, and it helped a lot.
Give yourself the gift of good nutrition for YOURSELF. I weekly shop for fruits, greens and vegetables for my special salads. I prep everything all at once, placing serving size slices into baggies and a gallon bag of salad greens mix. When I am tired and worn out, I can make myself a beautiful salad with very little effort - just put the various parts into the bowl and add dressing. This helps me feel cared for. I'm never sorry I had a good salad.
It is great to hear that you make a conscious effort to prioritize your health. It can be difficult in the moment to remind ourselves what we need so having things prepared in advance can certainly help with that. Do you have any go to recipes that you follow or do you just make it up based on what you have on hand? Warmly, Patty, Team Member 
, this is an excellent idea! Is this still something that you do today? I often make extra portions when I make meals and ut back single serving size portions so that when days get busy, anyone in the family can grab a quick meal. - Warmly, Donna (Team Member)
I know that by dinner time, between my LO sundowning and asking about his parents and being confused, and my general fatigue it's tempting to just microwave a box dinner. To counteract that, I make crockpot main dishes twice a week, simple stuff like bbq chicken thighs or vegetables and rice, so that I can add a salad and be done quickly. I have stopped dishing food the entree into serving bowls - only put salad and the side veggie on the table to encourage my hubby to eat more of those things. We also eat plenty of salmon, which is easy to cook in my airfryer on foil and then have no extra cleanup. I try to do easy now, like sweet potatoes and a small ham slice or a veggie patty and baked potato, and our salad of course!
These are great tips! Thank you for sharing how you are able to make food preparation easier and more efficient while offering healthy meals. When you cook in the crock pot, do you make larger volume and serve leftovers? Is that a useful practice? Scott AlzheimersDisease.net Team Member
